What is Capture Management?

Capture management, also known as ‘Capture Planning’, is the strategic process of maximising the win potential of a request for proposal (RFP) opportunity. You can achieve this by optimising resources, business connections, and processes and gathering competitive insights. Ultimately, these methods of capture management help to position your company as the best solution for the customer. Compared to your competitors, your company can understand and meet the customer’s needs.

Crucially, all of this work happens before the RFP is received.

While this is not a part of the proposal process, it is a vital plan needed to elevate a company from an unknown to a preferred partner.

As such, it can dramatically increase your win rate potential.

Top four advantages of Capture Management

• Increased chance to win RFPs based on research and connections.
• Write more focused proposals – with shorter proposal timelines and ability to assess potential risks.
• Faster sales and develop a more qualified proposal pipeline.
• Reduce proposal writing costs – guide your pricing using competitive insights.

Key Information to Include in Your Capture Plan

• Customer requirements, expectations and issues.
• Evaluation of market and wider economic climate that may influence the availability of RFP opportunities.
• Competitive insight and its advantages.
• Primary win themes.
• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis.
• Collate previous RFx (request for ‘x’) documents to help craft responses to common questions.

When to Use Capture Management?

Though valuable, capture planning is a time-consuming process that requires great detail. To achieve the highest possible return on investment (ROI), capture planning should be reserved for the most complex and valuable opportunities. So, not every RFP demands the same in-depth strategy. Many companies adopt a shorter version of their capture management strategy for routine RFPs to save time, as the majority of capture plans take between nine and eighteen months to complete.

Who Can Create Capture Management?

Capture management is a highly difficult job in any company as it requires a varied skill set and experience in many fields. They also have the difficult task of selling internally and externally to both their company and the customer. Therefore, capture managers must create and develop strategies utilising their knowledge in areas such as:

• Marketing
• Human Resources (HR)
• Finance
• Contracts
• Corporate Strategy

Capture and Proposal Management

When the RFP is released, capture management hands over to the proposal management who put their strategy into writing. However, the capture manager is responsible for involving the proposal management before the RFP release, so that they are better prepared to win the proposal. Ultimately, the proposal management are responsible for producing the written document which will help close the sale.

Further, consistently winning proposals heavily relies upon a strong proposal management process, which works in tandem with the capture management in a partnership. If one role is not filled effectively, the chances of winning a proposal significantly decrease.

Responsibilities of Capture and Proposal Management

As aforementioned, capture and proposal management must work together in order to achieve the best possible potential of success.

Capture Management can detrimentally affect the proposal management processes if:

• They fail to identify how the company differentiates itself from its competitors.
• Impacts the proposal management’s effort by involving them too late, so they have little room or time for making necessary changes and improvements.
• Winning becomes a secondary concern to simply completing the task with minimal research.

Proposal Management can detrimentally affect the ability to win a proposal if:

• They fail to identify any further information required from the capture management team.
• They fail to receive information from capture management which can be used in their proposal plan.

Overall, the proposal management of any company identifies what it will take to win the proposal from the research conducted by the capture management – this takes the form of criteria in which the proposal management can then value the quality of the proposal they produce.

Capture Planning for Government Contracts

Capture planning for government contracts often occurs when the RFP is in its early stages of creation – bids are often unofficially won before the RFP actually comes out.

A strong capture strategy is crucial for identifying the customer’s expected timeline and demands the same process as mentioned above – research, pricing, the company’s assets and the customer’s issues

The key to success when regarding government contracts is using the same outline of the RFP and paying attention to strict proposal guides – word count, font and graphic size.

If you fail to meet their requirements, your proposal can be discarded.

Importance of Keywords in Government Contracts

Keywords play a crucial role in the success of your business. By increasing your online visibility and discoverability, you can grow your business at a faster rate and drive profit from this exposure. Simply, this is how customers find your business!

When it comes to RFPs, this is also how your business finds bidding opportunities. Unfortunately, government procurement offices don’t use standardised keyword descriptors, which would make finding RFPs that match your strategy much easier. Instead, there are seemingly endless databases, portals and search functions that make sourcing suitable RFPs a difficult task.

As a result, keywords should be carefully and deliberately chosen as part of your growing keyword list.

The aim is to think like a buyer!

