By tendering, or the tender process, we mean the process of bidding for formal contracts, often associated with public sector tenders. These opportunities typically provide a clear scope, specification, timeline and contract duration. In comparison, to a smaller 'deal' which may be agreed more casually and without too many 'specifics'. There are benefits to both, but when looking to get long term commitment and security for your business, often tendering is the key tool for success.
What do we mean by 'tendering support'?
By tendering support, we are referring to the services offered by businesses, such as Thornton & Lowe, to support organisations to successful find, bid and win tenders.
Purpose of this article
This article is aimed at businesses who are looking for tendering support in order win long term contracts. We provide information and guidance on the tendering process, our bid writing services and quick wins your business can start implementing today, in order to prepare successfully for securing longer term contracts and tenders.
How long is a long term contract, when tendering for business?
3 years plus. This is based on our experience as a consultancy business offering tendering support to hundreds of customers looking to secure long term contracts across works, services and supplies. Quite often a contract will be split into 2 years, with a 2 year extension, based on performance. Or a 3 plus 1 year extension is also popular within public sector tendering.
There are of course, 'longer' term contracts in excess of 20 years for key strategic public sector requirements, such as development or partnering agreements, however, these are by no means frequent nor accessible for many businesses.
How can an external tendering business write a successful bid for my business?
As an outsourced tendering business or bid writing consultancy, it is our job to efficiently understand your business, and become an embedded part of the team. Our tender subscription services give both parties the time and support to develop a high-performing partnership.
Our first bid with a new client, especially for a long term contract, such as a government tender, requires investment from both sides and often within limited or reduced timescales. However, we have proven systems to ease the 'pain' associated sharing lots of information.
When quoting for tendering support, we require access to the full tender pack. We analyse this carefully and discuss the requirements with our client. Where possible, and with a new client, we ask for a copy of a recent bid in order for us to assess what existing information is in place, which we may be able to use. This speeds up our information collection exercise, highlights the gaps in what we need and ensures our quote for bid writing services is as accurate as possible, helping you maximise your return on investment when outsourcing your tendering in order to win longer term contracts. This of course our focus, and critical, balance up the costs of outsourced bid writing.
Once the quote is accepted, we produce a detailed gap analysis and bid plan which we run through, and agree, in a meeting with our customer. In this meeting, we confirm deadlines for bid drafts, interviews and information collection in order to understand your specific solution to the tender. We then interview your team, get under the skin of the business, storyboard the quality questions with you and agree the required evidence to support these tender responses.
We then get to work leading the process and developing the required bid responses, which is the core of our tendering support.
After our internal quality assurance, we share drafts with you and encourage your team to review the content and feedback on the tender responses. This is especially important when we are first working together. We then action any changes and return your 2nd and usually final drafts, ready for submission! These are fully packaged, including supporting documents such as your policies.
You can imagine, the more we work with a client the easier this process becomes. We have worked with many of our clients for years and we are there dedicated tender support team for long term contracts or key strategic opportunities. We also monitor portals, provide bid coordination and wider bid support for our clients.
Our process is designed to minimise disruption to our clients; however, we still need to understand your business and why you are best placed to win the government tender.
Examples of long term contracts which often require tendering support:
Larger private sector tenders with blue chip organisations. They often have formal purchasing or procurement departments. These organisations, as a result of their size and category spend, will often run tendering in a format more similar to that of the public sector. Such as, formal specifications, scope of works, pre-qualification (PQQs) and a formal proposal or ITT response, being required. As a result of this formal tendering exercise, they will often offer longer term contracts and commitment in order to allow you to invest further into the 'partnership', increase the economies of scale, drive efficiencies and ultimately save money.
Public sector tenders and the associated government procurement. This takes many different forms, which will be changing again in October 2024. However, public sector tenders often require tendering support due to their complexity, focus on compliance and the importance of ensuring a competitive bid, across both quality questions, social value and price.
Public sector procurement frameworks. Currently, these government 'approved suppliers lists' are 4 years in duration. While they do not usually guarantee work, framework agreements are a highly popular route to engage with suppliers for long term contracts. Quite often the process will go:
Get awarded onto a framework. You are now approved, usually for a specific 'lot'/ service/ product and specification locations
A public sector buyer decides to use the framework you are on in order to run their tender. The framework saving them time and money, as suppliers are already compliant and approved
You get invited via the framework. This is why it is important to monitor portal alerts and emails
Respond to the tender, a mini competition or call-off (from a framework), which has more specific requirement, than the original framework bid
Get awarded the mini competition as you have the best overall bid - price and quality (MEAT - Most Economically Advantageous Tender, which is changing to MAT - Most Advantageous Tender in October, which is discussed in our pricing strategy article)
Secure the contract!
Tendering support services
At Thornton & Lowe, we offer a full '360' tendering support service for our clients. Helping them win long term contracts.
Long term contracts offer many advantages for businesses:
Stability and Predictability
Enhanced Relationships
Cost Savings
Reduced Risk
Investment and Innovation
Competitive Advantage
Operational Efficiency.
We can discuss and help your business weigh the pros and cons of tendering for long term contracts. While they offer stability and benefits, they also come with potential drawbacks, such as reduced flexibility, fixed terms and an investment in more than just the tender response, but your wider business infrastructure, procedures and team. Businesses should assess their specific needs, market conditions, competitors, and risk tolerance before committing to longer term contracts.
Where do I find long term contracts in the UK?
The UK Government has 2 main sites currently where they advertise tendering opportunities:
Find a Tender (higher value, which will be your long term contracts).
Our free public sector tender alert tool, Tender Pipeline, collates data from these sites and further 8, and puts it into a 'bidder friendly' format.
Key advice for winning long term contracts: take tendering seriously!
If you're now looking to win long term contracts through tendering, here’s some essential advice - it boils down to thinking about each opportunity operationally, really considering the market, competitors, incumbent suppliers and practical requirements of the tender. Taking the tendering process and opportunity seriously. You need to convince a buyer you are best option. This often means focusing on fewer bids but ensuring each one is high quality and tailored to the client's needs.
Instead of spreading your efforts thin across numerous bids, concentrate on a few opportunities where you have the best chance of success. Invest time and resources to make these bids stand out
Before you start writing your bid, take time to understand what the client wants. Research their needs, priorities, and past projects. Tailor your bid to show how you can meet their specific requirements
Make sure your bid is clear, concise, and free of jargon. Use straightforward language to communicate your points effectively. Ensure your proposal is easy to read and understand
Back up your claims with solid evidence. Include case studies, testimonials, screenshots, data and examples of past successes to show you can deliver what you're promising
Pay close attention to the tendering instructions and criteria. Make sure you address all the requirements and follow the submission guidelines carefully
Consider your bid design and present your tender response professionally. A well-organised and visually appealing document can make a strong impression on the evaluators
If needed, don't hesitate to get tendering support from bid writing consultants. We have helped our clients win hundreds of contracts and can significantly enhance the quality of your submission and increase your chances of winning.
Our MD, Dave Thornton, published a brief article on Linkedin describing his single top tip.
