Public Sector Bidding and Tendering is different! In our experience the biggest reason that bid teams fail to win public sector contracts they are ideally suited for, is that the bid team does not respond to the nuances of the bidding process as well as it might.

Typically, the bid team comprises your very best technical and sales professionals, who understand everything about what you can offer and who are really excited about all the benefits that they can bring to your client. What their enthusiasm will cause them to miss, is that it is much more important to prepare their bid submission for the maximum score than it is to write a technically impressive response.

We believe it is crucial to include a session within any Public Sector bid kick-off meeting to remind the bid team and contributors of this approach. After all, if they do not get this bit right, you will not win the contract.

The topics which we believe must be covered as a minimum include:

– The fundamental principles of EU procurement – knowing how these impact upon the client and how to flex these rules to get an advantage

– Scoring and Weighting – understanding how to leverage the evaluation process to get maximum scores

– Question deconstruction – using this essential approach to avoid losing scoring opportunities

– FOIA – Using the Freedom of Information Act as a competitive weapon

– Answer structure – preventing the evaluator from awarding anything less than the maximum discretionary scores

For this to work you must involve the entire bid team including all contributors and reviewers. For those experienced with public sector bidding it will be an invaluable reminder of what they need to focus upon. For those with limited experience of public sector bidding, it will give them a baseline awareness that will make a material difference to their ability to contribute winning bid content.

Many businesses sales processes are geared to the private sector. Most of these processes are insufficient to handle the mandatory requirements and procedures required for putting together a competitive public sector bid.

At Sixfold we have developed a comprehensive Consultancy service that enables our clients to develop or ‘fine tune’ their Public Sector bidding process. Many large organisations have worked with us to create or improve their bid process and you can tap into the experience and skills uniquely available within Sixfold to gain competitive advantage.

Over the years we have helped our clients put in place systems and procedures to handle the written and unwritten rules affecting those who sell to governments and Public Sector bodies. We can help you develop your bid strategy and to understand which contracts you are most likely to win. We can help you pre–qualify for restricted opportunities, to get on the long and short lists. We can introduce you to cost effective methods for the production and generation of effective and consistent proposal content. We can help you deal with roadblocks that are deliberately put into the Invitation to Tender to reduce the number of competitors.

Our clients range from the largest UK Public Sector organisations, to multinational IT companies, through to small and medium sized firms in a variety of business sectors.

Experienced Public Sector sales people gain new ideas and insight from working with us. They benefit from being reminded of the fundamental principles behind the public sector procurement process. Sales people who are beginning a Public Sector sales career will gain knowledge and learn to apply processes that are essential to their success.
Andy Haigh

Sixfold has developed an enviable reputation over several years of helping strategic clients win their bids. We have distilled this experience into a wide range of training workshops and courses, all designed to help our clients gain a competitive edge and become more successful in their public sector bidding activities.

All our courses are tailored to the clients’ specific needs and led by professionals with significant experience in Public Sector bidding. All our clients get free consultancy to help them get the best return from their investment in training. Moreover, participants take away practical tools, methods and ideas that they can put to use immediately.

A range of some of our training is given below. Some are open courses run through our business partner KABLE (part of the Guardian News & Media), others are examples of some of bespoke training we have provided in the past.