Structural Engineering Consultancy Tenders: 5 Things to Include

Published1st March 2021 AuthorJohn Hudson

Structural engineering consultancy tenders and how to write them

Structural engineering consultancy tenders can have advantages for your business. If tendering within the public sector, it can result in guaranteed pay, securing a pipeline of work for your business.

Structural engineering consultancy tenders may be looking to fulfil contracts such as:

  • Monitoring the quality of construction from a structural perspective.
  • Reviewing designed portions of the structure for compliance with the assigned parameters.
  • Co-ordinating and reviewing design elements with other members of the design team. This could include external stakeholders to obtain necessary licences and approvals relating to the works.
  • Reviewing design and calculations where appropriate.
  • Co-ordinating site investigation works as required.

The typical tendering procedure

PQQ

The standard criteria for selection within structural engineering consultancy tenders starts off as a PQQ. A PQQ is a pre-qualification questionnaire where you will have to detail your business’s:

  • Company information.
  • Confirmation of insurance.
  • Proof of financial stability and availability to undertake the project.
  • Health and Safety
  • Environmental policy.
  • Equal opportunities and diversity policy.

ITT

If your business is successful, you will then be sent an invitation to tender (ITT). This will include your quality and price response.

5 things to include in your structural engineering consultancy tenders

1. Overall project cost and fees

Buyers will always consider the rates of your services as part of the evaluation process. Each tender is different depending on the buyer’s needs. This means some tenders put more weighting on price over quality.

Pricing describes the cost of the contract, so you should submit your best price for the project. However, don’t try and outprice yourself or undercut your competitors by being the cheapest. It’s not profitable to submit a low price and then go significantly over budget.

Even if the price is not the main focus of a tender, public sector organisations will award the contract to the MEAT. The MEAT is the most economically advantageous tender. This is when your response is evaluated on other aspects than just price. It’s important to note that the cheapest bid does not win. Buyers may assess the MEAT by looking at the following examples:

  • Quality
  • Innovation
  • Technical ability
  • Environmental benefits
  • Accessibility
  • Ability to deliver on time

2. Project methodology and management

Within your ITT, you will need to provide the details of your prosed structure of the management and resources. This must include the supervision and demonstrate your ability to provide suitable and sufficient resources for a successful project. You must demonstrate management structures, lines of authority, reporting and your depth capacity to undertake the project.

Within structural engineering consultancy tenders, a good way to do this is via the RIBA stages. RIBA stands for the Royal Institute of British Architecture. Their Plan of Work contains the definitive model for the design and construction process of buildings. It has seven stages:

0. Strategic definition

1. Preparation and Briefing

2. Concept Design

3. Spatial Coordination

4. Technical Design

5. Manufacturing and Construction

6. Handover

7. Use

3. Risk assessment

A risk assessment is usually included within an ITT. It needs to include an understanding of specific challenges and risks of the project. It could go hand in hand with your businesses health and safety policies. As with any construction project, a buyer wants to optimise the health and safety of their staff and customers.

You must be in compliance with the current legislations and provide evidence. Examples of what policies that you could have in place for structural engineering consultancy tenders are:

  1. RIDDOR
  2. CHAS
  3. ISO 9001; 14001; 45001
  4. BS5750
  5. Constructionline
  6. SSIP

4. Past case studies

Construction contracts will require you to evidence past case studies of completed works of similar scope. Buyers want to see how successful you have been in the past when fulfilling similar contracts. You want to make sure that these case studies are tailored to projects of similar complexity.

You’ll likely be asked to detail 3 examples that have been completed within the last five years. Each example should be tailored, fitting and compelling with the specification. Testimonials from satisfied clients always reflect well on you. Depending on the buyer, you may have to provide their contact information so they can check you’re telling the truth.

