The government procurement market is highly competitive, so suppliers need to pull out all the stops when preparing tenders to stand out from the crowd. Many strategies can give you a competitive advantage. We’re going to focus on innovation and how you can use innovation to drive your business forward in public procurement.
To this end, we’ve put together five tips to help you create winning government contracts.
1) Understand the Government’s Contract Needs
It doesn’t matter which market you work in, if you want to succeed you must understand your target market’s goals, needs and pain points. In local government tenders, these can be very specific; like teacher training in your city, or broader; like teacher training across the UK.
When you understand the government’s particular needs in local education (for example), you can determine how to optimise your business offering to deliver an innovative solution that none of your competitors can provide.
2) Be Clear About Your Value Proposition
You know exactly what your solution can do for private-sector service providers. You know it so well you can sell it in your sleep, but can you sell it to the government?
The public sector is unlike any other with strict regulations governing tender opportunities and processes. It’s important to be very clear about your value proposition, so you can demonstrate how your innovation helps buyers achieve their goals as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
3) Build Relationships With Key Public Sector Decision-Makers
Networking and relationship building are essential for businesses looking to establish partnerships that will boost their chances of winning tenders and contracts. The trick to successful business relationships is to connect with key decision-makers – the people who are instrumental in evaluating and awarding public sector contracts.
The idea isn’t to curry favour, it’s to give them a thorough understanding of your innovative solution so they can draw their own conclusions regarding your suitability for specific UK government tenders and contracts.
4) Be Prepared to Answer Tough Questions About the Contract
The nature of the public sector requires full knowledge of all products, services, and solutions offered by suppliers. As a result, buyers might ask you probing questions about your solution to get more in-depth information that will help them gauge your suitability for the tender concerned.
The best thing to do is to answer all questions clearly and concisely, with no ambiguity or beating about the bush. Think of an elevator pitch; you must provide details to demonstrate your value but don’t inundate them with information. Brevity is your watchword.
Clear and confident answers can engender confidence and trust in your solution, which is essential to enhance your tender’s chances of success.
5) Be Patient While Your Bid is Assessed
The wheels of public sector procurement turn slowly, but they do turn. Recognise that tenders and contracts go through various channels, some of which are significantly complex and protracted. The only way to get through to the other side is to be patient – and persistent.
You know you have an innovative solution with clear benefits for your targeted area of the public sector. Keep following the five tips above and it should only be a matter of time before you’re awarded a government contract.
Bonus Tip #6: Ensure Compliance in Current Tenders
Public procurement can be complicated enough on its own, but there’s one non-negotiable element in the process that can make it even more complicated: Compliance.
Ensuring compliance is particularly important for new products, services, and solutions. It can be easy to unintentionally contravene some compliance requirements when you’re keen to create a successful bid that will sell your innovations to the public sector.
Fortunately, it’s also relatively easy to ensure your products, works, and services comply with relevant government regulations. All you really need to do is act ethically and ensure that your suppliers also embrace ethical practices. This is especially important when it comes to transparent relationships or partnerships, personal data protection, competition laws, labour laws, and new social value requirements.
Grow Your Business With Innovative Solutions
The need for innovation is becoming more important as competition for government tenders and contract opportunities increases. While you strive to develop unique solutions that will get the attention of interested buyers, Supply2Gov will deliver public sector contracts that apply to your field of business.
Register for free, add your business’s details, including your targeted sector and our system will ensure that you only receive email alerts for relevant tenders and contracts.
Choose between local (free) tender alerts or a selection of paid subscriptions for your country (e.g., Scotland), the UK, and UK and Ireland. In addition to email alerts, your subscription to S2G’s contracts finder includes training, webinars, and a Tender Ready Toolkit, so you can optimise your bidding process and put your innovative solution front and centre in public sector tendering.