Tsaks Consulting NZ

New Zealand Bid and Tender Writer

Jason Cooney

Cyber Security becomes a dealbreaker in winning Government and Private Sector Contracts. What do businesses need to do to win contracts?

by

Cyber Security becomes a dealbreaker in winning Government and Private Sector Contracts. What do businesses need to do to win contracts?

An increasing trend both in New Zealand and internationally is the growing presence of cyber security questionnaires in RFP, RFT and tender documentation. Five years ago, you would rarely come across a Cyber questionnaire. These days, it is almost a standard inclusion and it has recently become a dealbreaker with Cyber Insurance becoming a mandatory–criteria in many contracts. So how do you go about responding to a Cyber Security Questionnaire? 

Develop a quality BCP Plan 

One of the first steps in the process is to develop a quality business continuity plan. The Covid 19 pandemic has reminded us of the importance of these. Your IT Recovery protocols will be built into your business continuity and disaster recovery plan. Take the process seriously and undertake a comprehensive review of your servers, back-up servers and cloud solutions if any.  

Use the questions as a guide for what the clients wants 

Most of the time the client has a set of standards and expectations which they expect you to meet. They may not state these outright, however, the questions they ask provide a good guide. It’s important to take the hint – and put in place what they want to here. For example, they may ask if you have a server in your offices and if there is 24/7 security in your offices. They may also ask for the security processes in place for entering your server room and who has access. Even if you don’t have any of this in place, it’s important to put it in place and answer yes to these questions. Where there is a 3 month or so lapse between the contract award date and the implementation, you can undertake to put the measures in place prior to the commencement of services. 

Communicate with your suppliers and leverage on their expertise 

For companies with limited access to IT knowledge and resources, your IT consultant and product suppliers can be a valuable resource. Most of their internal tech personnel have experience responding to cyber questionnaire and can provide assistance. In addition, where cyber questionnaires ask you to advise of the ‘security levels’ of your servers or systems, it’s important to note, that they generally don’t refer to your internal systems, but those of your cloud service providers. Take for example, a small law firm bidding for a government contract who uses AWS for their data storage in the cloud. You will leverage on the security certifications of AWS in your response – not your internal security.  

Upgrade your systems and processes where appropriate 

Depending on the size of the contract and opportunity, companies may need to upgrade their systems and levels of security. This may often be a costly process, and one that you may not want to invest in unless you are successful in the tender response. There are two ways around this issue. The first is to commit to undertaking the upgrades in the response, and explain that these are in process and will be completed prior to the completion of the implementation period. The second is to confirm you have these in place and make provisions for these to be in place. You will then implement them upon contract award.  

Make the link between data security and privacy 

In any response, and in light of the European Union’s strict privacy laws, its important to talk about how personal information will be processed and where it will be stored. This needs to be explicitly detailed in any response. In addition, demonstrating an internal process for information classification (for example, unclassified, office use only, and sensitive) will further reinforce exemplary approach to private information.  

Monitoring System Use 

Your responses to Cyber Security related questions need to clearly articulate who will be using the system and where client data will be stored and process. Most organisations prefer you to store data in the country in which they operate or at least the region. For example, storing data through the cloud in a data centre in Thessaloniki for a company based in Athens is generally fine, however, storing data in Asia is generally not preferred.  

Credibility through audits 

Robust penetration and comprehensive audits are critical to maintaining the integrity of any IT systems. It’s important that the comprehensiveness of these are detailed in your response to any cyber related questions in your tender. Inviting and allowing the client to audit and test your systems that will contain their data is a great way to express and demonstrate your confidence in you system and processes.  

Human resources security 

Sometimes we have a substantial focus on the IT side of data security we neglect to focus on the human resources aspect of it. When detailing your cyber security processes in a tender response, it’s important to talk about the through vetting processes you have in place for personnel. Criminal record checks, government checks, and thorough background checks are critical.  

Incident management 

In addition to your internal incident management process, it is important to detail your communication processes in place in the case of an incident to your client. You will need to cover items such as how the client will be notified, when the client will be notified, and who else would be notified.  

So how can IT consultancies capitalize on the growing Cyber threat? 

IT consultancies are in a unique position to capitalize on the growing threat of cyber attacks, particularly on small and medium sized businesses. The beauty of tenders is that they have a deadline, and most companies will want to comply with the requirements as part of their tender.  

