Drilling Tenders: The Fundamentals

Published19th March 2021 AuthorJohn Hudson

Drilling tenders: 4 things to consider

Drilling tenders can be quite a minefield if you have never completed them before. There can be a lot of procurement terminology and acronyms involved. However, tendering for business can offer multiple advantages to your business. Winning tenders can help you gain more experience, allowing your business to grow.

Drilling tenders may be released to procure the following services:

  • Geothermal drilling
  • Drilling Well
  • Drilling Work
  • Offshore Drilling
  • Tender Assist Drilling (TAD) Units
  • Deepwater Drilling.

The typical format of drilling tenders is as follows:

Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ)

At the initial stage of drilling tenders, known as the PQQ, you will be asked to provide your company information. Typically, this is comprised of the following eight aspects:

  1. Equality and Diversity
  2. Insurances
  3. Legal Matter and Disputes
  4. Grounds for Mandatory Exclusion
  5. Other Grounds for Exclusion
  6. Economic and Financial Standing
  7. Health and Safety
  8. Quality Assurance and Environmental Management Systems.

The information you provide here is pass or fail. If you meet the minimum eligibility criteria and pass, you will then proceed onto the technical evaluation. Once you have passed this, you will then be given an invitation to tender, known as an the ITT.

Invitation to Tender (ITT)

The technical evaluation for drilling tenders is likely to include your businesses proposed methodology and approach. This could include:

  • Service equipment and software to be used.
  • Support offered in case of technical failure.
  • How technical personnel on the project are trained.
  • Pricing.

You should consider the following when writing your responses to drilling tenders:

  1. Value for Money

Buyers want to see the most value for their money, or taxpayer’s money, depending if they’re public or private sector. Either way, neither wants to see money wasted. They want to get the most bang for their buck. Thus, for a successful drilling tender, you want to present them with the most value for money.

You must proceed with caution though, because pricing can be tricky. Within the public sector, buyers will look to award the most economically advantageous tender. This is known as the MEAT. A buyer will look at a combination of factors throughout your proposal. These can range from accessibility and innovation to environmental considerations and quality.

  1. Weightings

The weightings for construction tenders vary greatly. Some will have a greater weighting on price and less on quality, or visa versa. It ultimately depends on the buyer’s needs. However, despite the weightings, the buyer will care about the quality of your response. Bear in mind the following:

  • Get as close to the word or page count as possible – they’re there for a reason.
  • Keep your responses clear and concise.
  • Be persuasive. Sell your business and justify why you are the best business for the job.
  • Avoid unnecessary and overly technical jargon.
  • Explain everything and don’t leave room for the buyer to make any assumptions.

If you price your services too low to outprice your competitors, it could come back to sting you. Price your drilling tenders too low and a buyer might question the legitimacy of your services. If you present a low-cost bid, then run over budget on the project, a buyer won’t be best pleased. You must take into consideration the direct costs and indirect costs of the project and be realistic. Once you have set your tender rates, you must carry out the work as required.

  1. Experience

Your experience matters when tendering for work. Buyers like to be reassured that those commissioned know what they’re doing and work to a high standard. They want to be encouraged that your business works to and complies with best practice. Within drilling tenders, you may be asked to provide up to three case studies from within the last five years.

These case studies must demonstrate and be tailored to reflect work you have completed that’s similar in scope and calibre. Depending on the required word count, you could include how you overcame any unexpected challenges. This can strengthen your response, allowing you to demonstrate flexibility and problem-solving skills. Both of which are key to any construction project.

  1. Site visits

Do not underestimate the benefits that a site visit can give your tender response. It is strongly recommended that you attend a site visit if possible. They allow you to see the environment you will be working in, if successful. Seeing the site with your own eyes can help you pick up on things you otherwise wouldn’t know about.

Site visits can help you produce better quality responses and may even allow you to give more accurate pricing. You are able to gain insight into the buyer, gathering more information you otherwise wouldn’t have access to.

Need assistance with your drilling tenders?

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, boasts an 87% success rate and over 60 years of collective bid writing experience. They can help give you an edge over your competitors. They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win drilling tenders.

  1. Tender Writing

If you’ve found the perfect drilling tender, but don’t know where to start – send it our way. Our Bid Writing Team will take care of it for you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll let you know what they need from you and they’ll even submit it on your behalf.

  1. Tender Mentor

Tender Mentor can help if you’ve written a drilling tender response and need it double-checked for errors. Our Bid Writers will check it’s free of grammar and spelling mistakes before you submit.

  1. Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for businesses that have never tendered before. Our Bid Writers work with you to make sure you have everything in place to tender successfully. This option includes:

  • A 12-month subscription to Construction Tenders.
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding Professionals.
  • An Organisation-wide Bid library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies.
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

  1. Tender Improvement

If you aren’t seeing success from your current drilling tender efforts, our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions.

How can I find drilling tenders?

Searching for the right drilling tenders for your business can turn into a bit of a headache. It can turn into a full-time job, spending hours trawling through thousands of tendering websites. Often, they have other industry opportunities and inaccurate CPV codes leading to missed opportunities. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a central portal that hosted industry-specific construction leads?

Enter… Construction Tenders!

Construction Tenders is a time-saving tool that helps you find the perfect drilling tenders for your business. Our Opportunity Trackers manually search and upload construction tenders from thousands of sources across the UK. You are able to search and filter results by budget, keyword, location and more. This allows you to find the right tenders for your business, streamlining the process.

What’s included in a subscription to Construction Tenders?

A 12-month subscription to Construction Tenders will offer your access to all unique, public and private sector opportunities. You will receive a dedicated Account Manager that’s on-hand to answer any questions you may have about drilling tenders. They can help you understand the tendering process if you’ve never tendered before.

You will also receive a daily email bulletin straight to your inbox when new tenders are uploaded. If that wasn’t enough, you will also receive discounted bid writing support from Hudson Succeed.

Below are previous drilling tenders sourced on our portal:

Cementing Services for Drilling and Completing a Geothermal Well

Eden Geothermal Ltd- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

Contract for Drilling an Abstraction and Separate Re-injection Well

South Tyneside Council- North West- Budget: Undisclosed

Directional Drilling Services and Rental Items for Geothermal Drilling

Eden Geothermal Ltd- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

Morlais Horizontal Directional Drilling Work Package

Menter Môn Cyf- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

The best way to venture into the tendering world is through booking a live demo of Construction Tenders. We source opportunities for services including;

Get in touch to find out how we can help your business grow.

Upgrade to our new time-saving tools:

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two new packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each package can help save you even more time when searching for the right drilling tenders for your business.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Construction and Facilities, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable construction tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

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