Month: April 2018

How to make the most of Supply2Gov tender alerts

How to make the most of Supply2Gov tender alerts
Posted on by Amy Madden

 

Tender searches can be time consuming, especially for micro businesses that do not have the same resources as larger businesses that have a team devoted to procurement.

Our tender alerts service is tailored to the needs of sole traders and micro and small businesses in the UK. If you want to gain instant access to tender opportunities, find out more about our tender alerts service below.

 

Benefits of tender alerts

By signing up to a tender alerts subscription you will reduce the time you spend looking for opportunities with the public sector.

Our flexible packages are a gateway for sole traders, micro and small businesses that want to find contract opportunities that are suited to the services they offer.

When you set up your account you can also pick how you pay: monthly, bi-annually or annually.

 

How to set up my tender alerts?

When registering on Supply2Gov you will be asked to provide “keywords” that are relevant to the services/products your business offers.

For example, if your micro business offers construction services then you would add this to the keywords section during set-up. Supply2Gov will tell you there and then how many matching opportunities have been published in the last month in:

  • Your Selected Local Area (e.g. Glasgow City)
  • Your Country (e.g. Scotland)
  • Across the UK + ROI

 

s2g construction tender alerts

 

When setting up your profile, you can add as many keywords as you like to your search. The more keywords that you add at this point, the more opportunities you are likely to receive.

Top tip: Try to keep the keywords as relevant as possible, as this will help you to eliminate any opportunities that are not suitable to your business, keeping your search clean and easy to browse through.

 

Local Area Tender Alerts

All Supply2Gov customers can get instant access tender alerts and opportunities in one local area for FREE.

During the set-up process you will be asked to select the local area of your choice and will be given a list of local areas in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and in England.

You have free choice of local area. You can choose the local area where your business is based or, if you intend to grow your customer base elsewhere, you can select that area instead.

Get started for free

 

Looking to grow your business?

Supply2Gov users have the option to purchase additional coverage. When you upgrade to country coverage, the more countries you choose, the more you will save. You can add another country for a 30% discount, add 2 more for 35%, add 3 for 40% or add 4 for 45%!

Register for one of our tender alerts packages today.

 

 

 

Supply2Gov Spring Webinar Schedule

A new season of webinars is upon us
Posted on by Amy Madden

A new season is upon us and that can only mean one thing – the latest content from the Supply2Gov team is on its way!

While you are giving the office its annual spring clean and preparing for the end of the fiscal year, we have been preparing not one but two FREE webinars!

If you would like to start winning work with the public sector or find out more about Supply2Gov, attending the sessions below is an excellent start.

 

Introduction to Public Procurement

First up is our “Introduction to Public Procurement” session which will be held on 18 April 2018 at 11am.

We received an excellent response from attendees when we held this webinar back in March – so if you missed it the first time, here’s your chance to join in this time round.

On the day we will discuss the basics of public procurement and attendees can ask any questions on how they can get procurement-ready at the end of the session.

Availability is limited – secure your space today.

Register here

 

introduction to procurement_webinar

 

The Essentials of Cyber Essentials

You may have noticed that we talk about cyber security a lot on the Supply2Gov blog: why? Because 46% of UK SMEs suffered a cyber security breach in 2016.

In partnership with Cyber Essentials, Supply2Gov aims to educate small business owners on the reasons why cyber security is so important and how they can defend their business against ever-increasing cyber threats.

Cyber Essentials is a government-backed, industry-supported initiative – you can find out more about it during the FREE webinar on 2 May 2018 at 11am.

Register here

 

Get Started with Supply2Gov

All webinars are free and designed to help sole traders, micro businesses and small businesses find new opportunities, win more tenders and grow their business.

Once your business is ready to get started with procurement, Supply2Gov offers free local area tender alerts to small businesses in the UK and Ireland. Simply let us know what type of tenders you want to win.

Start for free

How to protect your business from cyber security threats in 2018

How to protect your business from cyber security threats in 2018
Posted on by Amy Madden

Sadly, suspicious phishing emails are becoming more and more intelligent, putting your small business and its customers at risk.

Your business doesn’t need to invest thousands of pounds to protect itself from cyber threats – actually, it’s pretty simple…

Read our top tips for cyber protection in 2018.

