Gov Ready: Why isn't my business winning any Government contracts?

Why isn't my business winning any Government contracts

Written by Thomas Pollock, Founder of Gov Ready and author of Winning Government Business: the 6 Rules and 9 Absolutes

The opportunity for businesses to service Government contracts is huge - and when I say huge, I mean HUGE - even more so since the Queensland Government announced that 30% of every product or service it procures must come from the small to medium business sector (SMEs).

Fact: the Queensland State Government buys around $20 to $22 billion of goods and services. Every. Single. Year.

Now do the rough math on that. Actually, I’ll save you the trouble – we’re looking at around $7 billion dollars every year, slated for the SME sector.

This little piece is for those smaller Queensland businesses who have tried and failed (so far!) to win that elusive Government contract.  This read is also for those businesses who have awoken to the opportunity that supplying Government can be the perfect vehicle to take your business and scale it to the next level.

So, let’s take a little look under the bonnet and investigate a few of the reasons you haven’t won your first piece of Government business!

Your business just isn’t ready…yet.

Before any business targets Government revenue streams, you really should investigate a number of things that Government looks for in its small business partners - blindly bidding for Government work before ensuring your business is seen as an attractive partner for Government will only end in tears.

Your website: Yes, it’s your shopfront. Almost every government buyer is going to take a good look through your website if they’re considering awarding you a contract. Does it spell out the biggest problem your business solves? Is it clean and professional? Does it showcase your business and give evidence that you can do what you say you can? Does it highlight 3rd-party endorsements – testimonials, references, awards? Are your policies clearly identified? Is the messaging on point? No, this isn’t rocket-science.  But take a few minutes to look over your own website right now, and you might be surprised with what you find. Or don’t find.

Cross your T’s and dot your I’s

60% of all tender responses are ‘non-conforming’: What does this mean? Put simply, a non-conforming tender response ‘breaks the rules’ in some way. Sadly, non-conforming tender responses are most often not read, not assessed, and therefore have no chance of winning. 

I’ll give you a few examples of what constitutes a non-conforming tender response:

• Let’s say that one section of the tender documents asks you to provide a summary of your management team’s experience in 300 words or less. Your response is 302 words. You’ve not conformed, so you’re out of the running straight away.
• You’re asked to answer what appears to be the same question at three different sections of the same tender document. This seems strange, so the third time you simply respond, “see answer to question 4.1”. Makes sense to you as the questions are almost identical, right? Wrong. Non-conforming and you’re out.
• The pricing template supplied is clumsy and doesn’t fit with your own pricing schedules. So instead of using the pricing template provided, you include your own pricing schedule in your format which is much simpler for anyone to understand. You pat yourself on the back thinking you’ve helped the tender assessors by making it simpler to understand your pricing. Sorry, you’re also out because your response is now officially ‘non-conforming’.
• You’re short on time and forget to initial everywhere noted in the tender response. Non-conforming also…

It can be heart-breaking to put in all that time and effort for a tender response, only for it to be deemed non-conforming. Be sure you don’t fall into this trap. Cross your T’s and dot your I’s!

The Devil is in the detail

You must stand out: Smart businesses know what assessors are looking for when they score tender responses. Being aware of these and using them to your advantage can mean the difference between winning and losing:

• Understand the tender criteria. Let’s say it clearly states on your tender form that there’s a 40% weighting for one particular criteria. With 40% weighting, this is a major criteria and you must give it the love it deserves. Don’t respond with a few summary paragraphs. Similarly, I’ve seen many tender responses where the business has provided a mini version of War and Peace for a piece of criteria weighted at just 5%. As a rough rule, if a piece of criteria is worth 50%, then it’s major criteria and half of your submission should be targeted to address that criteria.
• Got any value-adds? Include them. Value-adds are effectively ‘something for nothing’. While they’re unlikely to be part of the scope-of-works, they can be the difference between winning and losing. If your response is down to the final two, and pricing is similar, then value-adds can be the shot that gets you across the line.
• Statistics and evidence. At every opportunity try to include statistics and provide evidence that your solution is bullet-proof - tried, tested, and most importantly, it solves the problem that Government has. 

QTenders is NOT the Holy Grail of Government opportunities!

And lastly, something else that you need to be aware of. Most businesses, especially SMEs, believe that most, if not all Government opportunities are released to the market via QTenders.  This is absolutely NOT the case. In fact, only about 15% of what Government procures is released via QTenders. 

So, if you’re just swimming in the QTenders pool looking for Government contracts, you’re missing the bulk of opportunities available to your business. Government buys via a number of different methods including (but not limited to):

• Panel arrangements
• OI’s (Expression of Interest)
• BaU (Business as Usual)
• Select Tenders 
• RFQs (Request for Quotes)

Well, that’s it from me for now. I hope this has given you some insight and got you thinking a bit differently as to why you haven’t won a piece of Government business to-date. 

The Government opportunity is huge for SMEs – be persistent and learn from your mistakes. Even one small Government contract can be life-changing for a small business.

Any questions, feel free to call me on 0401 828 887, or email thomas@govready.com.au

Quick links:

QTenders: https://qtenders.epw.qld.gov.au/qtenders/

Austender (Federal Government): https://www.tenders.gov.au/

Local Buy (Local Government): https://www.localbuy.net.au/

Gov Ready: https://govready.com.au/