Tenders for Electrical Contracts

Challenges of tendering for electrical contracts

Electrical tenders can always be found and it is essential that you meet all of the necessary industry regulations and have all of the required accreditations. Assuming most good bidders will have all of these, the challenge then lies in how you differentiate your business from other suppliers.

The opportunity is there, you are all compliant and credible and price is often not the deciding factor (although you do need to be competitive), so you will need to ensure that you pull on your knowledge of the local area, acknowledge the buyer’s and community concerns and demonstrate your extensive experience. It’s also fair to say that the broader your product offering, the more opportunity there will be to come your way as there are more ways to save buyers money e.g. through volume efficiencies. Looking at your core proposition - is there the opportunity to expand and grow into a more lucrative area? Using the Complete Tenders search services, you can immediately see what buyers are buying, study buying trends, and adapt your service offering accordingly.

Tenders relating to the electrical industry can also be found within these sectors:

• Construction
• Energy & Utilities
• Facilities Management
• Housing & Real Estate
• Installations
• Repair & Maintenance
• Safety & Security
• Transport

With so many options available, you may well find yourself reading through hundreds of electrical tender listings and specifications to find a tender that is right for you and your business. Therefore, you must have an efficient system to review and evaluate the information available to enable you to make an informed decision to tender or not.

---

Tender top tips

Top tips for winning electrical tenders

1. Ensure your accreditations are up to date

It goes without saying that you need to ensure all your relevant training and accreditations are up to date e.g. NICEIC, Gas Safe, H&S (CHAS, Constructionline, Safe Contractor) etc. if you are looking to submit an electrical sector tender. These are a ‘given’ and without these you will be unlikely to pass through the initial Selection stages of the tender process.

2. Read the documentation thoroughly

This will give you a full understanding of what the buying organisation is looking for and the specific criteria you will need to meet. If you are going to struggle to meet some of these requirements, it is not necessarily the end of the road, but worth considering the investment (and potential return) in meeting them. The Complete Tenders team can help you get ‘tender ready’, visit Tender Readying for more information.

3. Be on-time and on-budget

Many electrical tenders in the construction arena are project based, so it is important to demonstrate that you have the processes and experience to implement the project on time and manage it to a successful conclusion. To do this, you will need a robust contract implementation plan and the ability to show how you have kept previous projects on time and on budget. Do you have a standard template that you use? Do you use project management software? Do you have qualified (e.g. PRINCE II) project managers with good experience on their CVs?

4. Supply accurate MI

If you are looking to fulfil electrical tenders within the scope of facilities management or repairs and maintenance you need to be able to supply accurate management information (MI). This is an area often overlooked in the busy day to day servicing of a customer/contract and lots of businesses won’t necessarily document what they’ve delivered or use KPIs to measure their performance. Showing how you have used MI in the past to meet your SLA and achieve benefits for the customer as well as how you have used reports to continuously improve your service delivery will provide good evidence of your ability. Going one step further to show how you have gone over and above on the SLA and performance will score the highest marks.

5. Use your experience

The provision of testimonials and case studies is key to helping the procurement team have confidence in your ability to deliver the contract. Most buying organisations (particularly in the public sector) are risk averse, and so they like to have the proof from other similar organisations that you can deliver on your promises. Provide as much evidence using the positive outcomes you have produced for other customers to support your application. Don’t just keep this to the ‘references and case studies’ section; try to work in the previous experience evidence wherever you can in the main body of your tender responses to back up your proposals.

6. Focus in on individual competencies

It’s important that the team supporting the delivery of the contract are capable of undertaking the work at hand, so demonstrating training processes, past and future training undertaken, and individual accreditations and affiliations is key. People buy from people, and the more you are able to show who you are and what you can do, the better.