In our last two blogs, we have written about our ‘Four Phase approach’ to the tender writing process and the benefits of working through these phases to ensure a successful bid outcome.
Phase 1 looks at the importance of developing a contract strategy, which is then followed by Phase 2 – Opportunity Analysis, encouraging you to really look into and analyse new contract opportunities before tendering for them.
In this blog, we look at the third phase in our approach – Tender Writing and Management.
Our team of experts don’t just go away and write a tender bid for our clients to submit. We create a clear timeline of the project which drives the entire tender writing process.
Not only does this ensure we create a winning submission, it means we work collaboratively with our clients, every step of the way. We work together to gather the information needed and the process is closely monitored at all stages to ensure that each question presents the correct information and is compellingly written to score the highest points possible and that no critical detail is missed.
Unlike other consultancies and bid writing companies, we are transparent and honest about tender opportunities to ensure we only invest time and money bidding for contracts we can win. We evaluate the compliance and eligibility, commercial feasibility and conduct a competitor analysis. This process considerably increases the win rate, optimises internal resources and evaluates if your contract growth is aligned to the strategic objective of your company.
Effective planning
Having an effective planning stage is the most important component of the tender writing and management process. When we work with clients, we assign them with a Bid Manager who will collaboratively design a full Project Plan specific to the needs of their organisation. From there, we conduct thorough research, helping our clients to understand the issues of the contract and making sure there is a coherent delivery model in place. Then we design a specific contract strategy that will ultimately win more contracts.
Writing a tender bid
It sounds simple, but to be successful, a submission needs to fit the specific requirements of the bid. This means fully understanding and addressing the points raised and adhering to conditions such as word limits and submission deadlines. We support our clients through the submission process by discussing the process and its requirements. One stage that often gets overlooked or rushed is the checking and approval process, so make you sure you have the bid written in plenty of time to allow for the relevant parties to not only have sight of the bid draft, but to also have time to implement any changes required.
Here at K Low Consulting, once we have worked with everyone in the team to write the tender bid, we ensure the sign-off process is bespoke to their company or organisation to fit any internal quality assurance and governance protocols so there are no unforeseen hold ups. To ensure the very best quality, each tender response undergoes internal peer review too, which is something we would recommend. Uniquely where appropriate, we even utilise specialist expert advisers to perform an additional panel review, for example our team of clinical advisers.
Feedback
Once the bid has gone through the approval process, be sure to listen to and address any feedback or recommendations from your team. We work hand-in-hand with our clients to finalise and ensure a fully compliant upload and submission. Wherever possible, we highly recommend our support is always taken advantage of on the day of submission.
What happens next?
Post submission can be a stressful and challenging time. Whilst you wait for a response or decision, you need to have someone on hand to provide quick responsive support for any subsequent clarifications or questions that may be requested by the Commissioner. When only 24 or 48 hours is given to respond, this can be critical to avoid losing a bid due to a delay.
Once you have – hopefully – won the contract, let us help you to deliver against your Mobilisation or Implementation Plan to get the contract up and running, delivering KPIs and ensuring ‘business as usual’ is met and the client experience is a smooth one.
For more information or to discuss how we can work with your organisation to help you win tender bids that are right for you, contact us today on 0330 1331 041 or info@klowconsulting.com.