Your team has almost won the tender, but you still need to get an agreement to the last of your client’s tender terms and conditions. Some of which you know your company will not accept.
Where your company is unable to negotiate terms and conditions, you will need to understand the risks involved and establish controls to mitigate them.
But when there is scope to negotiate, understanding the tender terms and conditions fully could put your company in the best position to win.
In this article, we’ll look at three ways you can achieve that
What are your options when changing the tender terms and conditions?
Option 1:
The first option is to ensure any proposed changes to the tender terms and conditions will be evaluated by them against the benefits test.
Here are some ideas on demonstrating how the changes benefit your client.
Will the proposed changes generate more revenue for your client?
Do the changes mean your client can charge more for their existing products or services? And/ or increase the number of products and services it can charge for?
Can you demonstrate the proposed changes lower your client’s costs?
Will you be able to fix your pricing for a longer timeframe, and save your client the increases? Or can you deliver the same products and services with less labour (e.g. through the use of automation)?
Do the proposed changes reduce your client’s exposure to risk?
Can you offer increased certainty of your company meeting service levels or delivery timeframes? Will your products and services improve customer satisfaction or offer fewer customer complaints? Will it lessen your client’s liability?
Dealing with difficult tender terms and conditions?
Call our evaluation consultants, we offer a free 30-minute assessment to uncover all your options.
Option 2:
The second option you have is to give your client something in return. This may be extended payment terms, or an addition or extension of different products and services.
This option is less favourable though. You have likely already offered your client what they want, in order to be in the position to be thinking about the terms and conditions.
Nevertheless, there may be something that your client would like, but which isn’t in the product and services specification in their tender document. And this may well be of sufficient interest to them.
Option 3:
The third option you have is to remain silent, win the contract, and then proceed to ask for the changes to the contract.
This option is fraught with difficulties, specifically that your company can be accused of falsely signing the original contract. It often becomes an arguable legal case, an area you want to avoid whenever possible!
How to get the proposed tender terms changes signed-off
You can increase the chance your client will sign-off by clearly explaining the changes in a formal submission document.
In the document, outline the changes you are proposing, and include a request for a discussion meeting to agree to an acceptable position for both sides.
Remember, your client’s legal and commercial influencers, as well as the overall decision-makers, need to sign-off on the benefits test for your proposed changes.
Therefore, you need to think carefully about the benefits of your proposed changes. And, if you’re not able to explain them sufficiently, it’s very likely that neither will your client.
Need more tender help?
Have an upcoming or current tender you need help with? Contact us for a free 30-minute consultation to work through what your options are.