Techniques for identifying successful keywords:

• Avoid umbrella terms that will return a vast number of irrelevant results.
• Ask specific questions about your business – What do you specialise in? What unique services are provided by your business?
• ‘Related searches’ function – Making use of this function can benefit your search, but Google should not be used as your primary resource.
• Keep evolving your keyword list so that you can avoid keywords that no longer align with your strategy.

It is time to put the effective keywords to use. For example, the optimal method of building a connection with the customer is by mirroring their keywords and language in your own proposal.

Let’s sum it up!

Capture management, proposal management and the utilisation of effective keywords are all crucial planning tools for securing a winning RFP opportunity.

Things to remember:

• Effective capture management can decrease proposal writing costs and produce faster sales.
• Capture and proposal management must work together in order to provide the best possible chance of winning a proposal.
• Keywords work most effectively if they are precise, regularly updated and tailored to the buyer.

Contact us:

Contact us to find out how we can help your business SUCCEED!

Additional support:

Do you only require assistance with PQQs or SQs? We can help!

Simply submit the relevant information regarding the work you need and we will provide a quote for the work agreed upon.

We provide support at all levels of the bid writing process, so if you simply need it proofread before you submit it, we can also help with that!

Discover Elite

Upgrading to Discover Elite can optimise your tendering efforts!

When bidding for a contract, our two new time-saving tools can improve competitor awareness and success rate:

The Ultimate Time Save Package (for those on the go!)

• Five tender breakdowns per month.
• Annual subscription to two sector-specific portals.
• Dedicated account manager.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package

• All of the above.
• Seven tender breakdowns per month.
• Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager (minimum five years experience). Our Global Bid Director will manage the bid strategy.

Our other divisions:

Vocal

Wanting to impress a buyer? Our creative content agency Vocal are always on hand to help!

Our Vocal team are never afraid to be heard – we’re a loud bunch!

From micro-businesses to large organisations, we provide ways to make your business stand out from the crowd. We can transform your bid into a professionally designed tender document!

Vocal specialises in:

• Copywriting
• Marketing
• Branding
• Websites
• Design
• Illustration

Alpha

Our online virtual learning environment for Education, Enterprise and Home Learners is currently being used to power our own platforms – Tender VLE and Procure VLE (Coming soon).

We believe in learning at your own pace, wherever you are!

Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including:

• How to Secure Government Contracts Without a Huge Bid Team
• How to Win Contracts: 7 Secrets You Need to Know
• 5 Essential Tips for Winning Tenders and Bids
• How to Secure Government Contracts for Bid
• RFP Tenders: Everything You Need to Know
• The Tendering Process
• And many more.

The post Capture Management – Top 4 Advantages of Capture Management appeared first on Tender Consultants.

Do you want to know how to win MOD tenders for your business? Or perhaps you’d like to know how to actually find them. No matter what you’re looking for, the team at Hudson Succeed are on hand to help.

In this blog, we’ll tell you everything there is to know about MOD tenders. From sourcing the contracts to writing a winning bid, we’ve got you covered. Keep reading to find out more!

What are MOD tenders?

MOD tenders are also known as Ministry of Defence tenders. In the UK, the Ministry of Defence is one of the largest buyers. As a result, there are plenty of opportunities for SMEs to win work.

The types of tenders available from the Ministry of Defence are vast. They cover a range of products and services, from ammunition and vehicles to ICT and manufacturing services.

How to win MOD tenders

1. Plan ahead

To win MOD tenders for your business, you need to plan ahead. After all, a winning tender response is all in the planning!

It’s easy to tell the difference between a well-thought-out response and a rushed, last minute one. It will be obvious to the buyer, and that won’t do your business any favours.

Once the ITT (invitation to tender) has been released, you could work backwards from the submission deadline. You could try setting internal deadlines for each step of the tendering process. That way, everyone in your team will be prepared for every stage, well ahead of the deadline.

2. Use relevant evidence

Our next piece of advice is important for any and all tenders you submit – including MOD tenders. To showcase your experience to the buyer, you need to include relevant case studies in your tender response.

Typically, the buyer will expect to see two to three case studies from the past three to five years. It’s also important that your contract examples are similar in size, scope and complexity to the contract you’re bidding for. If it doesn’t demonstrate your relevant experience to the buyer, then it’ll do nothing for you. In fact, it could actually work against you.

