The buyer was Baker Street Quarter Partnership, a not-for-profit organisation which provides Marylebone with a quality space for residents, enhanced retail offers and opportunities for local SMEs to access the market and launch their businesses.
Main challenges
Key challenges to be overcome during the bidding process included:
- Demonstrating capability across a wide range of services
- Addressing a set of questions which are unique, and rare occurrences in the tendering process, complete with tight word limits
- An incumbent client who had previously been required to manage issues in service delivery resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating a strong focus on how they would implement continuous improvement over the new contract as a ‘bid theme’.
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Geographical region:
London
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Output:
7,300 words across seven quality questions and method statements
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Weighting:
Not indicated in tender documents
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Submission:
Electronic and portal-based
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Outcome:
Pending
Overview
To complete the bid, the client required 7,300 words of narrative responses across seven quality questions and method statements. Based on the scope of work required to produce high-quality responses, our bid manager allocated four days to complete the writing process. Victoria Hughes was assigned as lead writer for the client in addition to conducting the interview based on her experience completing tenders with a similar scope of service.
Prior to completing an interview with a member of the management team, Victoria conducted independent research on the client as well as the buyer, developing sufficient baseline knowledge prior to starting the project. This included researching the buyer’s five-year business plan and challenges to the local area, such as struggling SMEs and rising property prices.
Subsequently, Victoria began writing the responses in accordance with the client interview and specification. Certain questions included in the tender were unusual in public tendering, including a summary of the proposal where evaluators required the client to demonstrate why they should be selected as the preferred supplier.
Although our writers commonly incorporate persuasiveness into responses as a bid theme, it is uncommon for public sector purchasing authorities to request a sales pitch or proposal from prospective suppliers. Furthermore, the summary was constrained by a strict word limit, requiring clear and concise narrative, persuasive content and relevant examples within 400 words.
Furthermore, the client had also experienced issues around COVID-related challenges to meeting KPIs during the previous contract. To mitigate this, Victoria used examples from the previous comparable year (i.e. prior to COVID) to demonstrate how our client had achieved contract-specific KPIs, such as referring ASB issues to authorities, independently of exceptional circumstances.
As per our quality assurance processes, all responses were sent for internal review upon completion, with valuable input and suggestions for amendments provided by Quality Manager Stephen Murray and Technical Director Matthew Walker. Following amendments, the responses were sent to our proofreading team to check for stylistic consistency and any spelling or grammatical errors.
The responses were then sent to the client in batches, making the client review process more manageable. The responses were then returned to Victoria, who integrated client input and suggestions into responses where necessary. A final copy of the tender document, formatted with a bespoke design to match the company branding and logo, was then sent to the client well in advance of the submission deadline.
Outcome
Although the client is still waiting for award, they were highly satisfied with the services provided, including the level of detail and consultative approach to drafting responses to quality questions. With multiple contracts of a similar size and scope of services in the London area, we look forward to supporting them in future opportunities.