A non-profit organization wanted to submit a tender to provide housing for people with disabilities, but lacked experience building and managing such a facility. The consultant identified weaknesses and addressed them by having the organization secure land, plan facilities for both physical and mental disabilities, and hire an experienced manager. These strategies made the proposal stand out, and it was selected without needing a second round of review. The consultant's strategic approach helped maximize their client's chances of tender success.

1. WELCOME TO RED TAPE BUSTERS
By Red Tape Busters

2. Tender Writing – Case Study 1

3. Tender Writing – Case Study 1

4. Tender writing is not just about filling out a form and a pricing spreadsheet.
Inexperienced tender writers will not put much thought into what is required to
prepare a great tender response whereas the experienced tender writer will
understand that having a strategy and game plan is as important as having a great
price to offer.
So what sorts of strategies can you put in place to maximise your chances with a
tender? In this article I relay a real case study of a tender we prepared for a client
and the tactics we put in place to be successful.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

5. In this situation our client, a non profit organisation on the Sunshine Coast in
Queensland, became aware of a tender opportunity relating to the provision of
housing/accommodation for people with disabilities.
At that stage my client had no thoughts about delivering accommodation
services and was primarily solely a provider of support services for those with a
disability in the local area of Nambour.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

6. This posed a tremendous issue in my mind given the client had no real
experience in building purpose built accommodation for people with a disability
nor in managing such a facility.
I was concerned that given the tender was open to commercial and non profit
entities that developers in the area would have more extensive budgets and
maybe more experience in constructing accommodation facilities while probably
lacking in experience in the disability space.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

7. My client was keen to develop a proposal where they proposed a plan to build
accommodation for those with a physical disability, however they did not have
any land on which to build the facility so essentially were working from scratch.
Through my extensive grant and tender writing experience I immediately
identified the need for the client to have an appropriate parcel of land which they
could at worst show was able to be quickly acquired on which to build the
accommodation facility.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

8. I encouraged the client to make overtures to a few residents in an area close to
their existing service hub and offer each resident a price in excess of market value
and get in principal agreement from the residents to sell their properties should
the client win the tender.
This was achieved surprisingly very quickly with written in principal
agreements being received.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

9. This “proved” that the client had the land to build on. I then strongly suggested
to the client that they should build purpose built accommodation for those with a
mental and physical disability or health issue as opposed to purely physical
disabilities.
I undertook research to prove that mental illness is a significant issue in those
who are homeless and was able to garner some significant and impressive
statistics supporting this contention.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

10.  I then undertook research to identify how accommodation could be built to
meet the needs of people with a physical disability and/or those with a mental
illness.
The client then took this research and was able to get an architect to draw up
some plans which depicted the style of building and how different units in the
complex would be constructed differently built to meet the specific needs of the
proposed residents.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

11. I was also able to get the client to have graphic designs included giving the
reader a real insight into how the rooms might actually “look”. To me this would
give us a unique chance at winning the tender by enabling the reader to visualise
how the facility would look and feel while also pitching that the accommodation
would encompass the needs of all people with a disability – physical and mental.
I was convinced that our competitors for the tender would only just develop a
proposal for those with a physical disability.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

12. The last hurdle I believed was that the client had no real experience in proving
they could manage an accommodation facility once built. To overcome this I
encouraged the client to find an experienced manager of such facilities and offer
them the position of manager should the tender be successful and again get in
principal written confirmation that this person would join the team. Again the
client was able to find someone highly experienced in this area.
We then prepared a comprehensive response we believed which would at least
give us a chance at getting through Stage 1 given this was a two stage process.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

13. We were amazed to find that we were offered $4.9 million after the review of all
applications in the first stage and we were told our submission was so
outstanding that they were not going to stage 2 – our proposal was that good.
This success was completely a result of our strategic approach in identifying
our weaknesses and addressing those but also ensuring our proposal was very
very different to our competitors.
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

14. The skilled tender writer will have a strategy – they will have a plan and they
will maximise their chances in the tender writing process.
Our skills are not just in our abilities to write great tenders but also to come up
with the strategies and pitch to stand our client apart. Tender writing is far far
more than just filling out a form!
Tender Writing – Case Study 1

15. Contact us at Red Tape Busters –
http://www.redtapebusters.com/ should you require more
information about this article or if you require specialist grant,
tender or job application writing experience. We can assist
you to achieve your goals and objectives!

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17. Contact Us
Red Tape Busters Pty Ltd.
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WARNER QLD 4500
Telephone: 07 3882 2055
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Email Address: admin@redtapebusters.com.au