This is a compelling sales opportunity where you can generate the lead, and provide complimentary assistance with responding to cyber and other security related questions in the tender response with the view to ultimately providing the services or immediately putting them in place.  

Read More

Speak with our consultants

  • +64 9-801 1079
  • enquiries@tsaksconsulting.co.nz

Tips and Strategies for developing exemplary construction and infrastructure bids and tenders

by

Strategies to help you win more construction and infrastructure bids and tenders

Given the size for the building and construction industry in the New Zealand economy as well as the widespread use of requests for proposals and tenders as a procurement mechanism our team is often engaged to help construction companies write bids, proposals and tenders. Here are some strategies and tips to help you win more contracts:

Tailor your response to the opportunity

It is important to tailor your response to the opportunity throughout the bid.Using generic content from previous tenders can speed up the process and is great for putting together an initial draft. However, to develop a compelling bid, you need to take the time to tailor each part of your response. Examples include:

Case Studies – you need to select previous experience and examples that are similar to the project for which you are bidding. Similarities aren’t restricted to the scope of construction. Other similarities are the type of client (for example experience servicing a public sector / government client) and your team. Select your previous experience and case studies carefully and then go into sufficient detail to clearly outline and demonstrate the similarities between your previous experience and the proposed project.

Methodology – One of the best way to write the methodology is to first complete the program. Once the program is completed, integrate a description of the program with a holistic view of the project to develop a methodology. The methodology must be tailored to the opportunity and should cover the relationship management and community management side of the project as well as the construction components.

CVs of Key Personnel – When the procurement panel is reviewing the CVs of your proposed team, they will want to understand your experience relevant to the project. That means if it’s an Ministry of Education (MoE) tender, you need to showcase the experience of your team servicing the education sector. On the other hand, if you are tendering for a large infrastructure project, the previous experience will need to be relevant. The key point here is that you take the time to tailor each individual CV to the opportunity in order to ensure you have the greatest prospects of success.

Back your construction bid or tender up with evidence

When developing your response you should keep in mind the fact that anybody and everybody can write and proclaim anything in a tender. What you need to do to reassure the reader that you are a credible provider. This is best done through evidence. Showcasing images of your previous projects is one place to start and try to go a step further by adding in descriptions of those images to clearly explain where you added value. Where you are talking about employing members of disadvantaged groups on the project, arrange a letter for prospective suppliers or recruitment agencies to demonstrate that you have already taken steps to put this in place.

Other areas you can add evidence include:

  • Testimonials from current and previous clients.
  • Statistics and feedback from client surveys and other feedback forms.
  • Supporting documentation (for exampled Covid-19 management plans).

Take a methodical approach to your Bid or No Bid Decision

There’s no point in bidding for anything and everything particularly if you don’t have the necessary expertise and experience to win. It’s important to take a structure approach to the decision to bid or not and think about:

  • The motives for the client to put the contract out to tender.
  • If you were invited to tender or any relationships you have with the client.
  • Your current capacity to complete the project if successful.
  • Your experience in similar projects.
  • The experience of your personnel and their suitability to the project.
  • If you have the capacity to allocate the resources to give the tender a good shot.

We’ve got a bid/no bid document available for free on request from our team that provides further detail and puts a structure around the bid/no bid process.

Write positively and demonstrate that you want to WIN the project

It’s important to write with a send of excitement about delivering the project and winning the contract. You need to be positive and bold in what you will deliver. For example, state that ‘We will deliver a quality outcome on time’ as opposed to writing ‘our team has the capability to complete the project within the time period specified’. The active voice should be incorporated throughout your bid and your writing should reflect a sense of enthusiasm. Your writing should also demonstrate insight into the project and it’s key challenges and reflect the fact that you have thought through the project requirements and are putting your ‘A-team’ on to deliver it should you be successfully appointed.

Our team helps companies across New Zealand write and review winning bids and tenders. Our service extends to all of north and south island and we are able to service building and construction companies in Auckland, Christchurch Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Dunedin, Palmerston North, Napier, New Plymouth, Rotorua and beyond. Feel free to call for guidance with your next bid, proposal or tender.