 

Password Protection

This may seem obvious, but cyber criminals all over the world can gain access to personal accounts because of poor password protection.

The UK Government’s Cyber Aware Scheme advises that users create passwords by joining together “three random words to create a strong password”. This is an excellent way to create a hack proof password. If you want to make it even stronger add numbers and symbols.

Avoid using the following personal details when creating passwords:

  • Current partner’s name
  • Child’s name
  • Family members’ names
  • Pet’s name
  • Place of birth
  • Favourite holiday
  • Favourite sports team

Find out more about password protection in out Cyber Security statistics infographic, download it here.

 

5 Cyber Statistics You Should Know infographic

 

Update Software

Another suggestion made by the UK Government is that cyber users update software and apps regularly.

By doing this you are protecting your organisation from any third party issues that have been fixed by the software programmers – always keep up to date with this and monitor your software and applications regularly.

 

Train Employees

If you have staff working for your small business it is important that you take time to educate your employees about the risks of cyber attacks like WannaCry and Petya.

Some of the world’s largest organisations were affected by these ransomware attacks, proving how vulnerable your small business is.

Check that your employees understand how important your company’s data is and give them the support that they will need to protect it. This is especially important at present as the new GDPR regulations on data protection come into force on 25 May.

 

Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials is not free, but it is reasonably priced if you are part of a small business looking for cyber protection.

As most cyber attacks tap into basic vulnerabilities, often you will only need to make slight changes to your IT systems and software to protect them.

The wonderful thing about Cyber Essentials is that it sets out five key controls that will help sole traders and micro businesses to reduce potential cyber threats.

The scheme is suitable for organisations of all sizes, in all sectors and starts at just £300.

 

How can Supply2Gov help?

Find out more about the benefits of Cyber Essentials. Download the Cyber Essentials Scheme Summary for free.

 

How to produce a winning tender, and keep on winning

How to produce a winning tender, and keep on winning
Posted on by Amy Madden

Win more tenders with Supply2Gov!

If you are looking for the dos and don’ts of procurement then you have come to the right place. The Supply2Gov team are here to save the day once again, helping sole traders and micro business to win tenders in the UK and Ireland!

Here’s some top tips that will help you win more public sector tenders!

 

Your “bid team”

Usually, a ‘bid team’ would be created with staff from relevant departments of a business. However, a sole trader or micro business may not have his type of resource.

Nonetheless, you should never attempt the procurement process alone. Make sure that your application is seen by a pair of fresh eyes before submission. Someone else is much more likely to spot errors and omissions and  will help you to create a more comprehensive bid.

Consultancy may be the best option for this. The Procurement Advice and Support Service (PASS) provides the expert services that can help your small business to identify and address the reasons why you may not be winning business with the public sector.

 

Confidence is key

If you are not confident about the quality of your product or service, then why should the public sector organisation you are trying to sell to be?

Your micro business must promote the product or service it is selling and the added value it will bring to the organisation – this is one of the best ways to beat competitors.

Explain the advantages of working with your company clearly and in detail – it’s that simple!

 

win more tenders_S2G

 

Timing is everything!

That’s right, if you’re not fast, you’re last!

The public sector has no time for incomplete and/or late tenders. If your application misses the deadline or you fail to complete every section of the application, you will be wasting your own time as this type of tender cannot be evaluated.

If you want to win more tenders, your tender application MUST be completed and returned by the given time and date.

Double check everything before you do this, making sure anything that needs to be signed is. If the bid asks for your application not to bear your company name, remember that this applies to the envelope and frank too.

 

Ask for feedback

OK, so it’s not always possible to win first time.

If you want to win tenders, one of the best ways to do it is to learn from the mistakes you have made in the past.

After the time and effort you have put into your tender application, you are entitled to a debriefing from the public sector organisation that you have applied to work with.

This is often extremely helpful. You may discover that you lost because of something small that can be easily fixed for the next tender opportunity.

 

Ready to go again?

Your goal should be to win more tenders – we can help you to this.

The first step is finding tender opportunities that are relevant to your business in every way. When you choose our service, you can choose where you want to win work and receive tailored tender alerts for the type of work you want to win.

 

Get started with Supply2Gov today and register for free.