Committing to an outsourced bid management service can seem like a large investment in time and effort, so if you’re not sure whether the return will be worth it, read on to discover what you’re likely to learn along the way, and how to use that new knowledge to win tenders.
Do you know which tenders you should be bidding for?
Your bid management team will work with you to understand what types of opportunities are the best fit for your business, in terms of location, contract value, and service delivery requirements. This will reduce the amount of time you need to spend finding opportunities and ensure you’re focusing your time on the right opportunities.
Are there accreditations or certifications you need/can obtain to score higher marks?
Your bid management team can help you spot trends in the tenders you apply for in terms of the accreditations or certification schemes you might need to consider. Sometimes, when tenders have an initial SQ (Standard Questionnaire) stage to narrow the field prior to ITT (Invitation to Tender) stage, the requirements can be quite compliance focused; you could lose marks against your competitors if you don’t have the right ‘badges’ – e.g. ISO9001, CHAS, Cyber Essential etc. You can either gain/apply for the relevant accreditation or filter out any tenders where these are a requirement. These accreditations don’t just help you in the tendering process but can be beneficial to your business as a whole.
Do you need to review existing systems or invest in technology to improve your management information and reports?
You bid management team will be asking you for data and statistics so they can be used in tenders to back up what you’re telling the buyer you’ll do. Do you have this to hand in an easily accessible format? The type of information requested as part of a tender process is the information you generally need to have at hand, so are your systems and tools up to the job?
Do you have examples of a ‘job well done’?
Buyers want proof, or evidence, that you can deliver the service that you’re bidding for, and one of the best ways to do this is to describe when you have done it before. Your bid management team can help you format these examples from small examples describing something specific (e.g. how you handled a customer complaint) to full case studies describing a problem, your solution and the successful outcome. You can also then use these on your website or social media to help promote your business.
Do you have sufficient and appropriate staff management processes in place?
Buyers often want to know about staff management – recruitment, training, development, appraisal, performance management, retention etc. Does the feedback on your responses to these types of questions show that you need to improve your processes? For example, do you have a staff training matrix that you can submit with your next bid? Do you have CVs for key members of your organisation that summarise their qualifications, their experience and their role? Do you have an organisation chart? Your bid management team will understand the types of processes buyers want to see and can help advise you how to implement these in a way that works for your business.
Can you articulate the benefits you’re bringing to the local community?
You might not realise it, but as a small business employing local staff, you’re already contributing to growing the local economy and benefiting your local area. Your bid management team can help you articulate this to buyers, and help you determine how you can meet their social value objectives and score highly in this aspect of the tender. They can also help you understand what else you can do to appeal to buyers, and make sure that you’re recording and tracking all the benefits you’re bringing.
How does your pricing compare to your competitors?
Each time you submit a bid, you will also submit pricing, and this will be scored. Generally, pricing is scored proportionally compared to the lowest bid – this means the lowest bid receives full marks, with other bids scored in relation to that – so if you are twice as expensive, you will get half the marks. This means that you can work out what the lowest price was and how you compared to it.
If you are consistently higher priced than your competitors and the price element of a bid makes up 70% of the score, for example, then you may want to either reconsider whether you should bid at all or reduce your price to less than usual for that particular bid. You may need to look at your costs in general to see where you can reduce them. Whilst your bid management team typically wouldn’t be involved in the pricing aspect of a bid, they can help with analysis of competitors, can help you ask clarification questions during the tender process and can help you request feedback following contract award.
To find out more about our Bid Management Services and how they can help you click here, or call us on 01707 244713.