Read More

Speak with our consultants

  • +64 9-801 1079
  • enquiries@tsaksconsulting.co.nz

Strategies to write winning legal and professional services tenders

by

Strategies for Writing Winning Legal Bids and Tenders

Legal, accounting and other professional services tenders can be an exceptional opportunity to drive firm growth and profitability. The professional services market is highly competitive, especially for government tenders which are generally open tender opportunities with a large volumes of firms often competing for a panel of four or five lawyers. Here are four strategies to write winning legal tenders for law firms in New Zealand.

Focus on your expertise and experience

Most legal tenders are for panels where a broad range of practice areas are available such as insurance, commercial and WHS. It’s important to play to your strengths and focus on your expertise and experience. Present your personnel as specialists in each individual area of law, and your practice groups as specialist practice groups. This means resisting the temptation to put forward your firm for areas where you do not have strong experience or expert personnel.

Why?

Because putting forward a weak proposal in some practice areas can be detrimental to other aspects of your bid and weaken your bid overall. In addition, when responding to questions throughout the tender, you need to consistently reinforce the fact that you are specialists in each area you are submitting for, throughout the tender response. If you have personnel who service clients across multiple areas (for example, withing commercial law you may have a Partner that specialises in procurement as well as ICT), you can put them forward for the different individual areas, as long as you take the time to re-write their CVs and experience throughout the tender for each area of law. A generic CV covering their overall experience and presenting them as a generalist will not suffice.

Use evidence from the past to focus on the future

Whether it’s a case study, or any other component of your legal tender, it’s important to back everything up with evidence. Facts, figures and testimonials are all helpful in providing credibility to your bid or proposal. However, you need to go one further and use the evidence to demonstrate how you will add value to the client into the future. Let’s take a question in a tender response asking to you to detail how you managed a large matter and demonstrate your experience in a particular area of law. It’s not enough to simply describe the case and mention the key personnel involved. You need to go further and talk about how your specific expertise and experience were drawn upon in that particular case. You need to talk about any challenges that were overcome as well as the key outcomes of the case. Finally, if you employed any innovative methodologies (for example project managing the matter efficiently over the term of the case), talk about how this will be applied to future cases for the client if you are appointed.

This demonstrates that you are not complacent, and are committed to continuous improvement and have a positive vision for servicing the client should you be appointed.

Develop and think through your key win themes and stick with them

For any legal, accounting or other professional services tenders, it’s important to have consistent messaging throughout the tender response. This especially applies to larger tenders where there may be a number of practice areas in the RFP. It’s important to develop win themes to drive those key messages and ensure they are intertwined throughout the tender response to ensure consistent messaging. For example, let’s say you are an insurance law firm with strong track record servicing the insurance sector and the particular client.

You may have had the same personnel, and a strong record for service delivery as well as innovation. A win them that might work in this scenario is that you are a ‘safe pair of hands’. A safe pair of hands to manage claims. A safe pair of hands to deliver a consistently high quality service. A safe pair of hands to meet the client’s geographic needs. A safe pair of hands to continuously improve your service in line with the client’s evolving needs. This is an example of a win theme which can be applied to most if not all parts of the tender and deliver a positive message to the client.

Coordinate your personnel to bring the best out of them

Any legal, accounting or professional services tender will require input from multiple personnel across your firm. It is critical that they are well coordinated, motivated, and challenged. That means you need to designate a project manager to manage the tender process and keep everyone to account. Input needs to be reviewed and challenged. Go back and ask key Partners about what they did that was so special in that specific case? Have they delivered any workshops or value added services? Do they have any other examples or experience that better demonstrate their expertise?

Finally, allocate the appropriate resources to submit a quality tender response and remember, you are tendering to win, not tender for the exercise of tendering.

Read More

Speak with our consultants

  • +64 9-801 1079
  • enquiries@tsaksconsulting.co.nz

Five Strategies to Write Winning Bids and Tenders in NZ

by

Four Strategies to Write Winning Bids and Tenders in NZ

We love helping businesses win bids and tenders. Here are five strategies to help you win government contracts in NZ.

Strategy 1 – Demonstrate that your values align.

