PQQ+

#PQQPlus Tips No 4: Evidence - Telling the story

Evidence - anecdotal or compelling?

Look at the evidence you submit in your PQQ's, Bids Presentations and Interviews and ask the 'so what' question. If you were reading for the first time what would you think?  Is it anecdotal, could it have been written by anyone or is it unique to you. Are your project sheets the run of the mill nice pictures and flat descriptive text that most construction marketing departments have churned out over the years?

Make you evidence real, make it come alive and tell your story, talk about the who, the why, the how, the where as well as the what. Talk about the innovative approaches you used yes, but also what you learnt and now repeat as good practice.  

Make your project sheets tell the story of the project, make them come alive with maps, links to innovate web pages, links to your linkedin pages, staff profiles or facebook pages. 

Between bids, get an independent,(external or internal) health check and update your evidence, your stories and your project sheets ready for the next one to land.

#PQQplus Tips: No 3: Innovative Responses

In addition to including innovative content and experience in bids, be sure to make use of freely available social media that can demonstrate how innovative and forward thinking your organisation is. 

For example:
  • link to innovative products, processes and or awards for example
  • link to your staff linkedin profiles, in particular your proposed project manager!
  • link to any relevant presentations or slides on slideshare
  • and of course make use of URL shorteners (such as http://bit.ly/) to allow links to be used when the document is printed

Not only will such use of social media show innovative flair, it is for the time being a real differentiator, and makes maximum use of word limits.

However, as with all submissions ensure that content and any links are independently checked, either in house or externally, allowing good time to make amendments and improvements before submitting to your client.

#PQQplus Observations Comments and Tips: No 2 Know the Score

Well written and well crafted PQQ documents contain the scoring and weighting system that enables bidders to focus on what is important to the client, project or framework. Sadly many don't and leave respondees making assumptions and second guessing.

For clients and those producing PQQ's:
Ensure that the scoring and weighting you will use to assess the responses are included and communicated. This really does help the bidder focus on what is important to you, should make your selection easier and ensure a good fit with the selected contractor or project team.

For contractors:
If the PQQ does not contain the scoring and weighting that will be used in assessing your submission, don't make assumptions or second guesses, but ASK the client for it. If you don't one of your competitors may well do so (although this should then be shared across all bidders)  Only by knowing what is important to the client through the weighting used will you be able to produce a focused and hence winning bid.  If, after asking, there is still no scoring system available, use your intel and knowledge from previous bids, including bid feedback, for that client, or knowledge gained by yourselves or your subcontractors in working with that client.

#PQQplus Observations Comments and Tips: No1 The Questions

I review a fair number of PQQ's for contractors and designers immediately prior to submission to their clients, this blog will share some of my observations, comments and tips for improving your bids. 

First up is the obvious one of answering the question, and answering all of the 'parts' of a question. Yes may be obvious but I would say that on every PQQ I see, frustratingly, at least one question (or significant part) hasn't been addressed.

Address the question with the response the PQQ is looking for, not what you want to talk about.

Use coloured highlighters to mark up the different aspects that a question may be seeking a response for and address appropriately.

Prior to submission get an independent person to review, within or outside of the organisation, to provide a critical assessment to ensure all questions have been answered.

In tough competitive times, maximising points and scores from each question is paramount. Leaving unanswered, incomplete, or poorly addressed is just throwing opportunity away