Kate Burrows, Author at Tender Training College

How does a ‘good’ tender read?

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director, Tender Training College

My tender writing students often ask: “Can you show me an example of a good tender response, Kate?”

The truth? There isn’t a universal ‘good’ tender response.

Each tender is unique – based on the client’s specific tender requirements and objectives for that particular contract. And we must use these elements to shape our response, as well as our own company’s unique performance, experience, capability, capacity and approach.

However, I can provide a structured framework that helps to understand what to write in an answer, and how to write a response. This article focuses on the core elements of ‘what to write’.

What to write

Tender questions are broken into two main categories:

1. Past performance and experience – does your organisation have the track record in successfully delivering similar contracts?
2. Proposed approach: how does your company plan to meet the specific requirements of this Contract?

Why do clients ask for evidence of past performance and experience? Past performance is an indicator of future performance and, if it is good, it provides a level of certainty to the client your business can do the same for them. Past performance will also reflect the success of your company’s approach.

And why do clients ask about your proposed approach? They do so to understand that your company has a systematic, consistent and proven way to deliver the contract requirements and provide value over the term.

Often, you’re asked about your company’s proposed approach in several sections of the tender: methodology, safety, quality, environment, sustainability and social procurement.

Frequently, these are open-ended questions where a structured framework can help you cover the key points the client is expecting to read.

Taking a Structured Approach: What to Write
When faced with a tender question about your approach, consider presenting the following content in the hierarchy that is shown in Figure 1.

Remember, the overarching goal is to answer the question, and show how your approach meets the tender requirements and achieves the client’s objectives. Also, don’t forgot to tell the client that your company has an approach and it has been successful in meeting similar contracts in the past (if correct).

Figure 1: Content hierarchy for responding to an ‘approach’ question

Let’s have a quick look of the above in practice if we were answering a safety question*. If the question is: “Outline your company’s safety approach to deliver the Contract requirements,” your response could include the following:

1. Vision and commitment: Showcase your organisation’s safety vision and commitment. For example, “Our company prioritises the health, safety and wellbeing of our people – we put this at the heart of everything we do”. Show an understanding of the client’s safety vision and alignment with your company’s if possible.

2. Strategy, policy and targets: A safety strategy will provide the direction for how the company will achieve the above vision and commitments. A Safety Policy is an overarching guideline regarding all safety related principles, measures and values. Specific targets, e.g. reducing lost time injuries, also form part of the strategy. Show how these elements will be applied to deliver safe outcomes for contract delivery.

3. The people managing, delivering and improving the approach: This is the section you talk about who is responsible for WHS and your organisation’s safety culture. Leadership plays a vital role in shaping an organisation’s safety culture, and the client will want to know the key people with the responsibilities to deliver the contract safety.

4. The systems and techniques to be applied
Established systems and processes show that your organisation will apply a consistent and reliabile approach to deliver the WHS contract requirements. For instance, a Work Health and Safety Management System is an industry standard approach to managing safety and risk. It will have the policies and procedures that are implemented throughout the organisation, but specifically you want to discuss those which will be applied to safely deliver the project. There is also the opportunity to discuss the safety initiatives or special programs your company has to support its safety strategy and reduce risk.

There is not a single ‘magic’ formula for every tender question on approach. However, the above hierarchy will help you build a compelling narrative that addresses the client’s goals and paints a clear picture of how your organisation can deliver exceptional outcomes.**

Notes:

*I am not a safety expert. Please seek specific guidance from your organisation’s safety representative on what is relevant for your business.

**I am a tender writing expert, so if you would like to join me for a Tender Writing Masterclass – our dates for early 2025 have just been released. View dates here.

DON’T MISS THESE FIVE SOCIAL PROCUREMENT TIPS

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director, Tender Training College

I was helping a customer with tender writing, specifically how to respond to a series of social procurement questions. They were missing a couple of key elements needed for a top score.

On the ➕ side: The organisation had solid organisational commitments and policies geared to improving social procurement outcomes. Unfortunately, the tender response was missing the following:

❌ A dedicated program for how it would achieve its objectives
❌ How it would measure the outcomes of its social procurement activities
❌ Results of its social procurement program and activities to date.

Our tender clients want to see c͟o͟m͟m͟i͟t͟m͟e͟n͟t͟, a͟c͟t͟i͟o͟n͟ ͟𝘢𝘯𝘥 r͟e͟s͟u͟l͟t͟s͟. We need to show an all encompassing approach with tangible outcomes in our tender response.