The first step to this process is to research. Research the government department you are tendering to, or alternatively, the organisation (as this strategy applies to the public and private sector).  Read their mission statement and values statement, assess your own, and demonstrate in the tender how they align. In some government tenders issued by government departments across New Zealand, the questions will specifically ask about how your values align. In the alternate, you need to make sure you demonstrate it throughout your tender response, and introduce it as a win theme throughout your tender. Let’s take safety for example.

If one of your values is safety and one of the values of your potential client is safety, it’s important to talk about this in the tender. To make your submission an exemplary response, make safety a win theme in your tender and ensure your tender is deliberately repetitive. For example, where the tender asks for case studies, make sure you refer to your safety record and any innovative safety initiatives in that particular case study.

Through content, images and quotes, it’s critical to consistently demonstrate that your values align throughout the bid.

Strategy 2 – Demonstrate how you are different.

It’s important to look at any government tender opportunity from the outside in – not the inside out. Put yourself in the mind of the government. Then look at your business and your submission compared to those of your competitors. You may be surprised! You may notice that what you consider to be your key points of difference actually aren’t. You may also notice that your competitors are equally competent at delivering the service or product requested in the tender. So what should you do?

Firstly, make sure you provide a comprehensive response that details your competence. Secondly, look at what really makes you different. It may be the skills and expertise of your personnel, or some unique feature of your product or service. Once you have identified the factors that really differentiate you, you need to cross check these against the requirements of the tender. There’s no point in putting something forward as a differentiator if it isn’t relevant. So you have two or three points of difference remaining that are real points of difference! Perfect – weave these key points of difference throughout your bid to build on the fact that you are a competent potential supplier.

Strategy 3 – Respond logically and comply with the requirements

It’s important to make it easy for the review panel to read and review your response. They want to compare apples with apples. They also want to limit the amount of hassle it takes to read through your response and find the answers and information they want. Therefore, it’s important to respond to each question in a direct and concise manner.

When you respond to the question, you need to respond in detail where required and comply with the requirements of the tender. Structure your response document so that it reflects the RFP/RFT/RFQ which was provided. Fill in each of the questions or responses, and ensure that you attach and refer to supporting documentation as required (for example insurance certificates of currency). Finally, when reading each question, you need to interpret the question correctly. ‘Outline’ generally requires less information than ‘demonstrate’ which would require more detail. Provide exactly what they are looking for and ensure you provide a comprehensive response if required.

Strategy 4 – Prepare in advance but tailor your response

It’s a great idea to develop generic content in order to become more efficient in the tender submission process. A tender database of case studies, profiles and documentation is critical to submitting tenders efficiently. However, don’t fall into the trap of cutting and pasting everything. It is critical to tailor your response. Take them time to tailor profiles to ensure they are relevant to the specific project.

For example, let’s assume that you are bidding for a contract to government to build a local stadium. If you have previous experience building government projects in your standard profile, it’s great. However, if you cut and paste a CV or profile from a previous bid to a private contractor for the construction of a motorway, it’s important to take the time to tailor the profile and the CV to suit the opportunity.

The extent to which you tailor the document represents the real ‘work’ in preparing a tender. It will definitely resonate with the reader so it’s important to put the effort in.

That’s it from us! A competitive price also helps win government contract, however, it’s certainly not the be all and end all and sometimes only represents 30% or less of the weighting criteria. Put the work in to tenders to get the best results and if you would like assistance, feel free to give us a call!

Read More

Speak with our consultants

  • +64 9-801 1079
  • enquiries@tsaksconsulting.co.nz

Five Tips for winning more NZ Government tenders

by

Five Tips for winning more NZ Government tenders

Five Tips for winning more NZ Government tenders

Our team of tender, bid and proposal writers love helping companies like yours across New Zealand win bids and tenders. Here are five tips you may incorporate when developing your next tender or bid:

Use the correct tender template

It sounds simple, however, it’s important to use the tender templates provided. Often tender documents are released in Microsoft Excel format. This may seem annoying from your perspective, but more often than not the client has designed this format so it’s easier for them to compare. Also, the format can be an indicator of the type of response the client is looking for. For example, attaching generic marketing material is often discouraged, with precise tenders being preferred.

Ensure you comply and follow the tender instructions

This is another one that is simple and easy but also important. Whether it’s word limits, upload instructions or naming conventions, it is important it’s important to comply with all the requirements of the tender and to attach the correct supporting documentation as required.

