Participants of the South Waikato Tender Workshop
In early April, attendees gathered for a tenders workshop in Tokoroa that promised to transform their approach to the formal tendering process. Subsidised by SWIFT (South Waikato Investment Fund Trust) and supported by South Waikato District Council and Civil Contractors New Zealand, the workshop was designed to give local contractors the skills and confidence to write compelling tender applications, aiming to boost the competitiveness of local suppliers.
Plan A Tender Specialists delivered their ‘List Your Game’ training workshop for 17 attendees, ranging from engineering and plumbing businesses to events management and accounting. All were keen to learn how to navigate the often complex and competitive tendering environment.
The event was facilitated by Plan A’s Director Caroline Boot and tendering veteran John Bryant, who brought a wealth of knowledge to businesses keen to hone their skills in responding to tender requests.
“By building the capability of local businesses, districts like South Waikato can ensure that projects and jobs stay within the community,” said Caroline Boot. “Building skills in winning tenders not only helps to boost the local economy, but also fosters a sense of pride and ownership among local businesses.”
In the current financial environment, tender evaluators are looking even more carefully at applicants, needing greater confidence that they are awarding contracts wisely. The level of supplier competition to win public sector tenders has grown exponentially over the past two years, so tenderers need to invest time, skill and effort to stand out from their competitors.
“New Zealand's in a thrifty mindset at the moment” adds Caroline Boot, “so businesses or public organisations looking to contract suppliers have to be very careful that they’re spending their money fairly and getting the best value for money. As things have got more competitive, the depth and quality of information that is required to win a contract has increased.”
A good understanding of the tender process is critical to businesses aiming to win public sector contracts. As Caroline points out, “as long as your business keeps performing, public sector work can bring long-term security, often with reliability of work and cashflow.”
Plan A Director, Caroline Boot
With a background in chairing tender evaluation teams and training evaluators, Caroline was well-positioned to share her wisdom on what evaluators look for and how scoring systems work. Plan A’s 25-year history of supporting NZ businesses to win tenders contributed key components of navigating tender documentation, coordinated bid management, effective bid strategy development, and content creation, delivered by Plan A’s seasoned expert John Bryant.
The activities, scenarios and discussion prompts in Plan A’s Lift Your Game workshop gave attendees actionable insights, practical tools and a clear understanding of how to improve their tender win rates.
Feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive. Managing Director of Laser Electrical in Putāruru, Mark Camp, said “understanding the complete tender process from an evaluator's perspective and recognising key areas that they were looking for gave me new insights that will definitely help for future proposals.”
Kiani Tuhua, Community Liaison for South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (SWIFT), was pleased with how well the workshop was received: “It was fantastic to see such strong engagement from teams across South Waikato and the positive feedback really shows how ready our community is to take on new opportunities.”
“SWIFT is proud to support initiatives like this, that focus on building local capability and prioritising efforts that ensure our community is in the best position to benefit from future investment. It’s all part of growing together, growing stronger."