How to improve your social procurement score when writing tenders:

1. D͟e͟m͟o͟n͟s͟t͟r͟a͟t͟e͟ ͟o͟r͟g͟a͟n͟i͟s͟a͟t͟i͟o͟n͟a͟l͟ ͟c͟o͟m͟m͟i͟t͟m͟e͟n͟t͟ – have an organisational strategy or policy/plan including targets on how your business will improve supply chain participation and employment for disadvantaged cohorts.

2. H͟a͟v͟e͟ ͟p͟o͟l͟i͟c͟i͟e͟s͟ ͟a͟n͟d͟ ͟p͟r͟o͟c͟e͟d͟u͟r͟e͟s͟ ͟t͟h͟a͟t͟ ͟r͟e͟f͟l͟e͟c͟t͟ ͟o͟r͟g͟a͟n͟i͟s͟a͟t͟i͟o͟n͟a͟l͟ ͟c͟o͟m͟m͟i͟t͟m͟e͟n͟t͟s͟ – these are guidelines for how your people will implement the social procurement strategy/policy/plan across the business, including in procurement and HR.

3. H͟a͟v͟e͟ ͟a͟ ͟p͟l͟a͟n͟ ͟o͟f͟ ͟a͟c͟t͟i͟o͟n͟/͟p͟r͟o͟g͟r͟a͟m͟ ͟t͟o͟ ͟a͟c͟h͟i͟e͟v͟e͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟ ͟t͟a͟r͟g͟e͟t͟s͟ ͟a͟n͟d͟ ͟o͟b͟j͟e͟c͟t͟i͟v͟e͟s͟ – provide a 12-month calendar of what your organisation will do to deliver on its social procurement outcomes.

4. M͟e͟a͟s͟u͟r͟e͟ ͟t͟h͟e͟ ͟r͟e͟s͟u͟l͟t͟s͟ ͟o͟f͟ ͟y͟o͟u͟r͟ ͟s͟o͟c͟i͟a͟l͟ ͟p͟r͟o͟c͟u͟r͟e͟m͟e͟n͟t͟ ͟r͟e͟s͟u͟l͟t͟s͟ – An excel spreadsheet is a good starting point to track your company’s performance against your organisational targets. Assign responsibility for this.

5. S͟h͟o͟w͟ ͟e͟v͟i͟d͟e͟n͟c͟e͟ ͟o͟f͟ ͟e͟x͟c͟e͟l͟l͟e͟n͟t͟ ͟s͟o͟c͟i͟a͟l͟ ͟p͟r͟o͟c͟u͟r͟e͟m͟e͟n͟t͟ ͟o͟u͟t͟c͟o͟m͟e͟s͟ – report your results, provide testimonials from people your business has helped, and develop case studies on particular initiatives.

Remember, it isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. You need to apply what’s relevant for your business, the tender’s requirements and the tender client’s own social procurement targets.

Read more about improving your social outcome responses here:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/improve-your-social-procurement-outcomes-kate-burrows-1c/

And if you need more assistance relating to tenders, reach out for a chat – kate@tendertrainingcollege.com.au

Improve your social procurement outcomes

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director, Tender Training College

Many of my tendering clients, particularly small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are struggling with how to meet social procurement targets and respond effectively to these questions in tenders.

Social procurement is now a common feature of almost all government tenders and often a highly weighted component in the evaluation. It follows the development of social procurement as an international standard (ISO 20400:2017) to integrate sustainability and transparency into the procurement process.

What is social procurement?

The Queensland Government defines social procurement as: Using the government’s purchasing power to generate social benefits, adding value to procurement outcomes and supporting supplier and workforce diversity.

Governments at all levels have specific targets and objectives that influence their respective social procurement requirements. These aim to be proportionate to the size and value of the contract being tendered.

These objectives focus on inclusion and equity in the supply chain and the workplace, promoting opportunities for disadvantaged individuals, groups and communities. This could include First Nations Australians, SMEs, local and regional businesses, people with disability, long-term unemployed, disadvantaged youth, and refugees, and supporting the safety and equality of women.

Generally, the social procurement questions in tenders are focused on how respondents will deliver their own social value through economic development, positive social outcomes and sustainability over the contract term. Basically, how are you going to make the world a better place for everyone through your buying power.

