Tendering: Your experiences
Discussion
It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the processes of tendering for public sector contractors is evolving into a level of banality that could ultimately lead to a scenario that the process was designed to eliminate, that being with more and more companies choosing not to submit bids creating less choice, less quality at a higher price.
It seems that companies are increasingly chosen not because they are the best for the contract but because they are the best at completing a tender. The argument is that tendering no longer ensures transparency, value and quality but simply eliminates all risk and responsibility from those procuring the service. If it all goes wrong, nobody is to blame other than the supplier as all the boxes were ticked during the procurement process.
These are not just my views but those increasingly expressed by many other companies serving the public sector, from major global firms to smaller business.
I’ve been invited to write an open letter to various bodies including the LGA, EU and Ministers with a view to flagging this issue up so it can be debated and addressed.
I know that this is a subject that crops up a lot here and many have their own views so what I’d like to do in the letter is refer the readers to the comments from others by quoting this thread.
So any views, experiences or ideas you may have on this subject, now’s your chance to air them to those at the top!
(I’ll be sending the letter mid October)
It seems that companies are increasingly chosen not because they are the best for the contract but because they are the best at completing a tender. The argument is that tendering no longer ensures transparency, value and quality but simply eliminates all risk and responsibility from those procuring the service. If it all goes wrong, nobody is to blame other than the supplier as all the boxes were ticked during the procurement process.
These are not just my views but those increasingly expressed by many other companies serving the public sector, from major global firms to smaller business.
I’ve been invited to write an open letter to various bodies including the LGA, EU and Ministers with a view to flagging this issue up so it can be debated and addressed.
I know that this is a subject that crops up a lot here and many have their own views so what I’d like to do in the letter is refer the readers to the comments from others by quoting this thread.
So any views, experiences or ideas you may have on this subject, now’s your chance to air them to those at the top!
(I’ll be sending the letter mid October)
You are probably correct, but I have little knowledge of these procedures, probably because we have never got far enough to even talk to a human being and explain what we can offer!
I have just registered our company for www.londonlutonmeetthebuyer.com I am waiting to see if we are lucky enough to get through to the next step, maybe some of you guys could also apply!
On a similar point my colleagues in China supplied most of the flags, banners etc to the Beijing Olympics, we could also do the same for London 2012, trouble is I cannot find out who to even approach to offer such a service. Any of you guys know?
I have just registered our company for www.londonlutonmeetthebuyer.com I am waiting to see if we are lucky enough to get through to the next step, maybe some of you guys could also apply!
On a similar point my colleagues in China supplied most of the flags, banners etc to the Beijing Olympics, we could also do the same for London 2012, trouble is I cannot find out who to even approach to offer such a service. Any of you guys know?
Golfman said:
On a similar point my colleagues in China supplied most of the flags, banners etc to the Beijing Olympics, we could also do the same for London 2012, trouble is I cannot find out who to even approach to offer such a service. Any of you guys know?
www.competefor.com is where we have registered for opportunities.Edited by Stevenj214 on Wednesday 24th September 14:09
I have been tendering for 10 years now, have done little £50k jobs up to about £8m and probably been involved in 50+.
I disagree with the points raised so far. Yes there is a certain amount of box ticking that goes on, yes it is a pain, yes you have to get it right. It is easy to do that, if slightly sole destroying. My point is, you get it right and your in! How hard is it to get through the door of a Tesco buyer to pitch your product? How long would the line be if all you had to do is tick some boxes? It is miles easier to pitch a product through a tender than it ever will be to a commercial organisation.
Regarding the points raised about it being a fata com plea. Again, this is rubbish. If you were to send Tesco a glossy brochure describing your best cheddar, would you get the order? Of course not. You could argue in this case that it was a fata com plea they got their cheese from there existing supplier. You need to prove you are cheaper, quicker, tastier, reliable etc. Same goes for a tender. Tender cold and you will lose. Warm them up before hand and get the tender full of your ideas then suddenly you have the upper hand and if you score the highest you have won!
Which brings me on to another point! Who in the world tells you how you can win business? Who says "price is the most important thing" or "quality is everything"? With a tender they break down EVERY SECTION of the tender and TELL YOU HOW TO WIN. Every section is given points or percentages, as is the price and the highest score wins! Again, this is 100 times easier than pitching to the likes of Tesco.
On the sites, this is the only one worth bothering with: http://ted.europa.eu/ You can pay for others to search for you but any over E200k goes through there. Regarding the Olympics it will be let out in big jobs to big companies due to the overhead of managing suppliers. You need to pitch to the company that won the contract and win the business that way.
I have 2 big grumbles about tendering.
The biggest grumble I have is over company sizes. It has been very hard for us as a start up to "establish ourselves" in the market place. There is no appetite to risk. This is kind of fair enough as it is public money.
