Written by Erica Lund, Tender Consultant, Tender Team, [email protected]
I recently had a client who worked with an organisation for seven years and then found herself having to tender for the work this year. A change in procurement rules within the organisation meant that open public tendering was their only option.
In this particular case, not tendering was not the answer, but she sought the professional help of Tender Team and thankfully won the tender. You might think of course that she had to tender for the work, how else is she going to win new work and keep the company in business? But sometimes the situation companies find themselves in is not so clear cut.
Do you know your client? Have you worked with them in the past? More importantly do they know you? And do you think your company’s reputation stands up to scrutiny?
With the downturn in our economy I have seen many companies tendering for everything that is openly published even if their chances of winning the tender are less than 5%.
It’s like the lottery, if you’re not in you can’t win! But ask yourself; is tendering for everything the right path to winning new work? It will certainly keep staff in the office busy, but are you getting the right return on your investment?
Taking the time to think strategically when it comes to tendering for publically procured work can pay dividends.
Developing a procedure where you can quickly assess each tender that is published and determine your chances of winning can really separate the wood from the trees.
This procedure is often called a Go/Stop decision. It takes account of a wide variety of factors which will influence the final outcome for you and your company such as:
- Is this an open tender? Or invitation only?
- How many of our competitors are likely to tender for this work? And how many have worked for the potential client before?
- Have we worked for this client before? Do we have a good relationship with them?
- What qualifications is the client looking for? Do we have them?
- What level of effort is required to complete this tender on time? Will that effort be rewarded if we win the work?
Having this decision made at the start of the tendering process can reduce the number of tenders your company submits and at the same time increase your chances of winning the tenders that you do submit.
You can concentrate your resources on those tenders that you have a better percentage chance of winning from the outset. Sometimes NOT tendering is actually the right answer.
For a free Go/Stop decision support tool and more information on Go/Stop decisions that save you time and money, please contact Erica at [email protected].