What does ‘good’ look like’?

I’ve had recent experience answering social procurement questions on a number of complex and high-value projects. It can be challenging even for businesses that have mature social procurement policies, initiatives and resources to know the best approach to meet the government targets and objectives.

This is particularly so for SMEs. There is limited information or guidance available to small business on what best practice is, or what good looks like in social procurement – and how they achieve the outcomes required.

And it is somewhat ironic that social procurement policies are designed to support SMEs and regional businesses on one hand, while also making it challenging for them to effectively improve their own outcomes at the same time.

It requires companies to re-think the way they do business and their corporate social responsibility approach for the long-term, as this is very much ‘business as usual’ from hereon in. For example, companies might need to review their practices regarding:

Who they employ
How they recruit
How they spend money
What they purchase and who they purchase from
Which organisations they support.

Importantly, companies also need to be able to effectively measure their actions in terms of the social benefits they produce.

Suggestions and tips to improve social outcomes

When responding to a government tender, visit the client’s procurement website for specific guidance about its social procurement objectives. This will give you an understanding of what it is looking for in its tender responses.

The following are ideas I’ve taken from various government websites, along with my own recent experience, for how to improve your social and sustainability outcomes. Note, this isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach – you need to apply what is relevant for the tenders you complete.

1. Demonstrate organisational commitment and action

This could be in the form of targets, plans, policies and practices, including:

A Reconciliation Action Plan for how you will employ First Nations Australians and purchase from businesses owned by First Nations Australians.
A diversity and inclusion policy/strategy for fair, inclusive and equitable employment.
Ensuring compliance with the Modern Slavery Act.
Performance standards and targets for social positive outcomes, and a measurement system.
Have staff volunteer at social enterprises or provide pro bono services for not-for-profits.
Partner or joint venture with a business owned by First Nations Australians or an Australian Disability Enterprise.
Provide sponsorship for events, teams, schools, groups and/or companies that are a social enterprise or deliver a positive social benefit.

Tip: You can engage Reconciliation Australia to help develop your RAP – https://rap.reconciliation.org.au/s/

2. Develop sustainable procurement guidelines

These should aim to:

Source goods and services from ethical and environmentally sustainable sources that comply with industrial relations laws and promote secure employment.
Prioritise goods and services from local and regional SMEs, businesses owned by First Nations Australians, social enterprises or Australian Disability Enterprises. As well as larger suppliers, think about the small entities that do your office cleaning, catering or landscaping, for example.
Implement quick payment policies for SMEs in line with the Business Council of Australia’s Supplier Code.

Tip: During a tender, seek information from your supply chain about its ability to contribute to your social procurement requirements if you win the contract. This will help you meet the targets required.

3. Join networks and industry peak bodies, and employ intermediaries

These include organisations that can help with employment and supply chain outcomes, such as:

Australian Network on Disability
Employment Service Providers
Disability Employment Service
National Disability Services – BuyAbility
Social Traders
Social Ventures Australia
Supply Nation
Industry Capability Network
Business chambers (First Nations and otherwise).

Tip: Employment Service Providers are located across Australia (including in regional areas) and help businesses to connect with vulnerable jobseekers. They provide a range of support services to help achieve sustainable employment outcomes for all parties.

4. Promote employment, education and training opportunities

These may include direct and indirect opportunities through your business or your supply chain. Consider work experience, training, mentoring, pre-employment programs, traineeships, apprenticeships, and graduate and scholarship programs for First Nations Australians, local and regional businesses, SMEs, people with disability, long-term unemployed, disadvantaged youth, refugees and women.

Tip: Consider cultural awareness training and disability confidence training for your employees to help with sustainable employment outcomes.

5. Sustainability and environment initiatives

These may include:

Reduce office energy consumption
Use video conferencing to reduce flights and commuting
Increase use of non-toxic materials
Encourage flexible working to reduce office footprint
Bicycle storage facilities and or assist employees to buy bicycles
Reimbursement of public transport fares
Carbon neutral status by offsetting activities.

Tip: There are a number of organisations that will help you to measure your footprint, and reduce and offset your emissions.

If you need assistance to improve your social procurement outcomes relating to tenders, please contact me on kate@tendertrainingcollege.com.au, or 1300 414 000.

