Procurement at a Crossroads

This week’s NFB Principal Contractors’ Group Conference has been really interesting – Chaired by Roger Black MBE (an entertaining, if not entirely Construction-focused speaker); keynote by Paul Morrell (the feeling amongst those I spoke to was that his will be hard steel-toe-capped boots to fill when he steps down from his post next month) and a speech from nubie Chloe Smith MP (Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office). These were just a few of the distinguished presenters. And to avoid writing a who’s who of key figures in construction, I won’t name any of the others.

'central government has no control over Local Authorities'

If there’s one thing I took on board from the conference, it was the point made recurrently by the presenters: that central government has no control over Local Authorities. The theme of the conference was Procurement, with the NFB launching their ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’ Report, which the title of this blog quotes. One of the more striking findings was that over 40% of respondents to their survey spend a month each year completing tenders. The government has already attempted to reduce the burden of procurement on small businesses by introducing PAS 91, the ‘standard PQQ’. But although its use in central government is mandatory, central government has no power to force local authorities to use it. And so it appears that they don’t. One interviewee reportedly “saw barriers to PAS 91 from the procurement executives within local government who used the uniqueness of the PQQ process as a way of justifying their job”.  So maybe this is one reason why "Use [of PAS 91] at the local authority level,.. is so low as to not be measurable."  So what’s the answer? Your comments please…

To contact the author of this blog email vicky.hutchinson@room4consulting.co.uk

The Top 5 Mistakes Bidders Make: No.1

No 1. Allow time and make a plan

Following from my previous blog (link) I promised some more detail on the mistakes that I see most frequently either whilst helping companies to improve their bids, or evaluating submissions on behalf of clients as part of the procurement process.

These days it seems that despite the numerous time saving devices and technological advances, people have less time than ever to do their day to day job.  Having recently delivered several Time Management seminars, I noted that one of the main issues seemed to be managing other peoples’ problems, but basically there just doesn’t seem to be enough seconds, minutes and hours in the day for us.  This seems particularly true of construction people.  They never have enough time in the day to put out all the fires they seem to be contending with. 

Unfortunately this means that proactive ‘wining work’ activities tend to be put at the bottom of the priority list, so that the PQQ/ITT is completed at the last minute and without enough resource being ploughed into it.

So I will tell you the secret to time management – change things. 

The only way to get better at managing time is to do things differently, it’s all about forming good habits.  After all, the old adage goes – always do what you’ve always done and you’ll always get what you always got!  Construction is all about good project management, so treat your PQQs and ITTs in the same way.  Winning the next job should be one of the most important things you do – make some time, assign resource and plan to do it properly.  Here are some quick and easy steps to follow before you start a PQQ/ITT:

·         Dependent on the size, complexity and importance of the bid you will need to involve other members of the team/company in the planning process – this is not a one man/woman show.

·         Consider three key questions:

1.       What is the client looking for, what are their key drivers and measures of success?

2.       What are my company’s key selling points? What story should I be telling the client?

3.       What evidence can I provide to prove the above? 

·         Set out a programme for completing the PQQ/ITT – make sure you plan to have the final draft completed at least 24 hours before submission, sooner if it needs to go to an external printer.

·         Include time in the plan for a proof read, preferably by an external/independent person.

Work through this process a few times and it will start to become second nature, and will take up less time.

For help in putting this process into place at your company contact me – katy.harris@room4consulting.co.uk

The Top 5 Mistakes Bidders Make

I have been working in procurement for about five years, and have spent even longer working in the construction industry supporting companies who want to become better – whether that is in winning work, managing their staff, increasing efficiency or responding to their clients requirements.  During that time I have found that when completing their PQQs or ITTs many companies are making the same simple and easily rectified mistakes.  So here’s my top 5, and over the next few weeks I will expand on what you can do to stop yourself from doing the same:

1. Allow time – construction people are always the busiest, most highly stressed individuals I meet. There never seems to be enough time in the day to put out all the fires they seem to be contending with.  Unfortunately this means that proactive ‘wining work’ activities tend to be put at the bottom of the priority list, so that the PQQ/ITT is completed at the last minute and without enough resource being ploughed into it. Winning the next job should be one of the most important things you do – make some time, assign resource and plan to do it properly.
2. Sell yourself – and prove it. Sounds simple? It would appear not.  For many reasons (see above) companies actually forget the bidding process is an opportunity to sell what’s good about their company.  They forget that their strengths, and more importantly even when they remember to put them in, they don’t provide any evidence. For example just telling your client you provide a quality service is meaningless.  Backing it up with evidence of externally accredited standards such as ISO, as well as client recommendations delivers a much stronger message.
3. Differentiate – the biggest complaint we hear about bidding at the moment, is that clients only want cheapest price and companies are prepared to ‘buy’ the work to retain turnover and keep going.  However if clients are only offered a group of companies who all basically do the same thing, offer the same service, provide the same quality i.e. average – then they can only differentiate on price.  However if you can demonstrate to your client that you go above and beyond what is required, provide exceptional service, innovate to improve, are able to demonstrate efficiencies and time/cost savings – then they will buy you.
4. Understand the client – for me this is absolutely key to a successful bid. It’s obvious when reading a submission from a company who clearly hasn’t done their research, doesn’t understand what is important to their potential client, and is therefore only able to provide basic answers - or in some cases completely miss the mark. Before you even put pen to paper on your response you should have listed out the key client requirements, and their potential drivers.  For example – a public sector client asking for examples of where you have implemented lean construction is no doubt looking for a company that can demonstrate cost and time savings.  Why? Because they have strict instructions as part of the Spending Review, to cut budgets by 20% minimum. At the end of the day, a client is looking to ‘buy’ the services of a company that clearly understands their needs, and can therefore respond to them.
5.  School boy errors! I have saved all my frustrations on the stupid mistakes I have seen over the years for the last point, here goes: Not reading the question properly, answering the question you want to answer - not the one the client has asked, spelling and grammatical mistakes, missing key signatures, not including appendices referred to in the text, no page numbers, missing pages, obvious sections of copied and pasted text, reference to the wrong client name, lack of consistency, poorly presented document, not submitting as per instructions, going over word/page counts, lack of proof reading…..

To avoid making some of these mistakes and more contact me at katy.harris@room4consulting.co.uk

Is there any use for Social Media in Construction?

Room4’s Tim Whitehill attended the first meeting of Constructing Excellence’s Social Media Task Group yesterday. Some of the early issues raised by the group were that Social Media is often something that is misunderstood in the construction sector. Is it simply a tool for the marketing department only, or is it something that can improve the way we provide service to our clients and possibly engage with some of the technological advances in our sector, for instance Building Information Modelling. Paul Wilkinson of pwcom.co.uk led the meeting, giving an excellent presentation, which gave an informative insight in to the vast array of media platforms, and the potential for how they could be used in construction.

The group also spent some time sharing experiences. Tim told of his experience on a recent trip to London on Virgin Trains, where he was struggling to gain access to the on board Wi-Fi. After venting his frustration on Twitter which included  Virgin Trains’ handle @virgintrains, within minutes he received a reply offering an apology and a solution. This was a ‘penny dropping’ moment.

From the ubiquitous Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to the lesser known platforms of NING and KLOUT, the world of social media is without question growing at a pace. Coupled with the sharp rise of smart phones (now overtaking laptops and pc’s for our everyday access to internet), it’s now clear that as a sector, corporately and individually, we have to understand and identify the usefulness of Social Media.