Improving the Bidding Process in Construction

The Values Partnership supported the management of a division of Wates Construction to cause a breakthrough in bidding successfully for new work in the public sector and affordable housing markets throughout the UK.  The Values Partnership supported a division of Wates Construction to cause a breakthrough in bidding successfully for new work in the public sector and affordable housing markets throughout the UK. 

Neil Greetham, leader of the Bid Team, said, "Our strike rate is now one-in-two instead of one-in-three, without adding new staff. Productivity is up without more people. We are winning millions of pounds of business using the same team more effectively, saving us hundreds of thousands of pounds in cost.

"There is also greater alignment with senior management on the whole bid process. We are really clear about what work we want to go for and what work we think we should pass on. So the teams are having to make fewer bids as a result. Adjudication is easier because there is greater alignment at the beginning on which work the company wants to bid for.

"As a result of feedback from the workshop process, we also decided to disband one bid team serving all business units in favour of dedicated teams for each business area. It may not make sense on paper to have this kind of duplication of effort, but it is working very efficiently.

"After The Values Partnership worked with us, we recognised that our bid documents could also  use some improvement, the quality of the presentations could be much higher. We discussed it and decided to hire a communication expert to train the teams. We are producing top quality work now."