Mastering the project plan

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director, Tender Training College

If you are in the business of tenders, you may have been required to write a project plan or several in your time.

Most often, the party who has issued the tender requires a suite of plans to be provided that are specific to the contract being tendered.

The purpose of this is so they can see how you will apply your approach to doing business to meet the specific requirements of the contract.

I certainly have written my fair share of management plans for tenders, and I have also been on the other side of delivering upon the plan commitments following a successful bid.

I wanted to share with you some best practice elements for writing project plans that will stand the test of time – for the tender phase and if you are the winning proponent.

Tip 1: Consistent format and structure

Management plans are by nature formal documents. They often form part of an organisation’s quality or overarching management system, and therefore are generally similar in appearance.

A consistent format and structure for your plans helps to show your company has a standard, systematic and quality assured approach to the way it does business.

I recommend setting up a template for your plans with a cover page, table of contents and other standard sections, including an introduction, purpose and objectives, background and context, and approach.

Consider adding a document control table at the front of the plan that shows it is a ‘live’ document and will be updated.

Additionally, a compliance table at the front of the document is a handy tool for the evaluators (and you) to see that you have answered all the requirements called for and in which section of the plan these answers appear.

Tip 2: Essential information to include

I like this definition of the purpose of a project plan:

“To capture the current status of the reserve, to establish goals and objectives for the future, and to articulate how those goals and objectives are prioritised and how they will be met.”

An introduction or executive summary to your plan should capture the key elements of your approach and really ‘sell’ your capability in line with your win themes.

Consider adding a section early in the plan that draws out your experience and performance specific to the plan subject matter – i.e. show your safety management experience and performance in a safety management plan.

It is important your plan details your understanding of the current environment, and what the gaps are for improvement and delivering better outcomes for the client. This will require you to do an analysis of the current environment.

In the section that details your approach, you want to describe how you will meet any objectives outlined in the plan and the tender requirements, and how you will deliver any improved outcomes identified from your earlier analysis.

You should also reference the people that we will be responsible for implementing the activities in the plan, and your company’s supportive systems and processes.

Don’t forget to highlight the initiatives or unique features of your approach that will provide value for the client!

Tip 3: Make sure you can you deliver on your commitments

Expect that the client will hold you to account to deliver upon what is contained in the plan if you are the successful bidder.

In many instances, the plan will form part of the contractual documentation so is legally binding on contract award.

So, it is worthwhile being mindful when writing the plan that you can actually deliver on what you are committing to.

Consider including an action plan or table that gives you and the client a clear picture of what you are going to do, by when, by whom and how you are going to measure and improve your performance.

It is helpful to see all your commitments in an easy-to-read format, and provides a good baseline for your own internal benchmarking and progress meetings with the client.

Importantly, remember to include all the elements in your plan in the tender price so it is all accounted for and there no hidden costly surprises when you are delivering the contract.

For more information on how to apply these tips to writing a project plan, please don’t hesitate to contact me at kate@tendertrainingcollege.com.au

Tips to prevent your tenders from falling into the ‘generic zone’

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director, Tender Training College

Mediocrity and tender writing are two concepts that don’t fit well together. If you are serious about winning the bid, your response needs to go above and beyond the business as usual.

I have had several clients share with me recently about how they have accidentally fallen into the generic zone with their tender writing.

They are writing to answer the question – often copying and pasting from previous submissions – but with little application to the contract they are bidding to win and the client they are hoping to impress.

The result is a generic response that isn’t likely to differentiate them from the competition and score them top marks.

However, I can understand how it happens – when you are juggling multiple priorities and focused on getting the job done, or struggling to get the information from colleagues to write a differentiated response.

So, how do you avoid or escape the generic zone when it comes to writing a tender response?

Here’s a few tips to take your response from mediocre, to meaningful and relevant.

Tip 1: Understand and address the tender requirements in your response

The questions in the tender document are designed so that you can show the client that you can deliver upon the requirements of the contract if you are the successful proponent.

It is tempting to copy and paste from previous submissions – particularly when the tender might be for the same client, or the question is similar to one you have answered before.

But that also increases the risk of missing the specific requirements and nuances of that tender.

Every tender is different, so you must take the time to read, understand and address the requirements you will need to deliver upon when you are writing your proposal.

Otherwise, your response could be for any tender or for any client.

Tip 2: Customise your delivery strategy to meet the tender requirements and objectives

Most companies have a standard approach for how they do business.