Make sure your case studies are:

  1. Thorough
  2. Detailed
  3. Well-developed
  4. Backed up with evidence
  5. Showcase your company’s abilities
  6. Include how you overcame unexpected challenges and how you adapted, showing flexibility and problem-solving abilities.

5. CV’s

Structural engineering consultancy tenders will often ask for CVs of the employees who will work on the contract. You may also need to provide the details of any subcontractors you will be using too. The CVs must demonstrate that the staff are capable of providing a high quality of service. They will need to include their experience, ability and suitability and any relevant qualifications.

You could include a smart but friendly photo of each member on their CVs against a neutral background. This will allow buyers to put faces to names and is a nice added touch. CVs should be relevant, focused and as concise as possible while still being thorough.

Need assistance?

If writing isn’t your strong suit, not to worry – our sister company, Hudson Succeed, can help. They have an 87% success rate and over 60 years of collective bid writing experience.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and want someone to double-check for errors, then Tender Mentor is for you. One of our Bid Writers will look over it and proofread for any grammatical or spelling mistakes. They’ll check it’s in line with the specification before you submit the bid.

Tender Writing

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

Tender Improvement

If you’ve already been tendering for work, but aren’t seeing success, our Tender Improvement programme can help. Our Bid Writers will look over your supporting documents and past submissions. They’ll then give you feedback and guidance on how to improve.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is designed for those who have never tendered before. This programme works with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully. It includes a 12-month subscription to a sector-specific portal of your choice.

Where can I find structural engineering consultancy tenders?

Not everyone has the time to scour hundreds of websites a day trying to find the right tendering opportunity.

Luckily for you, our Construction Tenders portal can help. We don’t rely on CPV codes that can result in missed opportunities as they’re often used incorrectly. Our Opportunity Trackers manually trawl and source construction leads from thousands of websites daily. You are able to filter the results via location, budget, keyword and more. This saves you hours, allowing you to focus on the important things.

Below are some past structural engineering consultancy tenders we have sourced on our portal:

Tralee Northern Relief Road Structural Engineering Consultancy Services

Kerry County Council- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Civil & Structural Engineering Consultancy Services for Carpark Works at GRETB Adult and Further Education and Training Centre, Athenry, Co. Galway

Galway Roscommon Education & Training Board- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Civil and Structural Engineering Consultancy and Ancillary Certifier Services for Social Housing projects in Co. Kildare

Cluid Housing Association- International- Budget: Undisclosed

GBC DAB Structural Engineering Consultancy Services

SE Shared Services- South East- Budget: £120,000

St. Paul’s School – Civil & Structural Engineering Consultancy Services-Single Storey Extension at Beech Hill, Montenotte, Cork T23 P529.

St. Paul’s School (Montenotte) – International- Budget: Undisclosed

A subscription to Construction Tenders can offer your business:

  • Access to all unique, private and public sector structural engineering opportunities from across the UK.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our Bid Writing division.
  • An on-hand Account Manager to answer any of your structural engineering tender questions and queries.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new structural engineering consultancy tenders are uploaded.

Book a free live demo of Construction Tenders today.

We actively source tenders for the following sub-sectors:

Upgrade to Discover Elite

Discover Elite can save you even more time when searching for structural engineering consultancy tenders. Our two upgraded packages can help you identify tenders, even when you’re busy.

The Ultimate Time Saver and Become a Pre-Bid Master packages can help improve your competitor awareness. You’ll have a dedicated Account Manager that will consider whether tendering opportunities are right for your business. This will help to improve your bid success rate, by going after the right contracts.

The Ultimate Time Saver package can offer your business:

  • An on-hand dedicated Account Manager and weekly phone calls to discuss viable tendering opportunities.
  • A tender breakdown of a maximum of five bids per month.
  • Annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This is a great option if your business overlaps two industries such as Construction and Logistics, for example.
  • Buyer portal management including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package includes:

  • All of the above.
  • A maximum of 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 today to find out how we can help you grow your business with Construction Tenders.

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