Love me tender?

We have worked in the Business & Industry sector for fifteen years, yet it never ceases to amaze me how much time, effort and resource goes into the tendering process only to then see these costs wasted through errors and omissions, poor presentation skills, or deficient site visits. Nobody is perfect. The industry is very busy at the moment, and we, along with many other consultants, are seeing record levels of turnover and new project commissioning. But we are also seeing a record number of tenders not being returned by contractors, and a substantial increase in errors and omissions. It is never nice to hear, 24 hours before a four-week tender deadline is due to expire, that half the parties are not going to submit, especially after detailed dialogue has taken place over that four-week period. So what's the solution? There's no doubt that clients and consultants could help improve the situation. At Coverpoint, we always try to minimise the amount of work that we ask tenderers to do, until the shortlist is exactly that - short - and they have a very real chance of winning the contract. In return, what we hope to receive are tender returns with the correct client details, financials that add up, and some evidence of innovation and original thinking. Perversely, consultants are often accused of replication and duplication, and I do believe we need to lead by example so that our contracting partners go forward with us, minimising the administrative burden of tenders and maximising the creative thinking, financial astuteness, and operational 'flex' that is increasingly required in modern-day contracts. Going forward, we all need to be more realistic about our capacity and focus on the quality of our delivery - which inevitably may mean having to JUST SAY NO. About the author: Jonathan Doughty is Group Managing Director of Coverpoint Catering Consultancy Ltd, a practice that works in 22 countries on both commercial and business & industry projects. Weblink: Coverpoint Catering Consultancy