But you need to consider how you will customise this approach to:

Meet the specific tender requirements
Achieve the outcomes the client has set, i.e. the contractual performance measures and the procurement objectives.

To get into the top scoring zone – and out of the generic zone – you need tell the client how you will meet their specific requirements, and detail any unique features of this approach that will benefit them.

This is what differentiates you from the competition and makes you eligible to score top marks.

Tip 3: Clearly explain the benefits of your approach

Often when we are writing about a topic we are familiar with, such as the experience of a company, we might assume the evaluator already has knowledge about the business and its past performance.

This can result in providing insufficient information to thoroughly detail your experience and explain the benefits of what this experience means for the client.

The evaluators can only score what is written in your response. We need to go the extra mile and join the dots – telling them the benefits of our proposal, or in this case the benefits of our experience.

For example, if you are referring to your company’s 25-years’ experience in the construction industry, tell the evaluators what this means for them. That is: “Our experience means we understand the key risks of this contract, and we have managed these risks effectively for other clients. As such, we provide you with greater assurance we can meet the requirements for this contract.”

Join me for a Tender Writing Masterclass starting in June: more details on the website: https://tendertrainingcollege.com.au/upcoming-events/

Key steps to prepare your business for tendering – Part 2

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director Tender Training College

In this series, I provide you with the key steps to ensure you have the right business foundations in place before you commit to the tender process.

This will save you valuable time and money when responding to tenders and to increase your chances of success.

In case you missed it, you can read part one of my article and the first three steps here: https://tendertrainingcollege.com.au/key-steps-to-prepare-your-business-for-tendering-part-1/

In this second part, I look at three more steps that will get your business tender-ready and that focus on highlighting your company’s capability.

Step 4: Review your online presence

I recently reviewed a client’s tender response prior to submission – the company was bidding to supply cleaning services for major stadium events.

I looked at their website to get an understanding of their experience in this area but I couldn’t find anything on their event cleaning expertise or performance.

The client who is evaluating the tender may also do the same due diligence.

You want to make sure your online presence reflects your capability in the area you are bidding for. Review and update your website and other online material to reflect this.

Step 5: Review your capability brochure

Often business owners are asked to submit a capability statement with their tender responses.

You want to make sure your capability brochure is up-to-date and will complement the tender response. This means:

Include recent project references
Include current team members
Ensure your information is consistent with and adds value to what is in your tender document
Ensure the document is well formatted and presents a professional image of you company.

Consider that this document might need to change depending on what type of contract you are bidding for, so that the information is always relevant to the tender.

Step 6: Develop a strong value proposition

You want all of your documentation, e.g. tender response, capability brochure, to highlight the benefits of doing business with your company.

Put your client hat on and think about the key and unique features of your service offering. Ask yourself – what benefit do these features deliver to the client?

Drawing out these key features and benefits will help you set the foundation for a client-focused and top-scoring tender response.

If you would like to know more about how to implement these steps, contact us today: support@tendertrainingcollege.com.au or 1300 414 000.

Benefits of auditing your past tender performance

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director, Tender Training College

Are you too busy submitting one tender after another to take stock of your company’s bidding performance?

Unfortunately, many of us fall into this trap. It can be a vicious cycle that doesn’t leave sufficient time for effective reflection on your performance.

This can lead to bad habits in your tender process, poor quality submissions and unskilled bid team members. Not to mention, it can also be downright exhausting!

Pressing the pause button to review your past tender performance can lead to big benefits:

Apply best practice in tendering

I recently undertook an audit of a client’s non-successful tender to help them identify areas of improvement, and ultimately win more business.

The client wanted to check if its tendering performance was in line with industry best practice as they look to compete in more sophisticated tenders and grow their business.

I helped them to identify the gaps between their existing tender performance and best practice, and how these shortfalls could be addressed.

This included updating templates for core documents to encourage the authors to really consider what the client was asking when writing their tender responses.

2. Define a process to enable success

During a tender, most of us are focused on submitting a compelling and competitive bid on time.

So, after you press the send button, it’s worthwhile considering whether your tendering process enabled your performance, or disabled it.

The aforementioned client knew something was wrong with their process as they had forgotten to include a response to a key question in their final submission.

I reviewed their tendering approach to identify where the link in the chain broke. Somewhere along the line, their process let them down.

