The Ups and Downs of the Tendering Process

What is tendering?

Usually utilised by all levels of government and large corporations, tendering is the official process of inviting responses from multiple suppliers at once.

While traditionally known to favour large organisations, especially overseas multi-nationals, recent government initiatives have created more opportunities for local small and medium businesses to win tenders.

As a means to secure the supply of goods and services, tender documents include details about the scope of work to be completed. This includes deadlines, required capabilities, and other important criteria required to satisfy the requirements of the project.

If you’ve ever considered engaging in the tendering process, continue reading for some key insights from Sydney Hills Business Chamber members.

Adding tendering to your business strategy

The tendering process usually requires a large investment of time. So it’s highly recommended that you approach it as a strategic part of your business planning.

Andrea McDonald from property and infrastructure specialists, Barker Ryan Stewart, offers her experience, “Tendering is one of the key elements of our business strategy. It has enabled and continues to enable our business the opportunity to expand through government tendering.

It has allowed the company to build relationships with more buyers. And winning large high-profile tenders in targeted geographic areas has assisted with reputation growth – opening more opportunities later on.”

How do I respond to a tender?

Those with experience in the tendering process have learned valuable lessons along the way.

Matt Carroll from project management services, Riteway Solutions, has responded to more than 20 tenders in the last 8 years.

He explains, “A formal government tender involves particular ‘pre-qualifications’ to be met by the respondee. A tender will normally include both mandatory and optional criteria. Responses are typically assessed/scored on the basis of how well a particular requirement is met.

In my experience, subsequent rejection or success is then based on a combination of criteria weighting (e.g. where more value is applied to certain types of criteria, like experience or price) and a more subjective view of the assessment panel (e.g. if a ‘preferred’ supplier has met the criteria).”

Get a dedicated team to support you

For those who have chosen the path of tendering as an integrated part of their business growth, dedicated resources have enhanced their results.

Andrea says “We have historically had a relatively high success rate with tenders, particularly in the last couple of years. This success has been due to several factors, including the establishment of a robust bid team who are continually working on refining and improving tender submissions.

The tender team commences each tender with the GO/NO-GO process in order to ensure the particular tender is worth preparing. This is based on the experience required and considering the chance of success.

Once we decide to proceed with the tender, the requirements and evaluation criteria are identified and understood by the bid team. A tendering plan is then prepared, taking into consideration factors such as pricing, in-house or outsourcing needs, scope, and timeline. A tender library has been set up so that each tender is more time effective with sample responses prepared for generic questions.”

How to overcome tender challenges

If you decide to embark on the adventure of tendering, consider this sage advice from Andrea, “One of the biggest challenges the business has had to overcome is the process of identifying what tenders to bid for to ensure the project is key in the long-term business strategy. All tender submissions are now viewed as part of a targeted approach to ensure it’s inline with the company’s risk profile.”

Additionally, Matt offers the following checklist:

1. Make sure you meet all of the mandatory requirements.
2. If possible, use the opportunity to seek clarifications and ask questions.
3. Recognise that the effort to respond to a tender can be significant, which may impact your business and other client commitments.
4. Concentrate on producing a high-quality response. Check formatting, fonts used, language used, etc. Don’t let it look like 4 people responded to the tender. Make it look professional.

Other resources

The NSW Government offers free resources to small businesses looking to enter the tendering process.

For those requiring additional support, there are various private companies offering paid access to collated lists of tender opportunities, as well as writers who specialise in writing and producing these documents.

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