2018 Salary Survey Announced

We are excited to announce that we will shortly be launching the 2018 Salary Survey. This promises to be the largest and most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of the UK bid & proposal profession. We will be shining a spotlight on many of the issues identified in the previous 3 surveys, such as the gender pay gap, the north-south divide, industry disparities and overall satisfaction of the workforce.

To pre-register your interest in the survey, please email salarysurvey2018@bidsolutions.co.uk

As ever, Bid Solutions is committed to making the results freely available to everyone in our profession. As well as publishing a comprehensive report, we will also be updating our Salary Calculator Tool.

To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.

Martin Smith from Bid Solutions at the APMP UK Symposium on the 6th June 2017

Bid Solutions at the APMP UK Symposium

‘Wanting it More’ by Martin Smith and Simon Wellstead

The session run by Martin and Simon at the AMPM Symposium discussed a ‘want it more’ attitude and showed you how to smash through the barriers to being extraordinary and achieving ‘bid’ greatness

In this session, Martin and Simon explored key phases in the bid lifecycle and showed you how to capitalise on your differentiators, how to motivate your people to ‘want it more’ and how to put forward visually engaging bids that consistently scream ‘we really want your business!’ More importantly, they showed you how to place a significant distance between you and your nearest competition. They aimed to give you the extra percentage points that push you across the line in the winning position.

The full slide can be viewed here.

To view and download all the slides from the day – click here.

Creating unexpected value through outcome-based procurement – webinar

APM Specific Interest Groups (SIGs) offer a forum for collaboration and knowledge development in all areas of project, programme and portfolio management. They have a panel-based webinar scheduled on the 4th May from 12.40 to 13.45 to discuss practical lessons for project managers, bidders and those involved in the procurement process.

The purpose of projects is to enable or deliver benefits. The measure of benefits is value. So shouldn’t Project Managers, the Procurement function and the market (bidders) be partners in a process whose objective is to identify, quantify, and maximize Value? But how can this work?
This panel-based webinar explores how a collaborative approach to the procurement process based on contracting for outcomes, can deliver and quantify value. The three protagonists represent:

Project managers who are now measured just as much on the value they deliver, as well as against the traditional time, cost and quality.
The Procurement function, who have to demonstrate value and compliance. This becomes harder when using outcome-based procurement approaches instead of just the best economic value (lowest cost) for a given specification.
Business development who need to demonstrate value in proposals. Winning bidders are those who show superior value and can quantify the benefits supported by proofs.

The panelists are all experienced practitioners and thought leaders in their field.

Benefits of attending.

Attendees will:
• Learn about the state of the art and limitations on outcomes-based procurement.
• Hear examples of good practice from real-world practitioners.
• Learn proven techniques to identify, and quantify the value of benefits.
• Be able to recognise pitfalls and issues to address when applying these techniques at work.

The interactive agenda will include time for questions on topics raised.

Speakers:
Darren Knowd is the Chief Procurement Officer at Durham County Council who were awarded the Cabinet Office first-ever award for Social Value Leadership for an Organisation in 2016.
Darren leads all procurement activity at the County Council who spend over £500m annually in supplies, services, and works. He also represents the North East region on the LGA National Advisory Group for Local Government Procurement.
He was previously Head of Procurement at several District Councils prior to the establishment of the unitary council in 2009 and during this period he completed his MBA at Durham University Business School.

Tony Birch is Managing Director of Shipley Limited, a consultancy that provides organisations and individuals with consulting and training services focused on winning business in highly competitive environments.
He is a Fellow of the APMP and was one of the architects and creators of the APMP Certification scheme.

Hugo Minney Ph.D., is a Registered Project Professional and committee member of the APM Benefits SIG.
Hugo is Chief Executive of TyneHealth, a GP Practice federation serving two million patients. He is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM) and an accredited practitioner of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) Model.

Dr. Jon Broome is the managing consultant for leading-edge projects consulting Ltd and chair of the APM Contracts & Procurement SIG.
He has hands-on experience of contributing to innovative procurements, both on the client and contractor side. Jon co-edited the soon to be released ‘APM’s Guide to the Procurement and Management of Contracts for Projects and Programmes’, which includes the trend towards outcome-based procurements and contracts.

To view our most recent vacancies for bid & proposal professionals, follow this link.

Qvidian Unveils Winners of Annual Customer Excellence Awards

Winners of the Connect17 Awards, including global enterprises Cisco and Verizon, were announced last week at Qvidian’s annual user conference.

Qvidian, the leading provider of cloud-based RFP and proposal automation software, announced the winners of the Connect17 Awards, its annual customer excellence awards. The winning individuals were honored last week at Connect17, Qvidian’s annual user conference, held this year in Tampa, Florida.

Considering five unique categories, the Qvidian management and customer relations teams choose individual users and Qvidian champions who have driven business value and innovation in their enterprises with the help of Qvidian’s RFP and proposal automation software. Two individuals at Cisco and Verizon were repeat winners, having won Connect awards in unique categories two years in a row.

