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Much of our work at MediaTrain involves responding to Invitations to Tender, or Requests for Proposals. If you ‘re considering putting together a tender invitation, you may like to consider the following suggestions, which should apply whether you are looking for a service or a product.

 

  1. Make it clear up-front what it is you are looking for. Many tender documents bury the essential details in a mound of contract conditions and internal arrangements. A brief but clear summary at the beginning of what you need and why would help.
  2. Keep it short. The longer the document, the greater the chance of confusion.

  3. Background is essential, but not a full-blown history. If you were buying a part for your car, you wouldn’t need to know the family history of the man that made it. Make the background relevant only to what you need.

  4. Be honest. Some tender invitations look suspiciously like going through the motions. A preferred supplier may have been identified already. Clues are that the invitation is issued very close to a deadline, or that the tender documentation is very precise, perhaps cut and pasted from the favoured supplier’s own proposal. Tenders need to be fair, but it should be possible to say that some preparatory work has already been done by a third party, or that another supplier has done similar work in the past.

  5. Provide a contact who is actually available. Getting an automated response saying that someone is on leave is very off-putting. State your working hours, including which days constitute your weekend.

  6. Highlight clearly any specific requirement that is absolutely essential. “A supplier that does not have ISO9000 certification should not apply,” or somesuch.

  7. Provide clear instructions on how an application should be submitted. If it is electronic, provide more than one email address in the event of communications problems. If you must have hard copies delivered by post (and please try to avoid that), give a full address – and give plenty of time for the post to reach you. International couriers take their time, and often don’t collect or deliver at weekends – but they are still expensive.

  8. If technical and financial details must be kept separate, and delivered to separate addresses, highlight that.

  9. Acknowledge receipt of a tender application. An email response, even to hard copy submissions, takes a few moments, and is simple courtesy: a supplier has taken the trouble to make an offer – saying it’s arrived is a cost-free way of saying thank you.

  10. Advise the losers as well as the winner. A simple note to say thanks but no thanks means that a decent supplier will consider your requirements next time – and may even keep the price down.

  11. Provide feedback. Take a few moments to indicate why a bid was successful or unsuccessful. If the price was too high, indicate whether it was near to the winning bid – you don’t have to give details. If the rejection was caused by other factors, try to say briefly what they were. In the unlikely event that a supplier comes back to you to complain, you can cross them off your list for the future. If they take on board what you say, they may make you a better offer next time.

 

Putting together a tender invitation is always a chore. By making the result clearer, you can save yourself the trouble of handling queries or issuing clarifications. And if you take the trouble to acknowledge each bid and provide feedback, your potential suppliers will be very grateful – and respond better next time.

 

Thank you.

 

Jeremy Toye, MediaTrain


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