Planning ahead is a good way of finding scope for efficiencies. It gives time to question and assess, if alternative solutions are available (eg. forming a consortium or partnership), and if the timing is right.
It is recommended that contracts are linked to the business development plan and consider:
- Please, keep a close eye on contracts which have short notice periods for termination. Good contract management will help meeting deadlines and maintaining quality standards and avoid scope and to build up confidence for a future business relationship.
|
- tendering timing:
- if possible, avoid tendering at the end of the year. Other businesses will be doing this too and you will be hard pressed to maintain delivery timescales and quality standards. It also means there are unlikely to be opportunities to negotiate.
- tender arrangements. A project plan should be drawn up, setting out all the strands of work, authorities require, how the strands will be taken forward and completion timescales. The important aspect of any tender timetable is to have plenty of space to conduct the process. The more complicated/important the contract the more time needed.
|
- if similar tenders are on the horizon it may well be worth to think about partnerships. This will help reduce costs and achieve best value;
- the range of tenders announced. There are central places to find tenders announced OJEU ? PIN central contracts registers - This is an excellent way of keeping track of the number of tenders announced, their value, outputs, and termination dates. This makes life easier for the management team (eg. finance committee) to regularly review the register.
|