Suppliers
Services for suppliers
For businesses answering a solicitation from a public-sector buyer: a federal department or agency, a Crown corporation, a province or territory, or a municipality. The work is bid strategy, a close reading of the solicitation, writing or reviewing the proposal, a compliance check, and submission when the supplier needs it. Services are offered in English and French.
The practice also runs procurements for public buyers. No supplier win rate is published. The $3.5B+ on the home page is buyer-side spend managed, not a bid result.
Bid strategy
Before anyone writes a narrative, the solicitation has to be set beside the company that actually exists. We list the mandatory criteria and the rated criteria, and we set them next to the projects, people, and certifications the company can evidence. A bid strategy is a recommendation to bid or not to bid and, if yes, which requirements the response will rest on.
If a mandatory is not met, we say so. A subcontractor can close a gap only where the solicitation allows it and the company can commit that party. We do not invent a project, a headcount, or a credential to make a mandatory look met.
Reading the solicitation
Bids are often lost in an attachment. Reading the solicitation means the instructions, the mandatory and rated grids, the financial tables, the security requirements, the forms, and every amendment and written answer to questions. The product of that reading is a compliance matrix: each requirement, where it is answered, and any gap.
Writing the proposal
We write to the order of the evaluation grid. Evaluators score what they can find against the criterion in front of them. A polished story that does not track the points is a weaker bid than a plain answer that does.
Every project, person, and certification in the draft has to be one the company will stand behind. The practice will not supply fictional experience.
Reviewing a draft
If the company has already written, the review looks for a missed mandatory, a rated response that answers a different question, and a claim that is not evidenced. Comments say what to change, and which part of the solicitation it comes from.
Compliance check
The last pass is against the final files, not against a draft from two weeks ago. Amendments are in. Certificates are the ones the solicitation names. The financial response uses the pricing basis that was asked for. Mandatory items are checked one by one.
Sample deliverables are available on request.
Send the file at least 10 business days before the bid closing. Earlier is better.
When the supplier needs it, the practice can submit the bid on the supplier's behalf, as well as write and review it. The supplier still signs off on the final bid.
To start, send the solicitation number, the closing date, and whether you need strategy, writing, review, a compliance check, or submission. Use marco@getprocurement.ca or 613-315-7390. Do not send another company's bid.