Our service takes a client through a practical sequence of steps designed to maximise the benefits of the tender process while minimising the effort. In brief, we audit existing services, work to uncover, clarify then document your requirements, before working through a tender process. This leads to a decision, or at least a recommendation for a supplier that then is worked through a legal and approval process. Implementation is a key part of the process (when this is needed) because an organisation must be careful to ensure that what was promised is delivered.  

Edge Consulting uses experienced IT professionals, project managers and administration staff to keep the process moving and ensure costs for our services are as low as possible. 

We provide a structure, good practice and process, and a good knowledge of the market. We help our clients: 

1. Understand what their ‘current state’ is and importantly, consume (we use an audit) 

1. Discover or formalise what requirements they have (to help a supplier understand what they want) then create a document that is in supplier language to help vendors develop a solution 

1. A managed tender process to formalise a request for services and ensure a level playing field between incumbent suppliers and potential suppliers 

1. Assistance to ‘normalise’ or decode replies so they can be fairly compared 

1. Decision support activities to help our clients make the best decision. 

• You are unsure about what exactly is needed, or your needs have changed, and a clear “requirements” document is not available. This is important because the tender must be in supplier language and translating your requirements into supplier language is key to getting a good result. This means the suppliers are clearer about what you want and can spend their time working on a better solution for you 

• Your organisation hasn’t tendered for the product or service for some time. It may be tempting to recontract to your existing supplier, but the goal isn’t to change suppliers it is to get the best solution, or some fresh thinking from a supplier to help your organisation 

• You have had the same supplier in place for many years. This is an important consideration. You may think that suppliers will be clamouring to tender for your business. If they think they have no or little chance of winning then they won’t bid, or they will put in a poor response. You need better than that. 

Edge Consulting has a lot of experience, tools and templates that provide a fast start and a process that we know works. Plus, we know the suppliers, lots of their staff, how their organisations work and specific market products and services. Here are some reasons we think, if you need external experience, why should consider us: 

• We are independent. We don’t sell or support any of the products or services. We don’t care who gets the business so long as it is the best one for our client  

• Our processes are templated, and we have a ton of collateral, such as questions, scoring matrices and documents. This allows both a fast start and a process you can rely on. This doesn’t mean we aren’t open to new ideas, but it does mean we don’t have to start from scratch with each engagement and this saves you time and cost 

• Think of us as decision support. We don’t make the decision for you, we help you make the best one 

• We know the suppliers in our field and lets us work together in a collaborative way 

• We’ve done this before, which means, we know the pricing in the market and service combinations from suppliers. This helps us provide service and price matrices that can be compared fairly – this is harder than you may think to do 

• Our reputation for fairness and transparency means suppliers know they will get an even chance of winning your business. In fact, we will never use a tender process to price check a service, there are much faster and cheaper ways to do this 

• We have an obligation to all parties: provide a document that clearly outlines requirements, create a level playing field for all suppliers and use a method to fairly compare responses using scoring matrix and our experience to ‘normalise’ responses. 

This adds up to providing our clients with better results, in a faster time saving time, money and producing a better result. 

We often get asked these questions or FAQs from our customers: 

What is the typical length of a tender process?  

It is dependent on the complexity of the services and products needed, but as a guide a commodity product or service (such as a printer selection and rollout) is around 3 months. While a more complicated, integrated service or one that requires evaluation may take up to 6 months, or longer. An ERP system? 

What effort will our team need to put aside for the tender process? 

Again, it is dependent on the complexity of the project and how much change is needed. We generally advise clients to set aside an average of 4 hours per week, although more will be needed at the commencement and evaluation stage of the project. 

Who else in our organisation should be involved? 

Larger organisations should have some functional representation, plus seek assistance from both legal and finance. This makes the process of negotiation and approval faster and easier. 

What is the difference between a price (or service) check and a tender process?  

A price check is a quick market evaluation of a price or service that enables an organisation to consider staying with a favoured supplier, for a variety of reasons. A tender is a more in-depth and considered process to consider what is needed and who is best placed to provide it. As a golden rule, never attempt a price check using a fake tender process. Suppliers will know this from a mile off and it is bad for all involved. We will not do this. 

3 months sounds like a long time for a procurement process, why can’t we push it through faster? 

It takes a reasonable time to run a tender process. Reducing time will almost always compromise the result. If you have a genuinely straightforward commodity purchase, that is different. In our experience, it is difficult to reduce the procurement timeframe by much. From a supplier perspective it may be seen as not taking the process seriously or think this is a price check. In either case they won't take your request seriously. 

Is this a supplier replacement process? 

No, but for an effective tender process, an organisation must be open to supplier change. Organisations should be prepared to change if a new supplier has a better solution at a competitive price. If you don’t want to change supplier, see price (or service) check above. 

How long should we allow for a tender response from our suppliers? 

Between 3 and 4 weeks is a minimum. Suppliers must consider your requirements, develop a solution and gain approval for releasing the tender response. These cycles within a large organisation can be weekly (or sometimes longer) meaning suppliers need the time to work their organisation’s processes. 

We have a procurement department, shouldn’t we use them? 

Yes! We often work with our larger client’s procurement team. They will often provide part of the process, such as running the tender, while we assist with auditing, requirements and decision support