Business Development, Bid Management, Post-bid Support

CMA offers Clients a wide range of business development, bid management and post-bid support functions.

So, whether you want to find and bid for those all important new public contracts, be successful at OJEU and other public tendering, or step up a gear in the size of opportunity you get, gain access to what may appear to be the “closed shop” of affordable housing, or simply know which opportunities you should really be targeting, get in touch to discuss how we can help.

We can also help after you have won, whether we were a part of that success or not.

Our Approach

Business Development

We aim to represent you and your interests fully and effectively

• We attend the major CIH conferences each year – at Harrogate, and at Brighton, Torquay and Cambourne – and several others too. 
• We attend those “must do” private functions
• We regularly meet with strategy and decision makers, in both public and private sectors, in consultants, contractors, developers, Housing Associations, Local Authorities, ALMOs and Funding Agencies. We have extensive contacts in Primary Care Trusts for those elusive Health Service contracts
• We can promote your business on all these occasions, brokering your interest
• We will identify real opportunities and help you to secure them as new business
• We will train and involve your team at the earliest practical moment, stepping back incrementally and handing over smoothly
• We understand that 90% of real business opportunity comes from face to face meetings

Bid Management

Bidding for new work is an inherent feature of any active business. It can be time-consuming and tie up valuable staff time, at unknown cost. Co-ordinating and leading a large project team can also be a major and expensive logistical challenge.  Maintaining an in-house bid team can also be expensive and burdensome through those troughs in opportunity

• We can share our considerable experience of bidding for, and winning, new business.
• We offer a full bid co-ordination and management service - project managing the process and leading the bid team
• We can write all or part of your submission, thus taking the pressure off your team
• We can inject some new ideas to your bid, so you stand out from the competition
• We can also carry out that useful external 'sanity check' as part of the process, by reviewing your draft  to make sure you’ve hit the right buttons and submit a deliverable, well-priced and attractive bid.

Post-bid Support and Management

Winning new business can be euphoric. However, it can also be followed by the sobering reality of having to deliver a complex project which only the New Business Team understands in detail.  In addition, direct and indirect stakeholder expectations are often sky-high.

Our personal, hands-on experience of delivering new build housing, maintenance, and health PFI contracts can help you get that crucial post-bid period right

We offer a range of post-bid services, such as:

• Supporting your team at interview and presentation stages, acting as a 'critical friend', ensuring that you’re well prepared and present your organisation to its best advantage.
• Planning that critical mobilisation period, so you score highly on deliverability and, when you win, can hit the ground running.
• 'Reality checking' your bid and service delivery plans at an early stage, to make sure they are properly resourced and timetabled
• Advising on building the right team, motivating and training them to deliver the project and making sure they work together, avoiding pitfalls
• Developing project briefings and delivery plans, so everyone involved understands the project (and their roles) inside out 
• Demystifying the project by translating bid and contract documents into lay terms, process mapping them, and making sure your team is operationally effective now and into the future
• We can also carry out independent, post-implementation, project audits after you’ve been up and running for a while to ensure you’re still on track, keeping the service fresh for stakeholders and other parties
• We can maximise the opportunities open to you