Receipt of an Invitation to Tender
Any Invitations to Tender received must be
forwarded immediately to the appropriate Bid Leader who will
be responsible for all activities up to and including Contract
Award or Loss. The Invitation to Tender will, on receipt, be recorded on the
bid database and all the relevant customer information
collected. The bid data base poses high level questions
to ascertain if the bid is worth perusing. If so move to
undertaking the Bid Review Checklist this further review will
again assess if all the ITT documentation is comprehensive and
the questions that need to be asked of the potential customer. Remember in some
instances the customer may be prepared to contribute towards
the bid cost if you ask.
Bid/No Bid Decision
Allocate the bid team and the Bid should
now be up and running and verbal contact made with the
potential customer. If the risks are financially high
you may decide at any time if you want the work, remember the
risks may be more than the penalty clauses specified as
realised by BP. Following the internal distribution of a
customer Invitation to Tender, the Bid Leader, if it is deemed
appropriate, will call an initial Bid/No Bid meeting at the
earliest opportunity. The representation for this meeting will normally as a
minimum involve:
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Bid Leader
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Product Team Lead who will undertake
the work should you win
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Marketing including the key players in
the bid team
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Contracts
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Procurement
Other areas and potential suppliers will be consulted as deemed necessary by the
nature of the Invitation to Tender.In addition, for bids which are deemed to be of a
strategic nature, an executive sponsor will be identified and
invited to attend. There are some instances that loss
leaders are considered to be strategically advantageous for a
company to get into a new market place.
If a Bid/No Bid meeting is held, the
decision will be recorded utilising the criteria on the
Proposals Bid/No Bid form. A formal risk review will be
held addressing the requirements in the risk review check
list. Following on from a decision to bid, the Bid
Leader will produce a Bid Plan detailing the win
strategy/themes to be adopted and any relevant information
already produced from the Business Assessment and Venture
Planning stages and decision gates, along with associated
time-scales for the receipt of responses from the relevant
parties for their contributions to the response to the
Invitation to Tender.
The potential risk of not winning a bid has
to be balanced against the cost required to construct the
proposal, ie., cheap proposal with a low chance of winning or
high cost proposal for a must win situation. A budget
for the bid needs to be established. During the life of
the proposal the decision to Bid must be continually reviewed
and the Proposal Bid Plan amended accordingly.A No Bid decision is better sooner than later and
must be approved at the appropriate level, no lower than the
relevant Bid Manager, and the Bid Team formally notified.
The Bid/No Bid meeting will also establish
the extent of any sub-contract involvement. It will be the responsibility of Contracts to liaise
with the relevant Procurement area to ensure a flow down of
Terms and Conditions from the Invitation to Tender to any
suppliers. In the event of a No Bid decision being made, the
Bid Leader will raise a letter advising the customer of this
fact. This letter should be written in a manner which will not damage, and
should seek to enhance, the Company's future opportunities.
Preparation of the Proposal
The Bid Leader should hold a bid
review/approval meeting to identify
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Bid/No Bid Decision.
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The Competition.
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Proposed Strategy and schedule
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Sub Contract Arrangements.
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Winning Themes.
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Proposal Organisation and
Responsibilities.
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Proposal Contents and Format.
The output of the meeting will be minutes
on the meeting in addition, the schedule will identify all key
input dates and actions necessary to submit a proposal on
time, (including the level of attendance at any available
Bidder's conference) together with all key review/approval
meetings. Typical responsibilities during the preparation of the
proposal will be:
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To determine that the technical requirements are fully
understood and can be achieved and to define the Work
Breakdown Structure.
Action: Product Team.
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To provide market intelligence on the competition and
customer budget and likely winning price. Action:
Marketing.
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To establish the financial viability and credit rating of
the customer. Action: Business Administration
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To confirm resource availability, to assess the resource
implications associated with the proposal and to identify
resource succession plans in the relevant Project and
Support. Action: Product Team
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To assess and establish teaming arrangements.
Establish confidentiality and Teaming Agreements.
Action:
Proposals/Marketing/Contracts/ Product Team
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To collate and review in-house man-hour estimates. Action:
Proposals/Product Team
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To determine sub-contract strategy and obtain and review
sub-contract quotations. Action: Proposals/Product
Team/Contracts
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To confirm man-hour rates. Action: Proposals/Business
Administration
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Provision of programme and resource profile. Action:
Product Team
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To assess Terms and Conditions Action Proposals/Contracts
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To assess and quantify the technical/programme risk.
Action: Proposals/Product Team
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To assess and quantify the commercial risk. Action:
Proposals/Product Team/Contracts
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Prepare Proposal Tender. Action: Proposals/Product Team
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Prepare Selling Price. Action: Proposals/Business
Administration
Following receipt of an Invitation to
Tender, all communication with the customer will be through,
or as specifically delegated, by the Bid Leader. This will include all requests for further information
or clarifications, requests for extensions to the submission
date and negotiations with the customer. Regular
review/approval meetings will be held throughout the Proposal
preparation process as required by the particular enquiry. These will normally be chaired by the Bid Leader.
The minimum level of meeting should include a review of
the Proposal draft and a final Proposal Approval Meeting. For small proposals with a quick response time, formal
meetings may not be practical. These will be processed at the discretion of the
Proposals Manager.
The date and venue for the final Proposals
Approval Meeting will be included in the Bid Plan. It is the responsibility of all interested areas to
ensure availability of a representative at the appropriate
level of approval.
