ABSTRACT
The process of establishing and refining a pool of likely contenders for the procurement contract is a complex undertaking that is best addressed in two stages, with both stages under the direction of the selection panel with the core evaluation team working in support. The first stage is to establish the extent and dimension of the records
management outsourcing supplier community and, within that, to identify those that are likely to have the experience, resource, commitment, expertise and proven track record to deliver, at least in accordance with the procurement objectives and the available budget. There are two different methods for doing this: either by a process of market research, either from within the company’s own resource or through a consultancy (this route is likely to be time consuming and costly and should thus be discounted); or by posting an ‘expression of interest’ advertisement in national newspapers, appropriate professional journals and, most importantly, the European Journal (Tenders Direct) www. tendersdirect.co.uk. This useful website provides optimum exposure of business proposals to the major suppliers from across the whole range of business and commerce, and includes a tender tracking system that automatically despatches contract opportunities to all of its subscribers. Responses to the advertisement will provide the basis for establishing
a short list. Great care, though, needs to be taken over the content and timing of the advertisement. The content needs to be professional and well presented (in order to project a favourable image of the company), precisely worded (to avoid misunderstandings), and informative (so that interested parties can gain an understanding of the scope of the
requirement). A badly presented advertisement that is vagary and grammatical error is unlikely to attract serious from the market leaders because they can afford to be selective players do not enter into agreements with incompetent period of time over which the advertisement is published and the latest date for responding must be reasonable, both in order to gain maximum publicity and to allow interested parties sufficient time to consider their options. The second stage is to ‘weed the field’ to arrive at a short list of not
more than three serious contenders (the optimum for maintaining sharp competition), which can then be formally invited to tender for the contract. The most effective method of getting to that point is to sift the responses to the advertisement, removing those companies that clearly have little or nothing to offer, and then to invite the remainder to a series of informal one-to-one meetings to explore the potential for partnership, discarding weaker contenders as they become apparent. In preparation for this, it is recommended that a comprehensive and
professionally presented information pack is assembled as the basis for discussion and communication with the supplier. The content should encompass at least:
A schedule of meetings (three meetings should provide sufficient information upon which to make a judgement).