Winners of the Connect17 Awards include:

Innovator of the Year – Honors the person who has driven exceptional innovation within his or her team or organization by seeking out new and creative ways to utilize Qvidian. For the second year in a row, Qvidian honored Darrell Woodward from Verizon with an award.

Business Growth – After 40 years as primarily a provider of specialty assessments, Questar set an ambitious goal to become the premier provider of high-stakes grades 3–8 state-wide assessments. In June of 2015 — and within six months of fully implementing Qvidian — Questar won Mississippi’s state-wide assessment contract. The State of New York awarded Questar its state contract over their incumbent assessment provider shortly thereafter, and less than a year after that, Tennessee followed suit.

Business Transformation – Designed to recognize the individual who played a key role in questioning the status quo and drove transformational change and process improvements in his or her organization as supported by Qvidian. This year, Qvidian chose to award two individuals from ABM with the award, Mike Rembish, and Chloe Degen. ABM implemented Qvidian while aligning the business to different vertical markets. Mike Rembish and his team established a Centre of Excellence to more effectively cross-sell products in the vertical markets, with Qvidian as a key part of that move to a segmented approach.

Qvidian Superstar – Recognises an outstanding advocate for Qvidian, who evangelizes the role of the proposal writer both inside their organization and outside of it. Marcel Schwarz from Cisco was a repeat award winner this year. Schwarz and his group collected business requirements from different units within Cisco to determine how the services layer of the organization could help each one. Based on that research, the team developed a plan and gained buy-in from different product groups and functions across the company to fund an enterprise license. Now all of Cisco shares access to Qvidian, ensuring consistency and accuracy in selling a vast number of complex products.

Value Achievement – A special category for individuals at organizations who have implemented Qvidian within the last 12 months and in that short time have already driven ROI from usage of the software. Qvidian chose Maureen Holtzclaw from FIS for this award. Holtzclaw was part of a team that launched Qvidian to enable the organization to respond to business growth.

To view our most recent vacancies for Bid & Proposal Professionals, click here. To find the perfect bid or proposal writer or manager to join your team, click here.

Qorus Software Moves Up 10 Spots in GeekWire 200

Qorus, the company that helps organisations become more efficient when creating business-critical documents, has once again been listed in GeekWire 200, moving up 10 spots from last year.

Qorus, the Seattle-based company that helps organisations be more efficient when creating business-critical documents, is pleased to announce that it has placed 113th in GeekWire 200.

GeekWire 200 is a ranked index of Pacific Northwest start-ups using publicly available data to identify the tech companies most popular and trending among key online communities. The ranking is generated each month from GeekWire’s Startup List, a comprehensive directory of the region’s tech start-ups.
Qorus offers a range of Microsoft-based solutions that increase productivity when creating and collaborating on business-critical documents like pitches, proposals, RFPs, SoWs, contracts, and more. In 2016, the company released a suite of productivity-boosting add-ins for Office 365: Email Builder, Document Builder and Slide Builder, all of which are available from the Office Store.

Visit the Office store at http://bit.ly/2lIna0b

Ray Meiring, CEO of Qorus Software: “I am delighted that Qorus has been recognized by GeekWire again this year. We have been working hard on our new suite of products, and we’re pleased that this work is creating a buzz among key online communities.”

Meiring was featured on GeekWire’s Startup Spotlight in December 2016. Read the full interview here: http://www.geekwire.com/2016/qorus/

To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.

Happy National Apprenticeship Week 2017 from APMP UK

It’s National Apprenticeship Week, and what better week to update our APMP UK Members with the progress being made with the development of a brand-new Bid and Proposal Coordinator Apprenticeship.

In the last parliament, more than 2.3 million apprenticeships were delivered in the UK and the government is committed to delivering 3 million more by 2020. In July 2015, the UK’s Skills Minister announced that the government had approved 26 new ‘Trailblazer Groups’ to develop new apprenticeship standards.

One of those groups, led by Amanda Nuttall, now CEO, on behalf of the APMP UK Chapter received approval to commence the design of a new apprenticeship for the role of a Bid and Proposal Coordinator. The Group includes employers and professional bodies committed to being involved in the development of the Apprenticeship standards. Supported by the Department for Education, soon to be the Institute for Apprenticeships, and training providers, the group work together to ensure that the standards agreed will be suitable for large and small organisations, across a range of industries and sectors.

Now in the final stages of the Trailblazer process, the Group are designing the “End Point Assessment” methods that will explain how to test the full occupational competence of the Apprentice with a view to launching the scheme officially across the bid and proposal industry later in 2017.

In line with National Apprenticeship Week’s celebration of the positive impact apprenticeships and traineeships have on individuals, businesses and the economy, this week we will be sharing the experiences of two real life Bid and Proposal Apprentices who embarked on the UK’s first Bid and Proposal Apprenticeship pioneered at NG Bailey. We caught up with Vicky Coleman and Charlotte Rees to understand the impact the apprenticeship has had on their personal development and career choices. We will also hear from NG Bailey’s Head of Group Learning and Development, Frank Clayton, to get an employer’s perspective on the benefits of this scheme.

