Is your business new to tendering? If so, you are probably aware that there are vast amounts of information and websites available that to the inexperienced/uninitiated can be costly and confusing.
If you are a budget conscious SME looking to find your way in the arena of public sector tendering, follow these initial steps to better understand how to select tenders that are right for your business and also those you will stand a good chance of winning.
In the early days of considering and pursuing public sector tender opportunities, it is worth casting your net wide in terms of the scope of tenders that you will assess. You can then gain an understanding of how they are typically structured, before deciding whether or not you will bid. Expressing an interest in a tender and downloading the documents does not commit you to submitting a response.
Registering with portals and saving search criteria for daily/weekly alerts should be a priority action. Once you have a better understanding of the scale and scope of tenders that are suitable for your business, you can then refine these search criteria to provide you with results that are more relevant.
Start with Contracts Finder, Find a Tender and ProContract. Thereafter, consult our eSourcing Directory for tender portal website links, which are organised geographically.
Key stages to bear in mind are as follows:
- Finding relevant opportunities (through the portals noted above and in our eSourcing Directory)
- Assessing those opportunities for suitability (looking at the specification and requirements to assess if you can deliver)
- Recording your bid/no-bid decision. If you can keep a note of bids you have considered and the reasons you choose to proceed (or not), this will help inform a bid/no-bid strategy that will help you assess future tender opportunities more quickly
- For those tenders you choose to pursue, ensure you prepare to respond to the tender (by assigning resources, collating information, preparing a project plan that incorporates planning, drafting, reviewing and submission stages)
- Plan, draft, review, re-fine and finalise the tender response documents
- Submitting/uploading the tender response documents and any/all appendices needed
We hope this helps however if you are still overwhelmed by the information and opportunities available,remember we offer a range of services to help you out. These range from tender training, so you can stand on your own two feet to writing winning tender submissions, to our full tender writing service! Get in touch for a quote for our services.