We were asked in April 2019 to help complete the re-tender for a Local Authority Kitchen & Bathroom Replacement and Associated Works contract. Having worked with this client since 2016, submitting tenders for a variety of local building refurbishment and planned maintenance contracts, we were well versed in the business processes and procedures.
We had already completed a number of Kitchen & Bathroom tenders for them previously, including a successful submission to the same authority for the same works in 2016. Therefore, we felt confident in our ability to complete the response and score the required marks to win the works for our client.
The Local Authority had quite specific templates to use for the submission and extremely tight word counts so, to start the process off, we built a full response file. This included all the client templates and provided content plans for each answer, detailing what needed to be covered and how many words each point could use to comply with the word count.
Once the initial exercise was complete we shared our document with the client to show them any gaps in information and specifics we would require from them in order to complete the tender response. By preference the client liked to go through information and content in person, so we visited their offices to meet with the Commercial Director and current Contracts Manager for the work up for re-tender.
During this meeting we were able to find out from first hand experience on the current contract what the Local Authority liked, didn’t like, how they communicated with their residents and the performance measures they were currently monitoring. This enabled us to write a completely tailored response from experience and not just copy/pasting generic company information. The value in doing this is huge and is worth time spent with the team to discuss nuggets of information which can add significant value to the response.
One area we were able to determine as a key priority for the client was a focus on customer service and evidencing previous delivery. So these were key to get into every response in terms of our approach, previous successes and evidence of achievement. It is not enough to tell a buyer you deliver extremely high levels of customer service – you need to evidence that you have done it before.
Following this meeting, we were able to complete the write up of all responses and send back to the client to review and sign off prior to submission. We were delighted to find out the client secured the retendered contract and continued to deliver as they had for the last 3 years on the contract.
