1. Public Sector Tendering: Your
Route to Success!
Ceri Evans (MCIPS) & Dr Ama Eyo
Institute for Competition & Procurement Studies,
Bangor University
2. Agenda
1. An Introduction to the “Winning in Tendering” project
2. The Tender Review Service (TRS) & what it can do
for you
3. Overview of Common Pitfalls to avoid in Tendering
4. The TRS European Union Tendering Passport
5. Remedies in Public Procurement – your
responsibilities as a supplier!
6. Conclusions
3. 1. “Winning in Tendering” a €3.7m strategic project, funded
by the Ireland/Wales INTERREG (4A) Programme
Our Mission
6. 1. THE TENDER REVIEW SERVICE
2. THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
REMEDIES REGIME LAW WORK
PACKAGE
3. THE „TENDER-READY‟ ON-LINE
DIAGNOSTIC TOOL
4. THE LOWER VALUE PROCUREMENT
WORK PACKAGE
5. THE SUPPLIER-FRIENDLY
PROCUREMENT COMPETENCY
FRAMEWORK
•
7. 2. What is the Tender Review Service (TRS)?
The free, confidential and impartial TRS helps suppliers learn from
previous unsuccessful PQQ/tender submissions via a bespoke
Tender Review Report.
Why is the TRS important?
Because a vital part of the tendering process is to take on board
lessons learned from unsuccessful bids!
Who is the service targeted at?
1. Those relatively new to tendering
2. Those more experienced in tendering, but who still have a
relatively poor track record
3. Those who have been successful in tendering, but are now
bidding for larger contracts than they have historically
Why was the TRS established?
A response to the Barriers to Procurement Opportunity Report (Welsh
Government, 2009)
8. What does the Tender Review Service do for suppliers?
Advises you how each element of your PQQ or tender
response could have been improved
Helps you see things through the procurer’s eyes
Helps you to understand procurer’s expectations
Ensures you fully understand what the procurer was
looking for
Furnishes you with a variety of tendering templates
Provides good general business advice & ideas!
•
9. 3. Examples of common tendering pitfalls (A)
Lack of supporting evidence to back statements up:
Example: “Using our knowledge and experience in the ABC sector,
we would be able to help influence critical decisions”
This does not showcase the supplier’s knowledge or
experience!
Example: “We have an excellent track record in the delivery of
past contracts”
The supplier must prove this via for instance Client
Testimonials and/or statistics!
Lack of detail:
• Why?
Assumption procurer knows about the supplier!
Awareness of depth required
Insufficient input from different parts of supplier’s organisation
Is the question clear enough?
10. Examples of common tendering pitfalls (B)
Leaving it to the client to draw their own conclusions
about the relevance and value of your experience:
Spell out:
What the customer’s needs and wants were?
How you solved the problem for the customer?
How successful you were?
Various means of communicating the benefits of your
experience:
Explaining the logic of your approach
Referring to lessons learnt from previous contracts
Using the term “for example”
11. Examples of common tendering pitfalls (C)
Presentation issues:
Key messages/points
Executive Summary
Structure
Proofing!
Writing Style – conciseness, clarity and consistency!
Addressing procurer risk issues:
Quality Management
Adequate Resources
Delineation of the Project Roles of Personnel
Confidentiality of data
Business/Organisation continuity issues
…Include a Summary Risk Log!
12. Examples of common tendering pitfalls (D)
Addressing Contract and Project Management issues:
Project Manager
Project Timelines and Milestones
Management of risks
Communication with the client
Selection Stage Questions vs. Award Stage Questions
13. Examples of common tendering pitfalls (E)
Other issues:
Compliance
Time and effort should be devoted proportionally in
line with evaluation criteria weightings!
Responses need to be fully tailored to the subject
matter and needs of the contract
Answers to questions are evaluated on a standalone
basis!
Answering the questions literally!
14. Avoiding common tendering pitfalls –
one final piece of advice!
Tendering is not a low skill form filling
exercise, but a real opportunity to
present a convincing Business Case –
your tender is your chance to present
to evaluators the information and
evidence they need to make the
decision to work with you!
15. TRS Principles: Our promises to you!
A free service – worth £2,400!
Impartial and Honest Review
Bespoke service
Provides constructive & supportive advice and guidance
Understandable
Totally Confidential
Provides an opportunity to gain credits towards a Master’s level
qualification
16. Participating in the TRS: a simple
process…
1. YOU fill out a short application form
2. YOU supply documentation to us:
Previous recent tender (or PQQ)
Procurer‟s documentation (and feedback)
3. WE talk to you to:
Establish personal contact & clarify
expectations
Understand your tendering experiences
4. WE write the Tender Review Report & send to
you!