3. Make sure you have the correct qualifications and accreditations

When you’re tendering for contracts, the buyer might ask you to provide evidence of your relevant qualifications and accreditations. These can vary from contract to contract, but if they’re included in the specifications, they’re crucial to your success.

To ensure you don’t fail at this hurdle, check your qualifications and accreditations before proceeding with the bid. If you don’t meet these criteria points, you should find another tender for your business.

4. Show added value

Another way to increase your chances of success when bidding for MOD tenders is to show added value.

In the public sector, contracts are awarded to the most economically advantageous tender, or the MEAT. Therefore, when producing your tender response, you need to show how you’re going to add value to the buyer. What can you offer that your competition don’t? This could include anything from innovation to sustainability.

5. Proofread your response

Finally, you need to proofread your response before submitting it to the buyer for review. This is crucial – if you submit a response full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, the buyer won’t be impressed.

However, we know it can be difficult to proofread your own work, especially when you’re producing lengthy documents. To combat this, you could try the following:

• Proofread your tender response in stages, leaving gaps between each one
• Asking someone else to proofread your response for you
• Outsourcing the work to professional Bid Writers.

Where to find MOD tenders

Now you know how to win MOD tenders for your business. But how do you actually find them?

With our sister company, Hudson Discover, it’s easy to find new contract opportunities for your business!

There are 11 sector-specific tendering portals to choose from. One centralised and easy-to-navigate portal can help you save time, streamlining the process.

These consist of:

• Creative Tenders
• Healthcare Tenders
• Facilities Tenders
• Construction Tenders
• Technology Tenders
• Logistics Tenders
• Research Tenders
• Consultancy Tenders
• HR Tenders
• Finance Tenders
• Hospitality Tenders.

Once signed up, you’ll have access to your own dedicated Account Manager. They’ll be able to answer any questions you may have about public sector contracts. You’ll also get an email alert when new and relevant tenders are uploaded to your sector. Finding MOD tenders for your business has never been so easy!

In summary

So, now you know all about MOD tenders! When you produce your next tender response, remember our tips for success:

• Plan ahead, leaving plenty of time to complete the bid before the submission deadline
• Include relevant case studies and contract examples
• Make sure you have the correct qualifications and accreditations
• Show added value in your tender response
• Proofread your response before submitting it for review.

How Hudson Succeed can help 

Have you considered bid management consultancy? Enter Hudson Succeed, and our team of Bid Writers. We’re always happy to help!

We have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or aren’t seeing results – we can help. There are four bid writing packages available:

• Tender Writing

Once you’ve found a tender you’d like to go for, send it over to us. One of our Bid Writers will write the tender response for you. We’ll provide a full Tender Writing breakdown and even submit it on your behalf.

• Tender Mentor

Tender Mentor can give your tender response a once over before you submit. Our Bid Writing Team will analyse your response, notifying you of any errors and opportunities for improvements prior to submission.

• Tender Ready

During the Tender Ready service, our team will create professional policies, procedures, and case studies in your company branding. If you already have this content, we will review everything carefully to ensure that nothing is missed. This service also helps businesses who are new to tendering with terminology and industry knowledge.

• Tender Improvement

The Tender Improvement package can help those who have tendered before but aren’t seeing results. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous responses and work with you to develop improved content.

Get in touch to find out how we can help your business grow.

Need help searching for tenders?

Now you know about MOD tenders, it’s time to find a contract opportunity for your company.

You may be wondering where you can find a tender for your business. There’s no shortage of websites offering multi-sector tendering opportunities and leads.

Ideally, you should be searching for a sector-specific site that posts all unique, public and private sector opportunities.

Our sister company, Hudson Discover, has 11 sector-specific tendering portals.  One centralised and easy-to-navigate portal can help you save time, streamlining the process.

Once signed up, you’ll have access to your own dedicated Account Manager. They’ll be able to answer any questions you may have about public sector contracts. You’ll also get an email alert when new and relevant tenders are uploaded to your sector.

