About Us Our Tender Wins & Successes

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome." - William James

Success can be measured in many ways. Tender Success defines success when one of our clients emerges better skilled, better prepared and better able to respond to tenders after working with us; and yes, this translates into an improved bid success rate.

Irrespective of how much time and money you invest in the sales and marketing process, the best tender submission will not win the business if there is not a trusted relationship in place or worse still, the (incumbent) relationship is poor. Many other factors may also affect the final decision including price, incumbency, compliance, capacity, and ability to service a client.

The five P's once again ring true: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

Here are some of the more notable Tender Success stories. These have been de-identified in the interests of confidentiality. If you'd like references or further details, please contact us.

Case Study 1: A Major Financial Institution

Organisation: a major government financial institution has been privatised. It's now facing an unprecedented test in being subjected to market forces. Word on the street: the incumbent is unlikely to win the contract and the pressure is on to maintain the business - approximately 400 jobs.

The project involved the coordination of more than 70 internal staff and external consultants including legal, lobbyists, accounting, advertising, advisers and others.

Contract value: more than $6B in revenues over 5 years; one of the largest (top 5) funds of its kind in the world.

Outcome: As project manager, a principal at Tender Success successfully guided a process that succeeded in winning all portfolios for a further 5 year contract.

Case Study 2: A Fortune Top 20 Healthcare Provider

Organisation: a Fortune top 20 company providing services to the health and government sectors wishes to bid for the largest health care call centre business in Australia and New Zealand. Being an incumbent for part of the existing business presents its own challenges not least of which is the risk of complacency. The purchaser is a newly-created government agency under pressure to get the service up and running with the least amount of issues.

This tender response involved a number of interesting if not unique facets. One of the more unusual aspects was the requirement of a Cultural Respect Framework and Plan to implement it. This ultimately resulted in one of the principals of Tender Success facilitating the development of an on-line Cultural Training Program to be delivered to all staff (more than 80% of the clients staff are remotely connected to the call centre) throughout Australasia. The proposal provided significant opportunity for innovation which was offered on a number of levels.

Contract value: >$750m

Outcome: This was a challenging assignment which pitched the client against a number of international providers. The engagement of senior staff from the outset enabled a robust and disciplined approach to the project. The organisation's founders were very actively involved leading one to comment: "I learned a great deal from this process."

Our client was successful in securing an operating contract for 3 years.

Case Study 3: A Construction & Projects Organisation

Organisation: a dynamic, rapidly-growing construction projects organisation featured in BRW's fast starters list.

Responding to RFPs, RFTs and EOIs several times every month, this nimble company needed a whole new approach to smaller tender responses. Each submission document comprised poorly formatted Word documents, badly-worded and rushed content put together with copy and paste, lack lustre images and a chaotic approach to publishing.

A Tender Success specialist gathered accurate data from company profiles, previous EOIs/RFPs and through interviews with key staff. A concise and persuasive EOI pitch was developed along with a professional layout, echoing the company's branding. Compelling diagrams and images were included, along with stirring action captions and pull quotes. The entire editable template was provided along with source content in Word format for future customisation.

Outcome: Submissions are now delivered using a professional inDesign layout, a great library of diagrams and images and a good body of company profile material. Professional credibility of the company has improved hugely.

Case Study 4: A Major Insurance Provider

Organisation: a major public financial services organisation providing both retail and white label wholesale commercial insurance products to an insurance retailer. The incumbent is under threat: the commercial insurer has stealthily issued a selective tender to the incumbent's competitors. On becoming aware of this, the incumbent engaged the services of one of a Tender Success principal and an engagement strategy was developed.

Contract value: $1.8B in revenues over five years

Outcome: This proposal involved considerably more than responding to a tender and required significant strategy development to re-engage the client at the most senior levels. It involved organisational analysis and design, relationship building, negotiation and a first-class tender submission and presentation. Our early involvement was vital in turning the client around. It is no exaggeration to say that victory was snatched away from the jaws of defeat. Executive General Manager: "[The Company] owes you a lot."

Our client secured the contract for a further five-year period.

Case Study 5: A National Security Organisation

Organisation: a national security organisation with more than 6000 personnel seeking a Comcare Licence for Workers Compensation.

This was a proposal (Comcare Licence Application) of a very different kind, but involved many of the disciplines and tasks undertaken in an RFT submission. All stakeholders (internal and external) were engaged early in the project; a project management plan was initiated along with the engagement of external advisers and consultants including insurers and actuaries.

Contract value: The conversion of the management of workers compensation to a national program generated immediate annual savings of $2m.

Outcome: The client was successful in obtaining a Comcare Licence.

Case Study 6: A Major Public Financial Institution

Organisation: a major public financial institution has been the unique supplier of a highly specialised financial service to government for over a decade. Government, however, is obliged to test the market and so subjects the service to the competitive tender process. In the five years since the contract was let many more organisations have qualified to bid for this contract. Again, the market foretells a loss to the incumbent.

Contract value: more than $6B in premium over a 5-year contract.

Outcome: While meeting the government requirement to introduce competition to the fund, the incumbent maintains the maximum number of portfolios available under the new arrangements. The General Manager of the Fund comments: "How did you do it?!" A further 5 year contract is awarded.

Case Study 7: A Motor Trade Association

Organisation(s): a large public financial services organisation - providing both retail and wholesale financial products - and a major motor trading association wishes to embark upon a new offering: white label commercial car insurance to a major motor vehicle retailer.

Contract value: undisclosed

Outcome: a successful contract is awarded setting a new benchmark in commercial motor vehicle insurance and increasing market share.