Getting ‘tender ready’ in tough times

Every industry is experiencing major changes as we continue to adapt to a new way of life thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. Unsurprisingly, this has had an impact on the amount of tender opportunities that are currently available.

For example, lots of tender opportunities that were expected to come out in March and April have been delayed until mid-May.

But all is not lost, and there is still a lot you could be doing to get ‘tender ready’ for when the opportunities are eventually published.

Bidding for a tender takes a considerable amount of time. From undertaking research and collecting evidence, the tender process can be long, complex and require a lot of attention. So, the most important thing organisations can do now is to make sure they use this time to prepare for future tenders as much as they can.

Remember, if you are not spending this time doing preparation work, your competition might be!

How to get ‘tender ready’
What you can do now will depend on your industry. To begin with, consider the information and resources that you will need for any upcoming contracts and your probable tender submissions. You can then work through activities and start to collate information that you are very likely to need. These may include:

Designing your delivery model and mobilisation plans
Meeting any compliance requirements and ensuring related policies are in place
Completing research
Addressing weaknesses and collating supporting evidence

For example, we are supporting a number of clients that have all successfully passed the selection questionnaire for HealthTrust Europe’s (HTE’s) Total Workforce Solutions 2 Framework. The second stage ITT, has been delayed until mid-late May. By taking the opportunity to perform preparation tasks and the draft ITT questionnaire, we are effectively extending the tender submission window which will lead to better higher quality scoring bids.

Review your previous tenders
Take this time to review your previous bids and refine them. Ask yourself: ‘Where could we have scored better marks?’ Identify any weaknesses in your business or your tender bid and tackle them.

Gather evidence
Collect examples of associated works that you have done, or are doing, that demonstrate best practice. Use this time to consult and engage with those you work with. Ask service users or clients for testimonials and any feedback or other information that may be useful. Think about the evidence you may need to give as they can form the questions you could ask your service users. The answers could also help you to make any improvements to your services, communications or processes. Also look at how you can prove your delivery model with statistics.

Get expert help
We might be biased here, but it can really be the difference between a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ if you employ the services of a professional consultant. Consultants – like us – can help providers with a variety of different processes. For example, we can identify potential holes in the delivery of a contract and can review policies and look for any gaps. Our expert team can anticipate what is needed from a contract and what you need to do to get ‘tender ready’. We identify gaps and weaknesses and can produce a clear plan on what you need to do. We charge on a consultancy basis but can also offer a free advice service.

K Low Consulting is unique in that we don’t just write tenders – we offer a four-stage process to help our clients: