If you joined us at Procurex Scotland or Wales you will know that there was much discussion around early engagement.
As part of our “Debunking the myths in public sector procurement” session at the Procurex events, our team spoke about engaging with buyers as early in the procurement process as possible to better understand what is being asked of you.
If you would like to learn more about why your business should engage earlier, and the best ways to do so, see our blog below.
Why should you engage earlier?
There are many myths surrounding public procurement; not being able to ask questions when writing a tender response is one of them.
Gareth Rhys Williams, Government Chief Commercial Officer and Non-Executive Director at the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), says in fact that “early engagement is absolutely crucial”.
Speaking to Tracker at Procurex Scotland, he noted that both buyers and suppliers should be encouraged to engage earlier to get the best out of a procurement exercise:
“If we don’t engage with the market, we won’t understand what the market can offer or what suppliers have developed for a different buyer elsewhere in the country. If we do not talk to suppliers then we miss out on opportunities and we will end up trying to procure something that they may not be able to deliver.”
Ask questions
Never make assumptions during the bid writing process. It is important for your organisation to ask questions so that you can fully understand the potential flexibility of the requirements. Once you are certain of what the buyer wants, you can focus on what is required and give the buyer exactly the answers they are seeking.
Director of Scottish Procurement and Commercial, Ainslie McLaughlin, says the main benefit of early engagement is communication:
“It’s all about communication. The more we can communicate, as early as possible, between client side and supplier side the more we can understand the challenges that both sides face.”
Attend industry events
Events like Procurex can help suppliers build relationships with buyers face to face. These events have networking spaces where representatives from procurement centres of expertise are based (such as APUC, NHS and Crown Commercial Service).
This allows suppliers to engage with those developing policy and creating both national and sectoral framework contracts – which can help them to understand what frameworks are available to join and buy from.
With Tracker Membership Benefits you can claim two free delegate passes for all our events.* Learn more about Tracker Membership Benefits here.
Take advantage of Tracker Market Leads
Tracker’s Market Leads too gives suppliers instant access to hundreds of private sector leads. The benefit of using this business intelligence tool is that users have visibility of tender opportunities long before their competitors do.
This allows businesses like yours to engage earlier and start conversations with buyers before the contract has been announced.
If you would like to learn more about Market Leads or gain more information on early engagement, request a personalised demo with a member of our team.
* the exception is our Defence event DPRTE, where it’s buy 1, get 1 free
