You have carefully prepared your RFP or Request for Tender document and consider it to be a great opportunity for a range of suppliers. You post it on a public bidding site such as BC Bid® or Civic Info® and wait for the responses to come rolling in.
If, as many do, you have a process that confirms receipt of the opportunity and you know that several good bidders have the documents – that is a good first step.
If you don’t have a process that confirms receipt of the request documents, you will not be able to gauge interest in your request. Even if you do confirm potential respondents, how do you know you have reached all qualified potential suppliers? There are plenty of excellent suppliers out there that do not log on to tendering sites looking for bidding opportunities.
You might be missing out on an opportunity as well. By doing some creative marketing of your request, you just might find the perfect supplier. Here’s an example: our facilities department was looking for someone to supply custom millwork. I prepared the request and then went looking for qualified responders. As a part of my search I called likely suppliers to millwork and cabinet shops. This led me to (among others) a small shop that did high quality work. He relied on word of mouth for business. I informed him and others of the posted bidding opportunity and how to get the documents. This shop became a valuable supplier to our facilities department providing excellent product for many years.
Creative marketing of your requests can include sending notice of your request to the likely suppliers of the type of supplier you are looking for. It is probable that they will know who the better suppliers are and pass along your information to them. Inform the local chamber of commerce and other pertinent associations that type of supplier may belong to as well.
Consider doing some supplier development in your community. A talk to the local Chamber of Commerce on how your organization sources its supply could provide you with an expanded range of competitive respondents to your next request.
More competitive responses to well constructed requests can mean greater value to organizations seeking the best available suppliers.
Rusty James Joerin, SCMP is a Supply Chain Management Professional and accredited by the Purchasing Management Association of Canada. He offers procurement services primarily to public sector organizations that do not have a professional supply manager on staff and provides additional capacity to assist with project related supply.
Information about his experience and qualifications may be found at:www.woodsgift.com
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