This one day Masterclass provides an essential introduction to public sector tendering for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Attendees will undertake an organisational Tender Ready Review to identify the information they need to be tender ready and develop their own action plan for implementation. They will also take away a free Tender Ready Guide containing examples of policies and procedure templates which they will be able to adapt for their own organisation.

This Masterclass will cover:

1. Preparing your business to tender:

• Explanation / contextualisation of public sector tendering, the opportunities and challenges
• Tendering thresholds, different types of tendering (e.g. framework, restrictive, open etc) and procurement rules
• How to be tender ready, consideration of supplier requirements and the policies, accreditations, finance information, insurances and case studies are needed to apply and organisational management of the tendering process

2. How and where to find tender opportunities:

• Live demonstration of the main tender portals (Contracts Finder, Due North/Proaxis, Intend) and other ways to find tenders (social media, newsletters, web searches), commercial tender search services, paid for tender portal e.g. Achilles, Local Authority contract registers and upcoming bid opportunities, Crown Commercial portal
• Explanation of how to find opportunities, register interest and download tender documents
• Clarification of the different types of tender documents, Standard Questionnaire (SQ), on-line questionnaire, ITT’s, Form of Tender, Collusive Tendering Form

3. Understanding tender requirements:

• How to review a tender opportunity and pick out key information e.g. deadlines, minimum requirements, TUPE considerations and required accreditations to evaluate the opportunity
• How to complete the Standard questionnaire (range of examples shown)
• The evaluation of method statement and pricing schedules, how to work out an individual question score, pricing and completion of pricing tables

4. How to respond and submit a tender:

• Interpreting tender questions, how to formulate responses, key considerations, checking responses against evaluation frameworks
• Examples shown of completed successful tender questions and the opportunity to work on either their own tender or to have a go at example tender questions with feedback and input and answers, do’s and don’ts of tendering, storyboarding, tender question layout, submission and uploading your tender
• Finding out the result, what happens next and how to secure feedback on your response

5. What Your Business Should Consider When Deciding to Bid:

• Exploring whether to bid and using SWOT
• Implications on resources
• Management considerations
• Pricing strategies and discounting
• Social Value Act and its implications
• Impact on cash flow/working capital requirements and investment requirements

Who is the Masterclass for?

This Masterclass is for all growing SMEs within the Sheffield City Region, as long as the below eligibility criteria is met.

It is primarily for those who are new to the tendering process and looking to start bidding for public sector tenders, or to improve their bid writing process.

Eligibility

Only one registration per business via Eventbrite will be confirmed. If additional people from your business would like to attend, they can be added to a waiting list by emailing enhancementproject@sheffieldcityregion.org.uk with the business name, name of additional attendee and contact telephone number. If this Masterclass isn’t fully subscribed upon the closure of registrations, we will contact you to offer the additional place. The waiting list will be prioritised on a first come first served basis. Businesses that register more than one attendee via Eventbrite will be contacted and asked to nominate one person to attend.

This masterclass is open to small and medium-sized enterprises based in the Sheffield City Region. If you are unsure whether you fall into this region you can use the postcode checker.

A part of your business must be based in one of the following districts: Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, Doncaster, North East Derbyshire. Rotherham or Sheffield.

Find out if your business meets the definition for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME).

Please note that if your firm that is part of a larger Group you may need to include staff headcount, turnover, balance sheet data for the Group too, to ascertain whether it is eligible.

We are pleased to be able to provide this masterclass free of charge due to funding from the European Regional Development Fund. There are a number of eligibility criteria for attendees which we will check using the online registration questions and in a phone call to every attendee prior to the event.

More Sheffield City Region Growth Hub Enhancement Project Masterclasses.

Contact us for more information.

This event will be delivered by the ‘Sheffield City Region Growth Hub Enhancement Project’ that is part-funded by the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The project, for high-growth businesses in the Sheffield City Region, aims to increase their competitiveness and so help them grow and prosper.