2015 Duty Bids Explained (not)

There was a further release of information about the forthcoming 2015 Duty Contract bid round yesterday.

First up was a selection of “indicative duty rotas” designed to demonstrate the level of cover bidders, and their delivery partners, will be required to have. They have gone for a more convoluted pattern than I, but not Andy, predicted. You will not therefore have to cover the entire Procurement area for a full day at a time, in rotation. Rather you will cover different schemes on different days offering much more flexibility. It goes without saying that this, fairly fundamental, information should have been released much earlier in the process.

The other document spells out assumptions we have all worked on following information supplied during the frenzied pre Own Client bid round – especially via TLS. This makes clear the role of “applicant organisations” (all the risk) and duty providers and specifies the percentages of work each will have to undertake. At most you will be able to bid once as an “applicant organisation” and once as a delivery partner (1.4 of a contract) – or twice as a delivery partner (0.8 of a contract) – per procurement area.

The more interesting elements include Scenario B which hints at, but does not define, “selection criteria” based on “individual experience”. There is also a strong indication that the largely defunct and certainly not-fit-for-purpose Peer Review scheme will receive the kiss of life. Perhaps most intriguing are the 2 pages on “Financial Assessment”, boldly claiming that firms accounts will be subject to assessment against “key ratios” by “qualified financial professionals”. New bidders will have their cash flow projections up for scrutiny. There will also be an “expansion capacity assessment” for all new firms plus existing ones bidding for twice as much work as they deliver now.

Again there is no way to know if this is a genuine indication of an intention to proceed or just another potboiler – we will have to wait and see.

You will not need my help to spot the many and various pitfalls in this frankly tardy and inadequate communication.