Strategic decisions

Tender for the services you need

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Tendering
You may wish to seek competitive tenders for the services of your professional advisors. There will sometimes be a legal requirement for an element of competition (especially for local authorities and government bodies). Even if you do not need to go to tender, if time permits, tendering can still make prices keener and give you an opportunity to test the understanding of the tenderers. This can sometimes be a useful trial run, allowing you to find out how well you will get on with the consultants. This is a very important aspect of any project – it will have its ups and downs and the ability of the team to work together through difficult times will be highly important.

It is vital that you are prepared to appoint any of the invited tenderers and that they meet your criteria at the time of invitation. Do not invite anyone you have no intention of appointing. Let them all know how you will make your selection, telling them which criteria are important. For example, design, price, programme etc.

Give tenderers time to submit their proposal, rushed tenders inevitably lead to high prices initially or to claims for extra payments later. A minimum of two weeks should be given. Don’t forget, tenderers are not waiting around for your particular invitation to come in. If they are successful, they will be busy – so they will need to programme in your tender in the same way as any other work. Once a selection has been made, tell the successful tenderer.

Do not forget to tell the unsuccessful tenderers either, giving reasons for their failure to secure the project.