The first truth of bidding is that it takes time. Even for moderately simple tenders, putting a high-quality bid submission together requires a sustained, concentrated effort, co-ordination between different parts of the business, and a lot of resource management. A typical tender submission lasts around 4-6 weeks which is theoretically plenty of time to put together a coherent and compelling
Cultural Intelligence (sometimes referred to as CQ, short for cultural quotient) is a relatively new concept which has come to the forefront in business management, stemming from academic research at the start of the 2000s by Professors Christopher Earley and Soon Ang. CQ refers to an individual’s (and by extension, an organisation’s) ability to work well in a diverse or
Understanding how to bid for a new contract can spell the difference between success and failure, says David Gray, managing director, shared his thoughts in a recent article in Growing Business Intelligence. 1. Be selective SMEs can waste a lot of time and effort on bidding for contracts if they don’t know what they are doing. A lot of SMEs
Is your business a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME)? Do you want to win more public contracts? Then why not watch our latest Webinar focused on how you can make quick changes to improve your bids and win more public contracts. This year the UK public sector will tender out £290 billion+ buying goods and services. Their aim is to
When a new opportunity lands, it is tempting to rush in and start bid writing straight away, as the clock is already ticking. But it’s vital not to start writing too soon, before planning and preparing. Here are 10 things to do before you begin writing your bid or proposal. Qualify the opportunity – if it’s not realistically winnable, don’t
On 31st May, the Scottish Government’s Resource Spending Review warned of cuts to be made across a range of public services in the country over the next four years. This will likely raise some eyebrows amongst organisations who regularly bid for contracts in the Scottish public sector. Although the Spending Review is not a Budget, it does set out the
Each year the UK public sector tenders out £290 billion+ buying goods and services, which provides an enormous opportunity for businesses with the right bid writing skills and expertise to capture their share of these valuable contracts. However, the majority of SMEs are not currently tendering for public sector business and of those that are, less than half are bidding
Case studies are a great way to demonstrate how you solve your customers’ challenges successfully. They need to tell your story, be relevant to the bid you are responding to and evidence how your customer benefited from buying similar services to those included in your bid where possible. In the past five years, our managing director David Gray has written
Following the challenges of Brexit and COVID-19, we are now seeing increasing energy and fuel prices, a cost-of-living crisis and the war in Ukraine all impacting supply chains, labour markets and material costs. With such uncertainty causing extreme market volatility, how can we commit to long-term pricing in our bids and tenders? Start upstream – educate your clients before they
Organisations that have a track record of delivering winning bids usually do not wait until the PQQ or tender first appears to start their work on a bid. In public sector bidding, it is good to check if the client has issued a Prior Information Notice (PIN). This will contain some useful information and a contact for further questions. It