 A subscription to one of our industry-specific portals will include:

• Unlimited portal access. You can browse your industry’s portal to your heart’s content. See the hundreds of opportunities that are available, intuitively categorised and easily accessible.
• A daily email bulletin. When you sign up to a portal, you’ll receive an email alert when new tenders are uploaded.
• A dedicated Account Manager. They’ll handle any questions or queries you may have about the portal.
• A free 20-minutes phone consultation with a Bid Writer. Our expert bid consultants will chat with you about anything tender related.

What opportunities can I expect from a tender search on a Hudson Discover portal?

We host all kinds of tenders in both the public and private sectors. These are inclusive of, but aren’t limited to:

• Open tenders
• Restricted procedure tenders
• Competitive dialogues
• Negotiated tendering procedures
• Innovation partnerships
• Single supplier contracts
• Framework agreements
• Dynamic Purchasing Systems.

Vocal

Our support doesn’t end there! Our creative content agency, Vocal, are on hand to help.

The Vocal Team are not afraid to stand up and be heard. And we make sure our clients aren’t either! From small, micro businesses to large organisations, we are vocal about the things that make your business unique.

Our creative service is dedicated to growing your business through striking and thought-provoking content. We’ll take your bid and give it a complete makeover. With professionally designed tender documents, you’re sure to make an impression on the buyer!

Our team specialise in six areas, including:

• Copywriting
• Marketing
• Branding
• Websites
• Design
• Illustration.

If you’d like to know more about what we can do for your business, introduce yourself to the team!

Contact us to find out more!

Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including: 

• How to win a tender
• What is a Bid Writer?
• The tendering process
• Writing winning bids
• 7 tips for tendering for contracts
• Tips for bid management
• Bid writing services
• The types of tendering procedures
• Writing bids
• Bid writing consultants
• Submitting a tender response
• And many more.

The post MOD Tenders Explained appeared first on Tender Consultants.

Securing government contracts up for bid can be a great way to grow your business. The public sector spends over £285 billion annually through public procurement. They procure a wide range of goods and services across a variety of sectors.

This means there’s plenty of opportunities for your business to become a supplier to the government. The government often outsources their needs resulting in government contracts up for bid. So, if this is something you’re interested in, here’s how to find and win government contracts up for bid.

How to find government contracts up for bid

Half the battle before you even start applying for government contracts up for bid is where to find them. There are hundreds of websites posting multi-sector contract opportunities. Filtering them out can be a challenge and relying simply on CPV codes can lead to missed opportunities.

Ideally, you should be looking for a sector-specific portal that posts all tendering leads from your industry. Our sister company, Hudson Discover, hosts 11 sector-specific tendering portals. You’re able to filter the search results by location, keyword, budget and more. This helps you find the perfect bid for your business – streamlining the process and saving you time.

Our portals cover the following industries:

• Healthcare Tenders
• Creative Tenders
• Facilities Tenders
• Construction Tenders
• Technology Tenders
• Logistics Tenders
• Research Tenders
• Consultancy Tenders
• HR Tenders
• Finance Tenders
• Hospitality Tenders

Once you’ve found the right bid for your business, you should ask yourself the following before you progress:

• Am I eligible?
• Do I have the necessary qualifications/accreditations?
• Can I actually deliver the work?
• Do I have the necessary experience?
• Do I meet the economic financial standing?
• Can I write a winning bid by the submission deadline?

Assessing your bid or no-bid strategy is good to do if you want to bid on government contracts. This can help you see if a tender opportunity is right for your business. Just because you are eligible for a bid doesn’t always mean you should go for it.

 5 tips on how to win government contracts up for bid

1. Be the MEAT

Government contracts up for bid are always awarded to the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT). This means that buyers are looking for the tenders that provide the most value for money. The buyer is looking at more than just price. A buyer could be considering a range of factors including:

• Quality
• Technical ability
• Price
• Sustainability
• Innovation
• Customer service
• Ability to deliver on time
• Accessibility.

Each contract awarding body will be seeking something different depending on their needs. Therefore, you should read the specification thoroughly as what they require will be noted here. This can help you tailor your response to their specific needs. It can really help strengthen your response.

2. Demonstrate added value

Carrying on from the MEAT, public sector organisations will be looking for tender responses that demonstrate added value. This is because the government wants to get as much for the taxpayer’s money as possible. If you can demonstrate added value, it can give you an edge over your competitors.

