MD Blog

Tender Writing – Why the failure of Buy Local intiatives? Local purchasing initiatives are everywhere. Nearly every local authority has some commitment to buying from local suppliers where possible. It helps the local economy and ensures that local money stays in the area for the benefit of local people. The ambitions behind such initiat...

Catering Tenders under Scrutiny in Operation Hospital Food Tender writing and food are two things close to my heart and so it was with interest that I watched with interest someone trying to plat fog on Saturday morning TV. In yet another attempt to raise awareness about the quality of NHS catering, James Martin this week waded into the iss...

PQQ completion made easy Since the start of the economic recession, the new Government has been quite vocal about its vision for a public sector that buys from SMEs. With traditionally low engagement and high barriers to entry, SMEs have tended to shy away from tendering for public sector contracts with the consensus being that it was a waste of...

Is it too late to tender? Olympic tenders and where to find them. Considering that the London Olympics 2012 is less than four months away, you would be forgiven for thinking that all opportunities for business relating to the Olympics would be long by now. Thankfully, that is not the case and there are still plenty of tender writing opportunities...

Cost Modelling and Tender Writing A Fair Wage for a Fair Day’s Work. Whilst tender writing on the whole is a complicated, lengthy and costly process, nothing boggles the collective minds of suppliers more than building an appropriate cost model. In essence, the body of the tender is straight-forward, even if it demands a lengthy process o...

CE Marking and Construction Tender Writing   CE marking (aka Conformite Europeenne) has been around a while. Companies that trade products within the vast majority of the European Union are required to have their products documented, tested and certified before a sale can take place. Purchasers of goods in Europe are unable to trade product...

 Getting the most from your Tender Writing Training Writing tenders for important contracts is not something that can be taken lightly or approached in a relaxed manner. In fact, for some organisations, writing effective tenders can be considered as ‘mission critical’ – the very future of the company rests upon the abili...

Writing a tender and MEAT   When the economy took a turn for the worse and when the Conservative/Liberal Government limped to power in 2010, SME’s everywhere felt a collective chill. Those that survived by writing tenders for public contracts were the most sensitive to the news that the aim of the new Government was to cut public secto...

Tender success through effective communication Effective communication between suppliers and purchasers at the earliest stages improves the quality of the tender process from beginning to end and ensures that both parties are fully aware of their obligations and expectations. Communication is a two way process and it is not only for the buyer to...

 Lessons in Tender Writing from the Apprentice   Or should that be ‘lessons in how not to write a tender from the Apprentice’? Although the business world in general and tender writers in particular probably can’t learn a lot from the candidates on the Apprentice, significant lessons can be gleaned in how and how not t...