For further article from APMP UK visit their website http://www.apmpuk.co.uk/

To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.

Amanda Nuttall Appointed New Chief Executive Officer for 2017

Amanda Nuttall Appointed APMP UK New Chief Executive Officer for 2017

The APMP UK has announced the election of Amanda Nuttall as its new Chief Executive Officer for 2017, following Richard Bannon’s completion of his second term.

As a Director of Strategic Proposals, Amanda advises and works with sales, marketing and bid teams across a wide range of sectors supporting on live deals as well as driving systemic improvements to their proposal processes. A member of the APMP since 2006, Amanda achieved her APMP Professional Certification in 2013 and has previously held the positions of both Apprenticeship Director and COO. As Apprenticeship Director, Amanda was responsible for the creation of the first ever bid and proposals apprenticeship programme in the world, where work continues with the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills to deliver a new set of standards designed specifically for the bid and proposals industry.

The full article can be viewed on the APMP website http://www.ukapmp.co.uk/index.php/apmp-news/item/final-press-release-16th-january-2017

To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.

How often do you achieve a win / win deal?

It was a compelling evening with the International Proposals Academy in London on Monday evening. Ian Law, Head of Commercial Support at Deloitte, led the session on how to secure a win / win deal. Drawing upon his experience of 8 years as Head of Procurement at Barclays, Ian gave great insight into typical bidding pitfalls and guidance on how to create compelling proposals that truly resonate with their audience.

With experience of both sides of the table, Ian provided thought-provoking insight into how to get the most out of commercial negotiations.

We want to hear from you – how much planning do you put into negotiations? Do you try and achieve win / win deals or simply the best for your organisation?

For more expert advice and insight into how to write a winning bid, check out our Ask the Expert section.

Construction, Infrastructure and Rail News

This week’s Infrastructure, Rail and Construction Bid News:

Viridis Real Estate have awarded a £40.8m design and build contract to McLaren Construction. The contract will see McLaren redevelop the former offices of The Guardian newspaper on Farringdon Road, London into 9,300m2 of office and retail space. The project is due for completion at the end of 2018.

The Peel Group have secured planning permission for the second phase of the MediaCityUK development. The £1bn project will see the estate double in size, providing more than 1,400 new homes and 50,000m2 of office space. The plans include –

  • Northern Edge – a new gateway to MediaCityUK including 3 buildings with 632 apartments, 6 two-storey live / work units, office space, 3 multi-storey car parks and more.
  • The Arcade – retail / leisure space around a pedestrian arcade with office space.
  • Studio Square – offices and a small park.
  • Georgian Square – a public courtyard, six-storey podium on top of which would be 2 blocks of flats with residents terraces, 18 three-storey live / work units and separate commercial office space.
  • Market Square – a village hall and square for markets and events.
  • London Square – 14 three-storey town houses with 460 apartments on the upper floors and gym, cinema room and shared office space.

 

Carillion will continue their long running relationship with Centrica to deliver facilities management and project services in a new 5 year contract. Carillion will provide hard and soft FM services including security, cleaning, catering and planned and reactive maintenance in 115 Centrica locations across the UK and ROI. The new contract is worth £90m and has the potential to be extended to 7 years.

 

Department for Transport have issued an Invitation to Tender for the West Midlands rail franchise. The competition is between West Midlands Trains, owned by Abellio (with minority partners East Japan Railway Company and Citsui & Co Ltd) and the current provider, London Midland owned by Govia. The ITT sets out several improvements including

  • An increase in Sunday services
  • Bespoke local branding of trains forming part of a separate business unit managed by West Midlands Rail
  • Space for over 30k additional journeys into Birmingham during peak times
  • Increased frequency of some services and a new service from Birmingham and Wolverhampton to Crewe via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent
  • Expanding smart ticketing and providing free Wi-Fi on all local services by 2019.

To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.

Construction, Infrastructure & Rail News

This week’s Infrastructure, Rail,  and Construction bid news:

Perth & Kinross Council have awarded Balfour Beatty a £35m contract to deliver the first of four phases to the Perth Transport Futures Project. The project aims to ease congestion, improve accessibility and promote economic development. Balfour Beatty will build a newly separated junction on the A9 dual carriageway and a new link road creating access to development land to the west of the city. Works are due to start in September with completion expected in early 2019.

 

The Alstom Transport (UK), TSO and Costain joint venture has been awarded a £26m contract to build an infrastructure maintenance depot at Plumstead. The depot is scheduled to be operational in August 2018 and was the last of 100 major contracts for the railway to be awarded.

 

Kier has won a £48m contract to add office space and 2 multi-storey car parks to the ARM campus at Peterhouse Technology Park, Cambridge. The project will see an additional 18,000 m2 of office space, allowing ARM to increase their Cambridge headcount to 3,000.

 

East Ayrshire Council is seeking a main contractor to build a new Learning and Enterprise campus in the planned development of Knockroon. The project value is estimated at £50m will include the merge of 2 primary schools, further education and business enterprise facilities. Work is currently planned to start in April 2017 for completion by July 2019. Interested contractors can register their interest until 26th September.

To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.