Air services and aviation is a growing industry globally as well as locally in Australia. There is significant public and private investment in the industry. The challenges and opportunities to win air services and aviation tenders are more prevalent than ever. Here at the tender team our experienced bid and tender writers, who are part of the global Tsaks consultancy, help aviation businesses across Australia and globally:
- Write and win aviation industry tenders and bids
- Find contract opportunities for aviation tenders and bids
- Create a compelling strategy and win themes to prepare for and respond to RFPs and RFTs in Australia for aviation industry stakeholders.
Our team of writers have worked on a broad range of aviation industry tenders. These include bids and proposals for aviation services across the country including in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia and many regional and remote areas, covering services such as:
- Charter and Transport Services: We have worked on tenders and proposals for air transport services for both the medical and defence industry.
- Aeromedical retrieval and hospital transfer services: we have helped private providers bid for government and private sector contracts. Our team has worked on bids and tenders for clients such as Aspen Medical. We understand the process and strategies required to win contracts that relate to 24/7 medical services.
- Aerial firefighting and emergency services tenders: We have helped clients write bids to NAFC as well as tenders for the provision of specialised aircraft and services.
- Aircraft maintenance, repair an overhaul: we have helped aviation services businesses write bids and tenders for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. This includes maintenance of both government and private sector aircraft and related entities.
- Airport infrastructure development upgrades and construction works: We combine our aviation sector experience with our experience assisting construction and infrastructure clients including contractors and designers to help stakeholders bid for building and infrastructure contracts in the aviation industry. For example, we helped a client win a defence tender to undertake maintenance works on runways as well as to aircraft hangars and other critical airport infrastructure.
- Airside operations and ground handling services
- Air traffic management (ATM) and navigational services
- Aviation security services and equipment: We have also worked on major bids in the security industry including the provision of security services at airports. This includes assisting SAP security with major aviation security bids.
- Aviation training systems and services
- Helicopter tenders and other aircraft
Challenges you have in aviation and air services tenders and how to win them
Understanding the industry
When bidding for air services and aviation contracts, it’s important to demonstrate an understanding of the industry. This can be demonstrated through using the correct terminology, incorporating aviation specific factors into consideration in your methodology, and clearly and concisely demonstrating your experience in the industry. It’s critical that any air services tender you put forward demonstrated your experience and understanding of the industry.
For example, a catering company that caters to airport personnel should provide a round-the-clock offering. It’s important to talk about any peaks in demand that are anticipated, as well as addressing the specific needs of airport staff such as dietary or religious needs. There may not be a question explicitly requesting this in the tender, however, you still need to ensure this is communicated.
In order to gain insights into the industry and the key challenges you can:
- Review commentary in industry magazines
- Liaise with and align with other industry providers
- Conduct initial research into industry
It’s critical that you approach your response with a focus on the correct win themes. These win themes have to address the issues and key points facing the company, as well as the industry.
Beating the incumbent
The industry is challenging to penetrate. Contracts and relationships are often difficult to break, with significant costs involved in transitioning in and out of certain contracts as a result of air services and aviation tenders. The incumbent provider usually as strong relationships in place across multiple levels of the organisation. They will almost always be active in maintaining the contract.
There are a range of strategies you can deploy to increase your prospects for success including:
- Value added services – Provide them and ensure they add value. These can give you an edge over your competition. It’s great to be competitive on price but to win an aviation tender you need to give that something extra. It may be better reporting, communication, add-on services that your competitors may overlook.
- Complete a comprehensive bid. Go into detail, provide referees and provide case studies to give your bid credibility. The client will generally be going out of their way to select you. They may not have dealt with you before and so credibility is crucial.
- JV with a well known supplier. This can help you leverage of their credibility and increase your prospects of success. You will need to be flexible in your approach and dealings with the JV company to get the right result.
Complying with technical specifications and safety standards
Nearly all aviation companies comply with the relevant safety, quality assurance and other regulations – it is a necessity for licensing and registration purposes. In addition to the requirements set out by CASA, many tenders and bids have technical requirements that need to be adhered and on occasion, their own in-house safety policies that exceed those stipulated by CASA. This is the case with some Tier-1 mining companies operating air services in rural and remote Australia.
In order to win bids, aviation businesses must showcase the capacity to meet and exceed these requirements as well as an understanding of risks, trends and issues in the aviation industry and a commitment to monitoring these and acting on them as required. In addition, any claims made about best practice in terms of safety protocols and risk management requirements need to be supported by tailored documentation. For example, a risk management assessment needs to be tailored to the specific project / route outlined in the bid – and not just a generic aviation risk management plan.
