Bid and Project Delivery Experts

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (UK MOD) is one of the biggest public procurement organisations in Europe. The UK MOD is committed to spending £190 Bn over the next decade on a diverse range of equipment and services from combat aircraft through to construction of living accommodation.

Where possible, the UK MOD prioritises using an open, fair and transparent competitive procurement process to select suppliers and routinely welcomes overseas-based companies as well as encouraging Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) compete for and win opportunities with the UK MOD.

In practice however, there can be significant challenges for prospective new suppliers:  

UK MOD procurements are often subject to a lengthy “Assessment Phase” where a broad range of different options are considered to meet a user need. This can be an opportunity for companies to shape the UK MOD’s thinking about the type of solution and technologies that are available to meet a requirement. However, a careful watch over UK MOD programmes is required to understand when decisions are being made and the available routes to engage with the UK MOD procurers through activities such as industry engagement days, "Requests for Information", and other market engagement activities.

UK MOD releases as much information as possible about its future procurement plans. However, the published details often reveal little about the requirement to help prospective new market entrants decide whether and future acquisition is an opportunity for their organisation.

The UK MOD usually shortlists a manageable number of suitable bidders to be invited to compete for the contract. This is achieved by having tenderers complete a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) which allows UK MOD to establish whether a company has the technical and financial capability to deliver the contract. Depending on the requirement, that bidder may be asked to produce evidence of technical ability through, for example, providing case studies of previous successful contracts. Producing comprehensive answers can require a significant amount effort and may take a small team several weeks to complete – a significant burden for organizations, especially for new market entrants, SMEs or overseas bidders who are likely to be short on resources with the relevant experience required.

Further information on the MOD's PQQ process can be found here.

Once invited to tender, companies have a limited time to complete their proposal. The tender will proceed in accordance with a strictly defined process. For competitive tenders, this is usually either the ITT or ITN process.  Which ever process is followed, the tenderer’s proposal will usually include technical and commercial documentation to enable the UK MOD to objectively score the proposal. Even for small contracts, this could require completion of dozens of documents, sometimes obscure in purpose and content. This is particularly difficult for new market entrants without prior experience to rely on.

We help companies monitor the UK defence market for opportunities and influence future procurement decisions through UK MOD engagement and production of technical documentation in response to "Requests for Information" and other market engagement activities. 

Once an opportunity has been identified, we can help your company pre-qualify to compete in the tendering process. We will guide you through the PQQ process and author the necessary documentation, working with your company to elicit the information required to produce a compelling PQQ and ensure the prerequisites are in place to be eligible to bid for the contract. 

We can provide you with an expert bid manager who will project manage the bid process along with subject matter experts to work along side your company to author winning bid documentation that provides the UK MOD with evidence of full compliance with all its functional and non-functional requirements. 

If you have most of the resources you need to bid successfully, Westhaus Limited can provide expert consultancy and preparation of specific specialist documentation that you may need for your bid but don’t have the resources to produce, such as:

• Safety and Environmental Management Plans and Case Reports
• Security and Information Assurance Plans
• Integrated Logistics Support Plans
• Any other technical documents required for your bid

We can also provide experienced Project Managers and Engineers to assist with delivery of your contracts.