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SMEs Win Contracts Worth £60 /€69 Million through Award-Winning Programme

900 companies have completed its award-winning Go-2-Tender programme since it began in 2007, InterTradeIreland has revealed. Since then, these firms have secured public procurement contracts, both in their own jurisdiction and cross-border, worth in excess of £60/€69 million. Today, the business support body also announced a series of 10 Go-to-Tender workshops which will take place this year across the island. 

The programme, which aims to help small firms break down the barriers to public procurement, consists of two days of workshop-based learning, followed by one-to-one in-company mentoring. It is open to all SMEs in Ireland and Northern Ireland who want to tender cross-border. Companies taking part will gain a better understanding of how public sector organisations buy their goods and services, how to source tender opportunities, the procurement process and how it works across the island, what buyers are looking for in potential suppliers and how to prepare a winning tender bid. Participants can also register for tender alerts which are sent directly to their mobile so that live business opportunities are literally at their fingertips.

Speaking at the announcement of the 2013 programme dates, Thomas Hunter McGowan, CEO of InterTradeIreland said: "InterTradeIreland is an organisation that continues to support small businesses, both North and South, in terms of cross border trade. Despite significant cuts in spending, the all-island public sector market is worth more than £16/€20bn and it remains a huge and underexploited market for SMEs. As buyers are tasked with finding new and innovation solutions for their needs, SMEs are particularly well placed to meet these demands because of their size and flexibility.

''By taking part in the programme, companies will get a better understanding of the public sector market across the island and how they can increase their chances of success when competing for Government contracts and I would encourage SMEs in Ireland and Northern Ireland to enrol and to benefit from the fantastic support and assistance offered."

Carrickfergus based DCI Energy Control took part in the programme and as a direct result the company has won a major contract with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and has now dramatically increased its cross-border business.

Bill Adamson from the company commented: "I had a specific tender in mind when I applied for this mentoring advice. When I received the electronic tender document, I knew that this would be a major undertaking and I realised that some specialist guidance would be useful. I attended the Go2Tender workshop which helped me to fine-tune my overall approach to tenders providing me with some excellent advice and 'tricks-of-the-trade'. The support and advice that we received has undoubtedly contributed to our overall tendering success and has given us a real boost, providing further job security in these challenging trading conditions.''

Peter Richardson from McAree Engineering, Ballinode, Monagahan, took part in the programme recently and is now looking to explore new business opportunities across the island.

"The whole Go-2-Tender process was excellent. The two aspects that was most useful to us was how to deal with a tender request – getting an understanding of the criteria around whether we should reply to a tender request has meant that we don't waste unnecessary time, allowing us to focus on and respond with a high quality approach, to the tenders that we are interested in. Secondly the practical follow up session brought the theory into practice and provided a real life practical example of the changes we needed to make".

I would recommend this programme to others interested in tendering. The programme has definitely improved our capability in dealing with tenders and since the programme has been completed we have successfully tendered for work".

The Go-2-Tender workshops will take place throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland in 2013, as follows:

  • Dublin North Tuesday 12th & Tuesday 19th February 2013
  • Newry Thursday 7th & Thursday 14th March 2013
  • Limerick Thursday 11th & Thursday 18th April 2013
  • Belfast Tuesday 23rd & Tuesday 30th April 2013
  • Athlone Thursday 9th & Thursday 16th May 2013
  • Cookstown Tuesday 11th & Tuesday 18th June 2013
  • Dublin West Tuesday 16th & Tuesday 23rd July 2013
  • Cork Tuesday 17th & Tuesday 24th September 2013
  • Enniskillen Tuesday 15th & Tuesday 22nd October 2013
  • Galway Thursday 7th & Thursday 14th November 2013

Information and online booking is available on www.intertradeireland.com/public_procurement and www.gototender.com and InterTradeIreland advises those interested to book early as places fill up very quickly.

The InterTradeIreland Go-2-Tender programme itself is delivered by a cross-border partnership of Dublin-based Bid Management Services and Bangor-based Core Consulting, both experts in tendering services and professional training. 2012 saw InterTradeIreland with Bid Management Services and Core Consulting win a National Procurement Award for the Go-2-Tender Programme.

Source: Inter Trade Ireland - SMEs Win Contracts Worth £60 /€69 Million through Award-Winning Programme