By: Bid Specialists
There has never been a better time to consider bidding for government contracts and tenders. The UK Government wants small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from a market worth £300bn a year in procurement spend, either directly or indirectly via the supply chain.
A new ‘Procurement Bill’ will be introduced in 2024 that is expected to make doing business with the government simpler, more transparent, and easier for SMEs. Whether you are an existing supplier or a new SME considering breaking into public sector business, in this article you will find practical guidance and essential steps to help you take your business to the next level of growth.
Setting up for success
To unlock government contract opportunities effectively and consistently as an SME, you will need a clear strategic vision, compliant internal systems and processes, and an A team with the right skills and expertise. These will set the foundations for your business and help you optimise your bidding capability, increase your win rate and improve your ROI.
If your business is not ready yet to sell directly to the government, try bidding via a lead bidder (tier 1 contractor) with more experience in government tendering until your business builds an initial proven track record of success.
If you feel that you need external help and support, you could hire a permanent or seasonal Bid Writer/Manager who has sector-specific expertise.
Finding contract opportunities
How do I find government contracts? This is a question often asked by SMEs new to bidding on public sector tender opportunities. We’ve compiled the list of government sources and portals that you can use to search for opportunities, free of charge:
- Contracts Finder for lower value contracts worth over £12,000 (including VAT) in England and with non-devolved bodies.
- Find a Tender for high value contracts in the UK (usually above £138,760 including VAT)
- Public Contracts Scotland for opportunities with public sector bodies in Scotland
- Sell2Wales for opportunities with public sector bodies in Wales
- eSourcing NI and eTendersNI for opportunities with public sector bodies in Northern Ireland
As an SME, you could also consider securing a place on Public Sector Frameworks and or Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS), directly or as a sub-contractor. These are designed to offer private businesses with a quick, easy and flexible route to market and they cover a wide range of public sector verticals – for example, Crown Commercial Services (CCS), NHS Shared Business Services, Scottish Government Frameworks, and many more.
Qualifying winnable opportunities
Having a robust opportunity qualification process will help you avoid wasting time and resources. It is essential to focus on quality rather than quantity to ensure you only invest in winnable opportunities. A qualified deal should align with your company strategy and give you the best ROI. Adopting a rigorous Bid/No Bid qualification process will help you to:
- Increase win rates
- Increase profit margins
- Reduce cost of bidding and BD budget
- Reduce time pressures and unnecessary stress between bid and sales teams
Qualifying winning deals involves conducting an in-depth assessment of your winning strategy, competitive positioning, and most importantly, your internal capabilities and ability to deliver the project successfully, including case studies/previous experience of similar work (i.e. similar size, scope and complexities). These will help you make an informed decision on whether to bid or not. It is also advisable to reassess the opportunity throughout the bidding cycle to ensure the deal is still winnable, profitable and deliverable all the way to deal signature and closure.
Also, knowing which bids NOT to bid on is just as important as deciding which ones to bid on. This means that resources can be dedicated only to relevant bids and overall, you will increase the likelihood of winning more bids as you will have selected bids that are best suited to your company’s capabilities, values and strategic focus.
Writing a winning tender response
To increase the chances of winning contracts, you should always write from the perspective of the evaluator, not only answering the questions but also making it easy for them to give you maximum points in a systematic way. Spend time crafting your response, from writing a succinct executive summary and evidence-based question responses, to showcasing your unique differentiators and value-added capabilities.
Here are some top tips when writing bids, proposals or tender responses:
- Write with the reviewer and evaluator in mind. The reviewer will not give you any marks unless they can substantiate your claims. As a writer, your job is to make it easy for them to give you the maximum marks.
- Ensure a structure, logical flow and transition from one sentence to the next, so the bid is more easily read and assessed.
- Use spacing, bullet points and headings to guide the evaluator through your answers in each bid and make it easy for them to score your responses.
- Explain key concepts succinctly, and avoiding the use of jargon and acronyms.
- Focus on highlighting the benefits and advantages of your services/solutions, giving clear evidence of success.
- Ensure 100% compliance and answer the question(s) to satisfy the buyer’s requirement(s), address their pain points and hit the evaluation criteria.
- Embed the buyer’s needs and objectives into your response, along with your win themes/differentiators.
- Pay attention to graphic design and visual identity.
- Check for grammar inconsistencies and spelling mistakes before submission.
- Review, review, and review once more! Always apply quality standards throughout the writing process and prior to submission.
The above practical tips will help you get the maximum score on your bids.
Closing the deal
If you have got through to the presentation stage or post-tender dialogue, congratulations – you are one step closer to closing the deal! Keep your conversations relevant and impactful by focusing on how your company is the perfect partner to deliver the project and how your product/service will add value and help the buyer achieve their desired business outcomes.
If you enter into negotiations with the buyer to reach a final agreement, take time to prepare, understand the objectives, listen carefully to what they are asking, manage their expectations and always agree a mutually rewarding working partnership. Don’t feel like you don’t have any control over the process – you can still steer the conversation based on the value (beyond just the price) of what you are offering.
Measuring performance and ROI
Evaluating bid outcomes (good or bad) is super important to help you measure performance and ROI. Even if you win a bid and are already fulfilling the contract, revisit what went right with it and the lessons learnt for the next bid. For example, you could assess the cost of bidding vs total contract value vs profit margin. You can then use this to help assess Bid/No Bid qualification in future bids. It’s also a good idea to map your performance against clearly defined KPIs.
If you are not successful, what could the team have done differently to win this bid?
If you are successful, how can you replicate this success?
Measuring performance is about fostering a culture of continuous improvement and looking for key insights and lessons that can be applied on future bids.
Winning public sector contracts demands a strategic approach, discipline and dedication, but the above steps will help guide you in the right direction. We hope you will excel at doing business with the government and accelerate your growth and success! To find out how we can help you, visit www.bidspecialists.com/businesses
*We strive to do our best when supporting small business and their growth. Our business databases can give you information and data that can help you with advertising, market research, company information, and industry factsheets. If you have already taken the plunge, we would love for you to join us at a seminar, our workshops cover digital marketing, business model canvas and planning, demystifying taxes and intellectual property to name a few. Visit our events page or website for more information.
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