This means that you can get caught in a catch 22 where:
a) you have no track record as you havent won anything
b) you cant win anything as you have no track record
What happens? You run out of money and go bust, proving the tenders point!
What should happen is the risk of the procurement and project is managed through techniques including: payment on delivery, ESCROW and ensuring succession / DR. Relatively easy things to manage if you ask me.
My second point is short and simple. Many thousands are invested in submitting a tender. Multiply that by 4, 6 or 8 tenderers and it adds up to a lot of money. What really pisses me off is when know one wins it. I don't care why, there is no excuse for it!
StevieBee, feel free to buy me a lunch/dinner and I will tell you more!
I disagree with the points raised so far. Yes there is a certain amount of box ticking that goes on, yes it is a pain, yes you have to get it right. It is easy to do that, if slightly sole destroying. My point is, you get it right and your in! How hard is it to get through the door of a Tesco buyer to pitch your product? How long would the line be if all you had to do is tick some boxes? It is miles easier to pitch a product through a tender than it ever will be to a commercial organisation.
Regarding the points raised about it being a fata com plea. Again, this is rubbish. If you were to send Tesco a glossy brochure describing your best cheddar, would you get the order? Of course not. You could argue in this case that it was a fata com plea they got their cheese from there existing supplier. You need to prove you are cheaper, quicker, tastier, reliable etc. Same goes for a tender. Tender cold and you will lose. Warm them up before hand and get the tender full of your ideas then suddenly you have the upper hand and if you score the highest you have won!
Which brings me on to another point! Who in the world tells you how you can win business? Who says "price is the most important thing" or "quality is everything"? With a tender they break down EVERY SECTION of the tender and TELL YOU HOW TO WIN. Every section is given points or percentages, as is the price and the highest score wins! Again, this is 100 times easier than pitching to the likes of Tesco.
On the sites, this is the only one worth bothering with: http://ted.europa.eu/ You can pay for others to search for you but any over E200k goes through there. Regarding the Olympics it will be let out in big jobs to big companies due to the overhead of managing suppliers. You need to pitch to the company that won the contract and win the business that way.
I have 2 big grumbles about tendering.
The biggest grumble I have is over company sizes. It has been very hard for us as a start up to "establish ourselves" in the market place. There is no appetite to risk. This is kind of fair enough as it is public money.
This means that you can get caught in a catch 22 where:
a) you have no track record as you havent won anything
b) you cant win anything as you have no track record
What happens? You run out of money and go bust, proving the tenders point!
What should happen is the risk of the procurement and project is managed through techniques including: payment on delivery, ESCROW and ensuring succession / DR. Relatively easy things to manage if you ask me.
My second point is short and simple. Many thousands are invested in submitting a tender. Multiply that by 4, 6 or 8 tenderers and it adds up to a lot of money. What really pisses me off is when know one wins it. I don't care why, there is no excuse for it!
StevieBee, feel free to buy me a lunch/dinner and I will tell you more!
Our company responds to a lot of local government / higher education funding grants. My experience is that that they are run by committe and therefore no one on the commiteee wants to be liable for making a decision. This means that they come up with some random scoring matrix that then generates a score and an eventual winner - it's complete b*ll&cks.
Most of these tender are co-written by a specific vendor that has a relationship with the account in question - they are usually the ones who are successful. we have managed to influence tenders and won in this way.
The other thing is that because no one wants to actually make the decison they either write ar*e covering tender documents or hire a "consultant" to help them. we no bid a £7m opportunity last year as I knew that the consultant that they were using was signed up as a consultant for a major IT company who funnily enough were depositing large BUNGS into his wifes prague bank account!
They produced a 250 page tender document, spent their £7m (tax payers money) and it's still not working 12 months on.
On the other hand, if you can get to the tender source and influence it - soem times they can be 5 pagers, little work and successful
It is becomeing widely apparent that tendering doesn't always get you the best value or solution.
rant over.....sorry!
Most of these tender are co-written by a specific vendor that has a relationship with the account in question - they are usually the ones who are successful. we have managed to influence tenders and won in this way.
The other thing is that because no one wants to actually make the decison they either write ar*e covering tender documents or hire a "consultant" to help them. we no bid a £7m opportunity last year as I knew that the consultant that they were using was signed up as a consultant for a major IT company who funnily enough were depositing large BUNGS into his wifes prague bank account!
They produced a 250 page tender document, spent their £7m (tax payers money) and it's still not working 12 months on.
On the other hand, if you can get to the tender source and influence it - soem times they can be 5 pagers, little work and successful
It is becomeing widely apparent that tendering doesn't always get you the best value or solution.
rant over.....sorry!
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