Ensure your response is clear and compelling

It is important to write in clear simple English that is easy to understand. Although you may have a strong technical knowledge of your product or service, you need to assume that the reader knows nothing. Your response also needs to be compelling. You need to clearly articulate the reasons that you should be selected and put forward your key points of difference in a clear concise manner. It’s important to add visuals where possible and break up your text with subheadings and bullet points.

 Address the selection criteria and tailor your response

You need to address the selection criteria and continuously refer back to it throughout your response. It’s important to ensure your response is tailored to the opportunity. For example, even though questions may seem generic, it’s important to tailor your response. Let’s say you are a construction company specialising in roofing solutions and you are looking to secure a tender to provide roof and landscape maintenance services. If you have content from a previous tender which was purely a roofing tender, it’s not enough to simply cut and paste that content in. You need to take the time to tailor it to ensure your general capability covers the landscape component as well.

Put forward quality references and testimonials

References are critical to securing any tender and sometimes the most obvious references aren’t always the best. Think about the contract, what is involved, and where you have previous experience delivering similar services for another client. Think about the likely challenges you will encounter and where you have encountered them in the past. Finally, it’s critical that your referee has great things to say about you so ensure that is the case.

For professional help with your next bid or tender in New Zealand, give us a call here at The Tender Team.

Read More

Speak with our consultants

  • +64 9-801 1079
  • enquiries@tsaksconsulting.co.nz

Three Tips for New Zealand Businesses to Win More Bids and Tenders

by

Three Tips for New Zealand Businesses to Win More Bids and Tenders

Here at The Tender Team New Zealand, we help businesses across New Zealand write winning bids and tenders. Whether you are in the construction industry, education, medical, finance or Oil and Gas, here are three tips that will help you improve your next tender or bid.

1. Write a compelling executive summary.

Sometimes the executive summary is the only item that the procurer reads in detail. They often gloss over the rest of your proposal, so it’s important to make your executive summary compelling. So what goes into a compelling executive summary?

  • You need to clearly articulate your key points of difference. Do you use any specialised equipment? Have you got experience servicing another similar contact? Whatever sets you apart from your competitors and is a win theme for the tender needs to be conveyed.
  • Your executive summary also needs to introduce your team and make the potential client comfortable with dealing with you. The need to know that you have the capacity, resources and expertise to deliver. No doubt this will be included in your tender response, but in order to create a winning tender or bid, it’s important that you highlight these key points in the executive summary.

2. Write a comprehensive response to each question.

It’s important to read between the lines of each question and to ensure you have answered the question comprehensively. For example, the RFP, RFQ or RFI may ask you to detail your experience providing similar services. This is your chance to show off your experience and provide a comprehensive response. Don’t just list the previous projects which you have worked on, instead go into detail about what team members were involved in each project, what were the key challenges and issues in the project and how you overcame them, how your expertise assisted in completing the project, and the duration of the project. It’s also handy to provide references and information on total project value.

Where you have talked about key personnel involved in the project, it’s also beneficial to confirm if those key personnel will be involved in the project or contract you are tendering for. This gives the client confidence that you have the expertise and resources to deliver.

3. If you haven’t got a chance, don’t bother bidding. If you do bid, make sure you do a good job.

It seems counterintuitive, however, there is no point in going for every single tender opportunity that comes up. You need to qualify each opportunity, and ensure that you have the appropriate skills and expertise to give it a decent shot. The reasons for this are two-fold.

Firstly, if you don’t have the necessary experience or expertise, there is limited chance of success. If you don’t have any government experience and are looking to secure a government contract, it’s generally fine. You have to be in it to win it after all. However, if you don’t have the private sector experience that the government tender is requesting, your prospects of success will be limited.

Secondly, it’s important to give each tender a good shot and submit a compelling bid. Bidding for contracts has an opportunity cost for your business, and will draw on your resources, so it’s important that you allocate your resources to contracts where you have a solid chance, and take the time to submit a quality submission.

About us

We love helping businesses across New Zealand write quality bids and tenders so call or email us if you need assistance. We assist with Government and private sector tenders and bids, and our tender writing services extend across all industries from building, transport and medical to defence.

Read More

Speak with our consultants

  • +64 9-801 1079
  • enquiries@tsaksconsulting.co.nz