Here's how to respond to a tender for work successfully

Whether it's your first time tendering for work or you're already a veteran in the industry, the goal remains the same — to be successful. But the tender response process can be complex and daunting to many. If you don't do it correctly, success may be hard to reach. 

However, with the right strategy, you can successfully win that contract. What's more — you'll also gain recognition that can open more doors and opportunities for your business — and all it takes is to win one major contract, whether commercial or government.

Here’s how to tender for work successfully.

Evaluate your business

Before you even look for a tender that’s right for you, the first thing you need to do is evaluate what your business can do to make you stand out from all of your competitors. Analyse your company’s turnover history, experience, goal, and what you need to do to achieve that goal. Consider whether you will be able to take on more work with your existing staff and plant or if you need to bring on more resources to accommodate more work.

Prepare your Capability Statement

Now that you know what your company is capable of, it’s time to put it all into writing. Not all tenders for work will ask to see a copy of your Capability Statement. Still, it’s a good idea to have one — and it’s helpful to send along with any general proposals, quotes, or pitches for business that you may send out.

Seek the right opportunities

When looking for opportunities, looking for the right ones for your business is vital. A question to ask yourself is if you can meet the technical skills and experience requirements of the work you have your eyes on.

Make sure also that you’re getting all those opportunities. Register with the tendering websites to get alerts when a tender relevant to your business is released. The easiest way to find the tender websites pertinent to your location is to simply do a Google search for the type of tender work you’re looking for and then sign up.

Be warned, though — some sites are subscription-based and can be pretty expensive, but most Government tenders will be free.

If you’re looking for work from your local Council, check their website; it will have a link to wherever they advertise their tenders. A question to ask yourself is if you can meet the technical skills and experience requirements of the work you have your eyes on.

Read and fully understand the tender requirements

While you may think it’s the best-suited bid submission for you based on the headline and summary of work, reading it and fully understanding it will allow you to know the requirements. Can you comply with those requirements? Are there pre-qualification requirements? What do you think are your chances? These and more are the things you need to consider to ensure success.

Write your winning tender response

Now, the fun but challenging part! Sure, you can always write a tender response yourself or hire a tender writer. But doing it to win it is a different story. Whatever industry you belong to, some elements remain the same when writing your tender.

Here are some tips for you:

• Be confident

  Your tender response should be able to demonstrate that you're confident you can do the perfect job for them. So, refrain from using vague phrases, such as "We think", "We can", or "We believe", and write more assertive terms, such as "We will", indicating that you're 100% sure of your capabilities to benefit their company should your tender submission wins.

• Keep it straight to the point

  Keep in mind that your tender issuer will be reading plenty of responses, so don’t let them get lost in information overload. Include only the most relevant information, and keep it concise and straight to the point.

• Specify what’s in it for them

  Remember that it’s not about you. It’s all about the tender issuer, so you have to make sure that you clearly state what the benefits are if they choose to offer that contract to your business.

• Avoid these tendering mistakes

• Lastly, proofread, proofread, proofread,

Submit it and win it!

Once all of these steps are done, you’re now ready to submit your awesome tender response submission. But tendering for work is everything but easy if you’re new to it. Tendering can be complex, time-consuming, and pretty daunting. I hope that these tips can help guide you through how to tender for work successfully. But if you need some assistance, TenderWise is here to help. Just give Pauline a call for a chat on 0400 514579 , email me at pauline@tenderwise.com.auau, or contact us here.

COVID-19 : A look back at how the pandemic has affected the tendering world

2020 - the year that for many of us felt like the longest ever because of COVID-19 that hit the whole world by storm. The global economy has been massively shaken and remains unstable. 

The impact of the pandemic has dominated news headlines and agendas across every industry all over the world. All levels of Government and the private sector continue to exert their best efforts to formulate business continuity plans aimed at combating the disruptions it caused — and the tendering world is no exception.

Here, we take a look back at the impacts of COVID-19 on the tendering world. Was it good or bad? Or a combination of both? Let’s find out.

Social distancing and lockdowns

Amid all the chaos, procurement is a frequent topic that keeps coming up. Although pandemic response strategies varied markedly across different countries, here in Australia, the focus right from the early days was to flatten the curve through social distancing and lockdowns. 

Naturally, this made sustaining the health of many businesses incredibly difficult. But the Government continued to run, and in the tender world, tenders continued to be published, albeit with some adjustments that bidders needed to take into account. 

Some of those adjustments included:

• The absence of site visits - instead, bidders were invited to online virtual meetings

• A requirement for COVID-safe plans to be submitted as part of the bid

• A requirement for business continuity plans to be submitted with the bid

Impact on projects

Like many other industries, large construction, development, and infrastructure projects in Australia have been impacted. This sector greatly contributes to the economy and employment, but COVID-19 in Australia introduced severe implications for the entire supply chain. 

Tender issuers had to reconsider the risk of proceeding with their proposed projects as some may not be suitable due to the ongoing uncertainties.

Tender evaluation criteria were often adjusted, with an increased focus on things such as:

• Reassessing the financial capability of the party submitting the tender.

• Labour availability, including key personnel and replacements.

• The supply chain proposal

• The project program proposal

Tenders were put on hold

In the service sector, we’ve seen a number of tenders put on hold because of the Coronavirus or COVID-19. Even some that were already published and were close to the closing deadline. Here at TenderWise, we’ve also worked on tenders that were put on hold after the submission deadline had passed and it was already lodged. 

It’s incredibly tough on small businesses who are tendering for work — they already put in the hours to develop their response (or paid a consultancy like TenderWise to do it for them) with no prospect of imminent reward for their efforts.

A need for a more customised approach

The battle to win new contracts can be tough now more than ever amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Tender submissions require a relevant but customised approach, coupled with demonstrated flexibility to cope with the uncertainties in the market.

Responses need to showcase the experience and skills of the business while at the same time establishing that the tendering business meets all of the tender requirements. If this global event caused any repercussions, there would be significant delays in the process, but people have found a workaround. 

Businesses are adapting

Businesses have learned to adapt and change the way they do things. Everyone has accepted that the COVID-19 pandemic will be with us for some time to come, and we’ve all been forced to be innovative and think outside the box.

Here’s some good news. The number of tenders published daily doesn’t seem to have slowed down. If anything, the number appears to have increased, so there are plenty of opportunities out there just waiting for businesses to respond, especially this new year.

If you need a hand with a tender, I’m here to help. I’ve worked with hundreds of small businesses to develop tender responses, and you can read what my clients have to say about me here. 

A chat costs you nothing, so if you’d like to talk about your tender response strategy, just give me (Pauline) a call at 0400 514 579, fill up the form here, or better yet, email the tender documents to me at pauline@tenderwise.com.au so I can read through before we chat.

Let’s all look forward to a better 2021!