The Bid Leader will be responsible for
proposal budget control. This includes the raising and closing of Cost Centres
and Work Packages for this activity in accordance with
standard Company practice.
Preparation of the Selling Price
The Bid Leader is responsible for
preparation of all price information supported by Business
Administration, Projects, Procurement, Contracts, Marketing
and Product Definition as appropriate. Prime cost estimates (man-hour and sub-contract) will be
provided to the Bid Leader in accordance with the requirements
and time scales detailed in the Bid Plan.
Where applicable, the costs associated with the use of
customers equipment or premises must be included in the prime
cost estimates. Any costs for alteration and subsequent reinstatement to its
original condition after use are also to be included in the
prime costs estimates.
The Bid Leader will calculate the selling
price(s) from the prime cost estimates. The calculation will be recorded in the excel bid cost
calculator. The Marketing should be able to provide intelligence or
information if available, regarding competitors and expected
market price levels for the project, within the overall
Proposal Time scales. The Bid Leader, supported by the
Product Team Manager has the responsibility to challenge all
costs in order to enhance the Company's competitive position.
Proposal Approval
Prior to the submission of the Company's Proposal in response
to an Invitation to Tender, it is essential that the
appropriate level of approvals are obtained and recorded on
the Proposal Approval Form. The commitment/approvals required
are:
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Product Team - confirming man-hour estimates, ability to
carry out the work and resource availability.
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Product Team - confirming acceptability of sub-contract
quotations with respect to price and compliance.
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Product Team - confirming acceptance of the proposal (cost
estimates, programme and resource availability).
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Contracts - confirming acceptance of contract Terms and
Conditions.
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Business Administration - acceptance of any special
financial arrangements.
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Proposals - A Proposals Manager, or delegated
representative, will confirm that the proposal is
consistent with the TPA and approve the proposal for
submission to the customer.
For proposals of high value a Tender Price
Approval may be required from Senior Management, Corporate Risk Management and Insurance Department and the
Contracts Department. Proposal Price Approval is
subject to agreed discretionary levels.
Variations to contract that have a price
implication to the customer are instigated by Projects but
Proposals are consulted with regard to tender pricing. Depending upon the value and perceived risk of the
variation, see below, Proposals should then either take the
price variation through its tender pricing procedure or give
guidance on the actions to be followed by Projects.
Proposal Submission
The Bid Leader will be responsible for
ensuring the proposal is submitted to, and received by, the
customer before the final submission date. In the event that the Bid Leader becomes aware of
circumstances which will lead to late submission of the
proposal, action is to be taken to minimise the delay and to
agree a revised submission date with the customer. In
some instances it may be considered prudent to deliver the
proposal just prior to the cut of date or time. In these
instances bids consisting of large documents should be
couriered by a specialist firm or internal courier.
Post Submission Activities
The Bid Leader is responsible for
maintaining contact with the customer after submission of the
bid and for negotiating the bid into an acceptable Contract
supported by other areas as necessary. This post-bid contact is essential to demonstrate the
companies commitment, to obtain intelligence regarding the
customer's perception of the bid and to allow additional work
to be initiated to improve the company position. The Bid Leader will consult with, and employ, the
Marketing Department to support this activity.
When a proposal is resubmitted the principles of this
procedure will be maintained including the Proposal Approval
Procedure. When any aspect of a proposal is changed during negotiations with the customer from that for which
corporate approval has been received this alteration is subject to the same approval as the original tender response.
Contract Award
On receipt of a Contract, Purchase Order or Acceptance of
Tender, the Bid Leader, supported by the Product Team Manager,
will conduct an initial review and, if acceptable, forward the
Contract, together with a completed Contract Hand over Note to
the Contracts Department for formal hand over and acceptance.
If the Contract is unacceptable, the Bid Leader,
support by Contracts, Business Administration and the Product
Team, will negotiate with the customer to obtain a
satisfactory contract.
If it becomes apparent that a satisfactory Contract
cannot be agreed then Contracts will formally reject the
contract on the Company's behalf.
Where applicable the Bid Leader will ensure that all hours
included in the contract price allocated from the Proposals
Budget are recovered by electronic transfer of costs. A priced copy of the Proposal and
associated ruling documentation, together with a detailed
breakdown of price information, will be forwarded to the
Product Team.
It is importance that intelligence is
gathered regarding winning proposals.
The lessons to be learned will be summarised by the Bid
Leader and actions for their implementation agreed with the
appropriate Proposals Manager.
These will be discussed with the departments involved
in proposal preparation
Activities In the Event of a Lost Bid
The Bid Leader will communicate the result to all departments
and any subcontractors involved in its preparation. The Bid Leader, supported by Marketing, will contact
the customer to determine the reason for its unacceptability.
This may be pursued by formal debrief.
This will include evaluation of potential customers
comments on the bid, price differential, quality of proposal
and name of the winning Contractor. It is often prudent
to see if your skill sets are of value to the winning
Contractor.
The lessons to be learned will be
summarised by the Bid Leader and actions for their
implementation agreed with the appropriate Proposals Manager. These will be discussed with the departments involved
in proposal preparation. A review of the feedback form unsuccessful Tenders will be
undertaken periodically by the Senior Proposals Manager in
order to determine the lessons learnt and to identify trends
and any corrective measures to be implemented.
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