The public sector spends large sums of money each year and they are always looking for new suppliers. Thoughts of supplying to this market are often halted by the statement, ‘It’s too difficult and I might not win the contract’. However, considering the expanse of the public sector, there may be an opportunity for your business, through a direct contract or a subcontract to increase your Company revenue. Public sector organisations also make good customers. They must be fair, honest and professional in their approach. So, it is well worthwhile taking the time to find out how the system for tendering works and what is required to submit a winning tender.

Your 1st port of call should be the website
http://www.supply2.gov.uk/

This site is the “official government lower-value contract opportunity portal.” Put simply, public sector contracts, with a value of £100,000 or less, that are currently out to tender, are advertised on this site.

Registration on the Supply2 website is free. Opportunities are also advertised on Tenders Electronic Daily (TED). This site is updated five times a week with approximately 1500 public procurement notices from the European Union, the European Economic Area and beyond. You can browse, search and sort procurement notices by country, region, business sector and more. Also check out current tenders on the following website:-

* Contructionline
* Local councils
* The Education and Library Boards
* Northern Ireland Water

Web addresses for all government departments and local authorities can be found at:
http://www.tagish.co.uk/links/

The Central Procurement Directorate for Northern Ireland:
http://www.cpdni.gov.uk/

Also provides a list of current opportunities and some useful publications which are available to download. Check out further publications on the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) website
http://www.ogc.gov.uk/

However, bear in mind that finding the tender is only a small part of the bigger picture. Winning a tender is an integral part of good sales and marketing activities. The most basic form of decision making is based on RECOGNITION and people prefer to buy from people they trust. Before you put pen to paper, there are pre-writing activities you need to consider and information you need to gather.

* How recognisable are your products, services and brand in the market place? What recognition building activities has your Company been engage in? Were they effective?
* How well do you know the customer? What issues might the customer be facing? Who are their primary customers? Who are their current suppliers? What is their culture? Have they launched any new products, taken on new staff?
* What are your unique selling points? What could you offer them as a solution?
* Do you know any other Company that may compete for the tender? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

In the words of the Roman Orator and statements Cicero, "If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words."

This statement offers good advice in relation to pre-writing activities for tendering. Get to know your customers, get to know your competitors, get to know your market place. Misunderstanding the customers market and their needs may result in failing to win the tender.