The client now has a step-by-step process for planning, managing and delivering future tenders that includes a more rigorous bid review and finalisation stage.

3. Give your team the tools of the trade

A tender team can be made up of any number of individuals with a great range of skills.

However, many of these people don’t have official tender qualifications. They have, like many of us, learnt from doing bids over and over again.

An audit of your company’s tender performance can identify the skills and capability shortfall is in your team, and what you can do to address this.

Tenders can be stressful due to their very nature – don’t make them harder on your people by not giving them the tools of the trade to succeed.

A well-trained team will drive up the quality of your submissions and put your performance back on track.

Kate Burrows is the Founder of the Tender Training College. Kate was inspired to start the Tender Training College to help businesses and professionals secure their futures by providing quality tender training courses.

To see how the Tender Training College can help you or your company improve its tendering capabilities, contact k ate@tendertainingcollege.com.au or visit https://tendertrainingcollege.com.au/review-my-tender-online/

Key steps to prepare your business for tendering – Part 1

key steps and tips to organise your business to save you valuable time and money when responding to tenders and to increase your chances of success

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director, Tender Training College

The Tender Training College is joining the fight to give SMEs a larger piece of the procurement pie, calling on governments at all levels to increase the tender participation rates of small and medium sized businesses, and to make the process easier and more accessible for all.

Kate Burrows, Managing Director of the Tender Training College, has helped business owners win more than $25 billion worth of new contracts over the past 15 years and believes SME tendering is key to giving the Australian economy the kick start it needs in a post COVID era.

“We have seen a 30 per cent increase in SMEs looking to improve their tendering skills in recent months so they can compete for government contracts, as they find new ways to survive during this tumultuous time. That’s because government contracts offer good tenures, clear payment terms, defined deliverables and reliable income streams for SMEs to grow their businesses securely.

“However, many small businesses simply don’t know where to start with tendering often because of the highly complex nature of the tenders themselves and the formalities of the process. Tendering is like learning a new language!

“Time and time again I witness how SMEs are unfairly disadvantaged in the process compared to big business because tendering requires significant time, effort and resources to be successful. It’s imperative SMEs educate themselves with the fundamentals of tendering to put themselves in the best possible position to tender, but also for governments at all levels to make the process more equitable and accessible,” explained Ms Burrows.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell said small businesses will play a critical role in the post COVID economic recovery, calling on the Federal Government to offer contracts, with a value of up to $10 million, to small businesses before they are opened to the wider market.^[1]

In the 2018-19 financial year, the Federal Government awarded 78,150 contracts, with 53% going to SMEs totalling $16.7 billion^[2] in value. This represented an 18.2% increase^[3] in the number of Federal Government contracts awarded to SMEs compared to the previous period.

Tender Training College has developed a FREE eBook specifically for SMEs with 10 strategies to help them avoid costly mistakes and to give them the best chance to win government and/or private sector tenders. DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY OF THE EBOOK NOW!

Some of these strategies include:

Thoroughly review the tender: Read all parts of the tender closely to get a complete picture of what you are bidding for. Failure to do so means you are tendering blindly.
Conduct a go/no-go process: Do the analysis when receiving a tender to determine your chances of success and whether or not you should actually bid for the work. Otherwise, bidding could be a waste of time, cost and effort.
Offer the best value for money: Develop a competitive price and identify areas of opportunity that differentiate your tender response and provide value to the client. Put your bid on a superior footing.

[1] https://www.asbfeo.gov.au/news/news-articles/small-business-procurement-panel-essential-economic-recovery

[2] https://www.financeminister.gov.au/media-release/2019/11/21/procurement-contract-targets-exceeded-small-and-medium-businesses

[3] https://www.financeminister.gov.au/media-release/2019/11/21/procurement-contract-targets-exceeded-small-and-medium-businesses

Help needed for SMEs to compete for government contracts

By Kate Burrows, Managing Director, Tender Training College

Some of these strategies include:

Thoroughly review the tender: Read all parts of the tender closely to get a complete picture of what you are bidding for. Failure to do so means you are tendering blindly.
Conduct a go/no-go process: Do the analysis when receiving a tender to determine your chances of success and whether or not you should actually bid for the work. Otherwise, bidding could be a waste of time, cost and effort.
Offer the best value for money: Develop a competitive price and identify areas of opportunity that differentiate your tender response and provide value to the client. Put your bid on a superior footing.

