SME collective approach to Network Rail tender

CASE STUDY: Tender submission for SME collective for Network Rail project

October 2024 • 4 years • Framework value: £300m

Myself, Jon and Paul want to extend our sincere gratitude for the support and commitment you provided us with during production phase of this tender. The input from you and your team has helped us pull together an offering for Network Rail that challenges the norm and showcases a better way of doing things by engaging directly with the concentrated expertise that lies within our collective organisations

Eastern Agility Management Team

In August 2024 we were asked to support a collective of SMEs (who became Eastern Agility) to submit a tender for a Development and Design Partnership Framework (Eastern Region). Network Rail was looking for partners to support the delivery of project development - with the potential to take schemes to detailed design.  

Project scope:

We provided support in the development of the qualitative tender submission. We delievered bid management for the careful development of the quality responses, providing extensive and comprehensive written and graphical content for the 14-question tender response.

Benefits/successes:

• We managed the quality process from development of answer plans to the production of the final submission

• We developed the tender programme and ensured all parties provided the required information in line with this

• We developed a win strategy to ensure the quality submission was coherent

• We facilitated the development of the bidder model – specifically a number of SMEs who were eventually branded as Eastern Agility

• We chaired weekly meetings to ensure the submission stayed on course, providing an updated tracker on a weekly basis as the bid progressed 

Background information:

The framework submission for Network Rail was aimed at Tier 1 design organisations to deliver a large amount of support to Network Rail to help it develop its project portfolio. To challenge the usual bidders, we supported a consortium of SME organisations who could, collectively, provide the level of service required to support the project developments.

This was a different approach to a Network Rail project, providing an alternative to the traditional approach of the multinational organisations. The proposal meant that regional SMEs would be able to work collaboratively under an umbrella organisation, enabling the full range of services to be delivered. We provided the essential bid management support that captured the essence of the collective’s cohesive plan. Through this we were able to showcase the benefits of working with local SMEs who live and work within the proposed framework region.

Thanks for all your help and guidance with this, it really is appreciated.  The submission is a million times better than anything we could have done without you!

Jon Livesey HBPW Director

Thanks again for the help, best decision we made getting help on this. Much appreciated.

Mark Bonner PBH Group Managing Director