Main challenges
The client had no intranet or bid management software in place
No existing experience of bidding for large contracts
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Geographical region:
London
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Output:
Construction phase health and safety plan, Microsoft Project Plan, Mobilisation Plan, Business Continuity Plan, various policies, 42 pages of narrative response, design and branding
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Weighting:
70%/30% quality/price
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Submission:
Hard copy and portal upload
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Outcome:
Won
Approach
We were approached by a medium-sized company with a turnover of circa £70 million. The organisation were bidding into London Underground for station refurbishment works with a project value of around £600k and wanted our assistance to make their submission as strong as possible. We provided bid management, bid writing, planning and a design service over a project lasting three weeks, ensuring that both the content and presentation of the submission were as professional as possible.
Due to the short timescales, we had to work efficiently and use multiple members of our bid writing team to ensure that all works were undertaken as fully and smoothly as possible. We initially looked at the following areas with the client: bid themes, key differentiators and competitive advantage, analysed thoroughly but efficiently, ensuring that the writing process proceeded in a smooth and timely manner.
We achieved this by running concurrent workshops and interviews with key members of the management team, gaining vital knowledge and information which was then included within the final submission to make it as strong as possible. Workshops allowed us to train all relevant staff fully in efficient bid writing and management techniques so that the tender showed the capabilities of the company as fully as possible.
In undertaking this project we demonstrated one of our unique selling points. We are one of the only independent bid writing and bid management companies which does not use associates or freelance staff. All our staff are directly employed bid professionals who fully understand the processes we use, rather than using consultants who are often of variable quality, and therefore cannot guarantee consistently high standards of work. On this occasion it meant that our bid and tender writers were able to create a top quality submission by using proven, converging and mutually supportive processes within a short time frame.
This project was a success and our client was delighted to win the bid. They subsequently went on to win another three similar contracts with our help and we have developed a fully functioning and updateable bid library for them. This has helped to develop a successful relationship of trust with the client, resulting in us being their first choice for bid writing services.