The client, a nationwide, established refurbishment, modernisation and retrofit contractor, had a range of previous experience in delivering the scope of works required, as well as existing experience with the local authority.
This was the second project we had supported the client on, having previously assisted on a similar contract for the remediation of external cladding on a high-rise building. Experience supporting on a previous tender submission gave us insight into their working processes and procedures.
Main challenges
As a highly regulated and safety-led industry, one of the main challenges was ensuring we presented the client’s experience and expertise, in addition to capturing key concepts to accurately show compliance with the specification and wider, industry-wide regulations.
Further challenges included:
- Working on a strategically important tender, with a successful outcome resulting in an opportunity for the client to deliver works of similar size and scope in the region
- Liaising with multiple client stakeholders, including those responsible for pricing, producing a programme of works and the design team (including architects and structural engineers)
- Collating highly technical details from a range of stakeholders, summarising these in an accessible way for the evaluator, whilst still retaining the original meaning and benefits of our client’s proposed solutions
- Writing about challenging, industry-specific topics, such as Building Regulations, Building Safety Regulator (BSR) Gateway 2-3 and the RIBA Plan of Work 2020.
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Geographical Region:
London
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Output:
9,000 words across nine quality questions, including a 3,000 word response on previous experience relative to the opportunity
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Weighting:
60% quality / 40% price
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Submission:
Electronic and portal based
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Outcome:
Pending
Project overview
Our overall scope of works included 9,000 words across nine quality questions, worth 60% of the overall marks available on the tender exercise. The contract was a pre-construction services agreement (PCSA) contract, with a second stage upon award dedicated to finalising the design and build of the works.
Upon the client agreeing to our quotation, Senior Bid Writer Lewis Day was assigned due to his experience supporting clients on tenders of similar size, scope and complexity. After reviewing the specification, associated documents and undertaking initial research on the client, Lewis produced an initial answer plan and tender-specific structure to inform his client interview, ensuring each question was scrutinised and the key theme of each, as well as the tender as a whole, was captured.
Topics within the question set included:
- Experience of delivering projects of similar size, scope and value, with positive outcomes and KPIs evidenced
- Provision of a tender-stage programme/Gantt chart with an accompanying narrative explaining the rationale and critical path
- How risks will be identified, managed and mitigated on the project, including both health and safety risks and overall project risks, e.g. budgets and delays
- Details of the project team alongside their CVs, competencies and experience
- How disruption to residents will be mitigated and how the client would engage with residents throughout delivery
- Previous examples of the use of new construction methods, technologies and products, and the associated sustainability benefits
- Approach to change management and variations, and how the client would drive value for money
- Handover and contract completion measures, including how potential disputes or issues would be avoided
- Social value, with details of how our client would support the housing association in providing meaningful change in the region.
Based on initial meetings with the client, as well as ongoing communication throughout the project, Lewis drafted the responses with reference to the information gathered and the specification. Due to the size and technical nature of the tender questions, Quality Reviewers Victoria Hughes and John Winder were involved in the review process, drawing on both their experience within construction and fire remedial work tendering, and knowledge of the housing association.
Each response was read line-by-line alongside the specification and tender documents to ensure compliance, with a quality review suggesting further amendments or suggestions to strengthen the responses.
Lewis amended the responses based on the feedback provided by Victoria and John, with copies sent for proofreading to our CIEP-accredited external proofreader. The final drafts were then sent to the client for review, with Lewis attending a Teams meeting to finalise the responses ready for upload to the portal.
Outcome
Although the client is still waiting for the outcome of the project, they expressed their satisfaction with the service they received, including the quality and content of the responses, as well as the communication prior to, during and after submission.
We have since supported the client with a further project and look forward to working with them again in the future to continue to produce high-quality tender submissions.