This case study outlines how CBC expert Bid Consultants helped a nationwide stationery supplier win a major Public Sector framework

Client: Office Supplies Company, based in Dublin
Client's employer industry: Education & Training Boards
Client contract: Provision of Stationery & Office Supplies
Contract value: €1 million

Scope of works:
This is a well-established family business, who is now in its’ second generation management phase.  The company had been tendering for many years but recently not having much success and the new MD felt they needed a fresh approach and he identified the strategic importance of successful tendering to the business.

They had a great client base in the Private Sector but not maximising their sales opportunities in this area.  Their proposal documentation was tired and dated looking which was not ideal as they also had a printing business.  The first project we undertook was to work with the client to create a suite of graphically designed Bid Library templates to showcase their products and services and enhance their brand identity.

We then worked with the client to develop CV’s of key team members and Case Studies which demonstrated the breadth of their service offering, up to and including fully managed stationery services.  The Client also took this opportunity to objectively review their business and with our assistance, develop a Bid Strategy.  This entailed us working with them to devise a plan of tenders in their area of interest which would be published over the next three years.  By developing this plan, they could strategically decide which tenders they were interested in and position themselves to respond to them when they were published.

In early 2020, we worked with the MD to develop their submission for an Office of Government Procurement (OGP) Framework for the Provision of Stationery and Office Supplies.  The assigned Bid Consultant reviewed what was required for each question and provided headings and guidelines to develop responses to each question.  The MD created the answer within the guidelines, which the Consultant then reviewed, this resulted in a more cost effective approach then CBC doing the writing.

The final submission was a high quality document which reflected the true professionalism and range of services and products offered by the Client and resulted in them winning a very lucrative contract.

Added value:
We developed a great relationship with this client and provided mentoring support to the MD, who has now become very proficient and comfortable in all aspects of tendering.  By ensuring each response was written to the highest quality, we developed a tender library for the client who was able to reuse the responses to populate future bids.

CBC continues to provide bid management and bid writing support to this client and assists them in their Bid/No Bid decisions.