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BenRamsden

How to top the shortlist in government tenders

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winner
It was one of those moments when I realised that my greatest strength was also my greatest weakness. “I can’t believe how well you simplify things!”, I said. “I can’t believe how well you complicate things!”, he replied.

And it wasn’t just me. Over the preceding days we had both read and evaluated many tenders. These had been received from major corporations bidding for a high profile multi-million dollar government transformation program. All of them had strived to impress us with their sophisticated solutions for our needs. Some of them had.

Tenderer techniques that helped the evaluation panel in their work included:

1. Wrote with the evaluation criteria front of mind.
2. Submitted their response on time.
3. Answered the question. No more. No less.
4. Retained the prescribed look of the response document.
5. Clear about their capabilities (and where they have gaps).
6. Respected government probity obligations.
7. Provided case studies of clearly relevant experience.
8. Recognised that the public service is not deliberately awkward.

Government evaluation of tenders is a thorough, slow, deliberate and highly analytical process. Traditional business-to-business sales techniques are far less effective in this environment. This might frustrate some, and it’s an opportunity for others.

How effectively are you investing your time on tenders?

Slashing routine admin is remarkably easy

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mail_stack
We all knew it was mess. Every year the club would email application forms to members. They would then print, complete, attach a cheque, put in an envelope and mail back – sometime over the following days, weeks or months; if at all. The cheques were banked, except for the odd one that was rejected. The forms were collated and information transposed onto a spreadsheet. This was all shared with the organisers. Everything was slow, nothing was up to date, it took a lot of effort to manage. And it was a huge chore.

It’s transformed now! The difficult bit was finding someone who could fix it, after that it was very easy. Our online system is now in its third year of operation and has successfully managed over $45,000 of revenue (check it out here). Club members fill the application online and pay via credit card or bank transfer. Organisers have immediate access to completely accurate information. They can very quickly communicate any changes by web or email. Our members love it too. And modern cloud technology makes this available at an extremely attractive price.

Isn’t it about time that you slashed your admin?

5 tactics for leading reform in the public sector

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Civil Servant
You’ve seen it on the news thousands of time. “Government criticised for failing / cutting / changing X”. No wonder government is so slow! Change is painful, status quo feels safe and easy by comparison.

I have just finished an 8 month assignment in a major government reform program. These are the top 5 tactics that I observed as the most effective in enabling reform:

  1. Lead not rule. Enable not preach. Love not fear.
  2. RACI: Align the As, empower the Rs, cut the Cs and invigorate the Is.
  3. Precisely wrong can also be roughly right: don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
  4. Speed cannot be delegated.
  5. Supplier vs. Regulator: understand the difference and know your role.

In 8 months I achieved what I would have expected to deliver in 4 within the private sector. On my last day my client most kindly commented “you have done a great job, although it might not feel that way to you”. It’s a sort of reverse jet lag I suppose!

Note to self for next time: reset body clock and enjoy.

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