For example, say you are the buyer, and you are looking at two high-scoring bids. One includes added value, and one doesn’t. You would choose the one that is offering more for the same price.

When tendering for contracts, continuously ask yourself how you’re going to add value to the buyer. It’s not enough just to say how you meet the requirements. You need to state how your services/goods will benefit the buyer. This can help you write a winning bid.

3. Remember social value

There’s a mandatory minimum weighting of 10% on social value for government contracts up for bid. We have even seen some with a weighting of up to 30%. This means it is not something to leave as an afterthought when writing your bid response.

Social value is the economic, social and environmental aspects that should be considered when fulfilling the contract. There are five key themes that should be addressed where possible. These are:

• Supporting COVID-19 recovery
• Fighting climate change
• Improving equal opportunities
• Tackling economic inequality
• Showing commitment to health and wellbeing.

This is a chance for SMEs to shine over bigger businesses and from their competitors.

4. Have contract experience

Government contracts that are up for bid will require you to have a bank of contract experience. Buyers will require you to provide 2 – 3 case studies of past contracts you have delivered. These will likely need to be within the last 3 – 5 years. They should be similar in scope and complexity to the contract you’re going for.

You should include in your contract examples any challenges you encountered. Detailing how you overcame these will demonstrate your problem-solving skills and flexibility. Both of these qualities are key when going for government contacts up for bid.

You want to note the contracts that you complete on time and within budget. This will greatly strengthen your bid. It will also help instil trust in the buyer that you know what you’re doing.

5. Address what’s being asked in the specification

One of the main reasons businesses miss out on bids is that they don’t give the buyer what they’re asking for. Reading the specification is essential. It will detail specifically what the buyer is looking for.

A lot of businesses will go off on a tangent and just note why they are good for the job. This is useless unless you are relating it to what they are required. Stay focused on your responses. Address what they are asking for specifically.

Break the questions down and address each point within the question. Use subheadings and bullet points to ensure you are covering all bases. The buyer will want you to demonstrate in your response that you:

• Understand what they’re asking for
• Hold evidence of a good track record in delivering similar goods/services to a similar standard
• Have a qualified and professional team to deliver the contract.

You now know where to find and how to win government contracts up for bid. If you follow this advice, you will be one step closer to securing government contracts that are up for bid. A technical Bid Writer can help you with this. They know how to coney the information that buyers want to see.

Need assistance when writing your next government contracts up for bid?

Although you’re a bit more familiar with what’s required, you might still be looking for some bid writing support. Writing isn’t everyone’s strong suit and that’s ok. Outsourcing a bid you’ve found to bid writing specialists can help you secure that next contract.

Here at Hudson Succeed, we pride ourselves on being bid writing experts. We hold an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of collective bid writing experience. We offer four levels of bid writing support to suit every business need. You may not need the whole bid written for you; you may simply need it proofread before you submit. We can help with that. Our services include:

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect bid for your business, send it our way. Our Bid Writers can take care of the whole thing for you they’ll even submit it on your behalf. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for businesses that have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully. They can also help you better understand the tendering process. Tender Ready offers your business:

• A 12-month subscription to one Hudson Discover.
• Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding Professionals.
• An Organisation-wide Bid library, including 3 case studies, 5 CVs and policies.
• Additional flexible benefits.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing success from your current efforts, our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents. They will work with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to a Hudson Discover portal and additional tendering development services.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need it double-checked for errors, Tender Mentor can help. A Bid Writer will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They will also ensure it’s in line with the specification before you submit.

Discover Elite

Upgrading to Discover Elite can help optimise your tendering efforts – even when you’re busy. Our two new time-saving tools can improve your competitor awareness and success rate when bidding for a contract.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

• A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
• An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Healthcare and Technology, for example.
• Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
• Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid strategy.
• Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

• All of the above.
• Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
• A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including:

• How to win a tender
• What is a Bid Writer?
• The tendering process
• Writing winning bids
• 7 tips for tendering for contracts
• Tips for bid management
• Bid writing services
• The types of tendering procedures
• Writing bids
• Bid writing consultants
• Submitting a tender response
• And many more.

The post How to Find and Win Government Contracts Up for Bid appeared first on Tender Consultants.