Sector authorities.
The TROC Tender Ready initiative is free of charge In both cases, the challenge for the Public Sector is still the same: how do they
identify which of the multitude of SME companies who may approach them promoting their wares is really suitably qualified in terms of organisation, infrastructure and service delivery? Accreditations are useful but costly in time, implementation, marketing and monitoring.
There is now a simple answer in the form of a private-
sector, free-of-charge initiative called TROC TENDER READY. Any company which has successfully supplied the Public Sector within the last 12 months or has completed the Tender Readiness Online Check or a Tender Readiness Audit qualifies for the scheme. It provides an icon for display on their company website, plus a hyperlink to a certificate explaining what the symbol means. A couple of pre-formatted press release templates are also supplied allowing the SME to quickly modify and send to their local/ trade press and public sector procurement prospects/ contacts. This non-commercial initiative helps Public Sector procurement teams to identify quickly that the company displaying the TROC TENDER READY symbol is likely to be able to meet certain supply standards from both ethical and service perspectives. Companies which believe they qualify for this can email
info@winningtenders.co.uk and request the TROC TENDER READY symbol. Subject to a verification process it will be issued as soon as possible by the Winning Tenders office.
The steps involved in major tendering exercises are fairly standard with a series of hurdles to be jumped in order to reach the finishing line and win the contract. The initial Pre-
in Public Sector bidding. This cost can be vastly reduced by taking the TROC (Tender Readiness Online Check) a self-paced, self-service approach using a straightforward online questionnaire which, once submitted, is audited, reviewed and is then either passed or rejected with a list of recommendations. The online check (TROC) saves 80%+ of the offline audit cost, thus making it worthwhile for an SME to test-the-water. All the information collated during this process, in either case, can be used to build a Bid Library, which makes tender responses more resource efficient in time and people terms.
After the PQQ comes the Invitation-To-Tender (ITT) or Request-For-Proposal (RFP). These are followed up by short-listing, presentations, demonstrations, client visits, further reviews and eventually a concluding negotiation and detailed project implementation plan. The rewards for winning are good, however, the time and opportunity costs required to achieve a successful result are unlikely to be deemed as good use of an SME’s scarce resources. without some form of outsourced expert assistance. Larger organisations have entire bid teams available to respond to these tenders.
The TROC saves an SME over 80% of the consultancy costs required to get Tender Ready
The principles and rules of
responding to ITT/RFPs are consistent. In the initial phase you need to provide ALL the information requested and, if it is not available, you should explain why not and why this is not actually relevant in your company’s case! If there are a number of possible solutions which your company can supply to the client, do not be tempted to narrow this down to only one as this makes it virtually impossible to discuss the other options later which may become more relevant once they
Qualification process is simpler and faster if a company has already completed some form of tender readiness audit: this usually takes approximately 2-3 days of onsite consultancy costing around £1,500-2,000, which also can be quite off- putting for an SME when considering whether to get involved
38 entrepreneurcountry
have reviewed all the responses. The initial Management/ Executive Summary is crucial, in many cases this is the one element of the response which you can be pretty sure will be read by almost all of the vetting team. The old adage ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ is certainly true here, particularly when trying to convey complex concepts. In almost all instances, there will be standard elements of each response, such as company background, client references, product/service overviews; ensure these include your latest Unique Selling Points, Features, Strengths, Solution
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56