17. The TRS European Union Tendering Passport
What is it?
A follow-up to your initial Tender Review
Involves an assessment of how well you have
implemented the advice & guidance from the TRS in a
subsequent PQQ or tender
Why participate?
Provides additional support and guidance as to how you
could further improve your responses
Provides an opportunity to gain credits towards a
Bangor University Master’s level qualification – e.g.
LLM in Public Procurement Law & Strategy
18. What the supplier community think about the TRS…
“We have not received any business support like this before! We
thought the Review was 'spot-on'...it brought home to us the evaluators
perspective and opened our eyes to the wide range of things to
consider and include within a tender. It has also enlightened us as to
what we as a Voluntary Sector organisation can prepare in advance of
a tendering exercise using the wide range of templates provided by the
Winning in Tendering team."
Anthony Flanagan, Development Officer & Director, Dynamix Ltd.
What the procurer community think about the TRS…
“The report suppliers receive from the Tender Review Service is an
incredibly useful piece of work for SMEs who seriously want to improve
their bids. The comprehensive nature of the report, together with the
simple language used in the key learning points, provides a clear route
map forward for those who want to better themselves in tendering.”
Gunther Kostyra, Head of Policy Programme, Value Wales (Welsh
Government)
19. 5. Remedies in Public Procurement – your
responsibilities as a supplier!
20. Why can‟t the government get its requirement
like private businesses
21. Procurement – What is it?
The process of acquisition of goods, services and
works…
From pens and pencils through to major services
22. Why is Public Procurement different
Subject to EU legislation – aimed to remove
barriers in the EU single market
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
(TFEU)
The Procurement Directives (2004/18/ and 2004/17)
Subject to UK legislation
Subject to audit
Accountable to government and the electorate
Many services are sensitive or high profile
23. Public Procurement – the basic facts
The Treaty principles apply to most procurements irrespective of value
The Directives apply to procurement above a certain financial value
Type of Supplies Services Works
body/contract
Central £113,057 £113,057 £4,348,350
government
Other public £173,934 £173,934 £4,348,350
authorities
The Directives contain detailed rules on procuring a contract
24. Your responsibility when tendering for contracts
Answer all the questions
Keep to the point of the question
Don‟t assume prior knowledge – this can‟t be
evaluated
Include appropriate references
Seek clarification if unsure
25. Assuming you do these but fail to win the
contract…What next?
Review the experience internally
Seek external professional assistance e.g Tender Review Service
Prepare well for the next opportunity
However there is legal help if you think that the tender exercise
was tainted with some irregularity /the public body failed to follow
the rules
26. What is the Remedies regime?
Legal actions which allow economic operators to
request the enforcement of public procurement
provisions and their rights under those provisions
in cases where contracting authorities, either
intentionally or unintentionally, fail to comply with
the legal framework for public procurement
•
27. Purpose of the regime
Increase the transparency of contract award procedures
Build confidence in public procurement among businesses
Facilitate competition
Correct irregularities in contract award procedures
Useful mechanism for monitoring contract award
•
procedures
28. Overview of the regime
Directive 89/665 and Directive 92/13 as amended by
Directive 2007/66/EC
Implemented in the UK by the Public Contracts
(Amendment) Regulation 2009, Utilities Contracts
(Amendment) Regulation 2009 and The Public
Procurement (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations
2011
Standstill and enhanced award notification requirements
Remedies – automatic suspension, declaration of
ineffectiveness, Damages, Alternative penalties
29. Emerging trends in the UK
Previously no culture of bid protest
Slight increase in procurement litigation cases with
about 20 cases per year
Most cases arise from Northern Ireland
Areas of challenge:
Award criteria
Weighting
Evaluation methodology
Unequal treatment
Lack of transparency
Termination of procurement procedure before
contract award
30. Your obligations
Be conversant with the obligations that public body must comply with
Keep every document/information relating to the tender in a safe place
On receipt of notification letter – timing is of essence
• Ensure early and careful consideration
• Check for compliance with requirements
• Was the procedure conducted without any breach of the applicable
legislation
• Does the standstill information contain “characteristics/relative
advantages”
If you are the successful bidder check that
• the contract was advertised correctly and
• there was a standstill period in which all the candidates were
notified of the intention to award you the contract
• If borrowing finance for the work, ensure adequate protection
Get appropriate training
31. 6. Conclusion
Free high quality support available from the
“Winning in Tendering” project – so why not
take advantage of it!!!