[1] https://www.asbfeo.gov.au/news/news-articles/small-business-procurement-panel-essential-economic-recovery

[2] https://www.financeminister.gov.au/media-release/2019/11/21/procurement-contract-targets-exceeded-small-and-medium-businesses

[3] https://www.financeminister.gov.au/media-release/2019/11/21/procurement-contract-targets-exceeded-small-and-medium-businesses

Five key steps for developing a winning tender price

By Daniel Rothfield, Tender Pricing Specialist

Developing a tender price is no easy task. It is an all-encompassing activity that draws upon significant amounts of information, data and costs, and is extremely involved and time consuming.

I’ve helped many organisations to prepare their tender pricing over the last decade. I’ve seen lots of professionals jump in and start preparing the costs without fully comprehending what’s required as part of the tendering process.

The result of this can be costly mistakes, vital information is missed, a lack of robust modelling and/or, you potentially run out of time.

To make tender pricing easier and more efficient, I follow a step-by-step process* which provides for a structured and organised approach. Here are five key steps from that process for developing a competitive and robust tender price.

Step 1: Understand the tender rules and requirements

People have a natural tendency to launch into things on the assumption that they have all the relevant information and they know what the outcome should look like. But that does not work so well most of the time. The same applies when pricing a tender.

Think of what it takes to assemble a piece a flat-packed furniture, e.g. a TV cabinet with cupboards and shelving. While you may be able to assemble it by simply using the picture on the box as the guide, you will find it much easier and quicker if you follow the detailed assembly instructions.

The same applies for tenders. It is really important to read the tender documentation, including the draft contract, any scope of works, and of course, the pricing instructions and financial model (if one is provided). This will give you a thorough understanding of the tender rules and requirements before you begin preparing your bid cost.

Step 2: Develop a program to map out the actions and tasks

Think about the instructions for assembling the flat-packed TV cabinet. That instruction sheet is an ordered mapping of actions and tasks.

Based on what you have learned from the tender document, it is critical that you create your own complementary set of instructions for preparing the tender pricing – i.e. a program. This will help guide you in an organised and methodical fashion from start to finish.

Ideally, your program will identify tasks and actions, and define who is responsible for completing them, as well as a nominated time for completion. This helps keep the team accountable and on track to deliver to the deadline, and to avoid an unpleasant and potentially stressful rush to the finish.

Step 3: Build a robust pricing framework

The final tendered price is the outcome of a significant amount of work of gathering inputs and outputs for the financial/pricing model. The key to developing a competitive and robust price is setting up the framework for the pricing model at the outset.

When developing a framework, you need to think about all the elements of the pricing requirements to be addressed and how these elements will fit neatly together.

It is similar to building a house – which requires consideration of where the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and stairs might be before the house is built. The same applies to building a price model.

If you don’t prepare the pricing framework, it is inevitable that you will miss something and have to spend lots of time to make corrections or re-work later on.

Step 4: Build a robust pricing model

It is hard to sum up in words what it takes to build a great financial pricing model that gives your bid the competitive edge. The following tips cannot possibly do that justice, but they will help make this process a lot more efficient:

The model should be dynamic – which means it is quick and easy to update, and that multiple inter-related model outputs update simultaneously based on a single change.
Check and test the model as you build it with dummy numbers – this will allow you to efficiently make changes and corrections as you progress. This avoids substantial time at the end to fix it. Or even worse, the possibility that the team will make an incorrect decision based on that model.
Use defined formats in the model to clearly separate and highlight sections for cost inputs, distinct from cost outputs. Visually appealing colour codes and shades are also invaluable for this.

Step 5: Approval of the tender price

A tip for developing a winning tender price is to engage with all people in the tender team to ensure you capture their requirements for the price model throughout the bid.

Host pricing workshops to engage the wider team in the development of the price. This way you bring people along the journey and it helps to increase acceptance of the model outputs and results.

Finally, allow sufficient time for the senior executives of your organisation to review the price model in detail. They will need to make an informed strategic decision to approve the tender price in accordance with their overall bid strategy.

*Daniel Rothfield, is a tender pricing specialist and is the principal of Agility Corporate. He has authored the Tender Training College’s new tender pricing course, which provides a step-by-step process to develop a winning bid price.

Check out the new Tender Pricing Fundamentals Certificate for more tips on preparing a winning tender price.