Convincing the reader of your ability to deliver of the long term
Aviation sector bids and tenders are more often than not long term contracts. A response to an RFP which is too short-term focused can lose credibility in front of the procurement team or reader. Bids must be focused on the long term and give ample weight to long term challenges such as the delivery of maintenance and support services and your ability to hire and retain the right people to deliver the contract. This includes talking about your depth of resources for pilots, crews and other maintenance support and technical personnel. Where you will be engaging sub-contractors or specialist aviation recruitment and labour hire firms, you will need to ensure you provide documentary evidence in your proposal of your relationship with them and the services (and associated KPIs) they will provide.
Demonstrating that you are an expert
If you want to win an aviation, airline air airport tender or bid in Australia, you generally need to show that you are an expert in your field. Without doubt, whether you are tendering for a contract in Sydney, New South Wales, or remote NT or Western Australia, they will want to know that you are an expert in your field, and you, as well as your competitors will more than likely have the required qualifications. So how do you set yourself apart?
Here at The Tender Team we recommend you:
- Detail any though leadership or industry leadership you have been involved in. For example, if you have made guest contributions, or are a part of any key associations, you should include these here. If you have participated in research or any innovation in the industry this should also be included to position you or your team as ‘experts’.
- Demonstrate that you have implemented innovation solutions for other clients. Being an expert means being a leader in the industry. This can be demonstrated by showcasing how you innovate in the industry and what innovative solutions you have delivered to clients.
- Demonstrate your understanding of the bid and provide insight into any challenges. Being able to predict and provide insight into any challenges associated with the contract is critical to demonstrating you are an expert in your field.
Respond to an RFP or RFT efficiently – including federal, state and local government (council) tenders
A robust bid/no bid decision process is important in the aviation industry to ensure you are not bidding for tenders and opportunities which you do not have a real chance of winning. Once you have decided to bid, it’s important to submit a tailored proposal that communicates your key win themes and puts your best foot forward. This is time consuming. Here at The Tender Team, our Sydney based team of tender writers recommends the following strategies to help you tender more efficiently:
- Create a bid library or some kind of central repository of information.
- Organise all of your supporting documents into some kind of system / folder.
- Create standard long CVs for your personnel that you can reduce and tailor for each opportunity.
- Do the same for your case studies and general experience.
How we can help you win your next aviation or aerospace industry contract
Our team are experienced in writing bids and tender for aviation and aerospace clients in the Asia Pacific as well as globally (in partnership with European and UK bid writing consultants). We can help you write your next proposal and RFP response by:
- Developing a storyboard and win themes
- Conducting a bid / no bid analysis
- Writing comprehensive responses to each question
- Working closely with your SMEs to respond to technical questions
- Create graphics and infographics to present complex solutions in an easy to understand and interpret manner
- Project manage your bid response and coordinate all the documentation and submission (including printing if required although online submissions are now the norm).
- Create supporting documentation including documentation to adhere to regulatory requirements for the purpose of supporting your bid.
Where you require assistance with international bids, we work with our wider network in Greece, Singapore and London. We have helped Australian and New Zealand companies to bid for contracts overseas including in Europe and Asia. We work with translators as well as other consultants to deliver proposals that are on message and engaging.
Our track record in aviation tenders
Our team of writers have worked on aviation and aerospace tenders globally. Examples include:
- Assisting a small airline to submit a tender for the provision of flight services to remote Queensland for the Adani mine. We project managed the process from start to finish, including developing and writing the bid, liaising with technical personnel, coordinating clarifications and developing supporting documentation. Our client was shortlisted to the top three and was eventually unsuccessful due to pricing considerations. This was a relatively complex tender for the transport of personnel to highly remotes part of Queensland that required a comprehensive well thought out aviation transport solution.
- Assisting an executive jet and transport company tendering to provide transport services to a private company. The listed company needed an outsourced solution for their executive transport needs. They had recently sold two company owned jets. We assisted our client to write the bid, and to propose a solution that clearly demonstrated the depth of our client’s resources. This was critical as the tender didn’t detail the full extent of the services required – only their immediate needs. We assisted our client to successfully put forward a bid which not only met their immediate needs, but also their needs and demand in the future.
- Assisting an international construction company in a joint venture bid with a local Tier 2 contractor to conduct extension and maintenance works at a regional airport in Australia. This included maintenance works to an existing runway as well as the construction of a new runway and hangar facilities. We coordinated the response as well as developed the bid.
- Helping a Queensland based security services provider with a bid for security services and aviation security to a Queensland airport.
Here at The Tender Team, we help businesses across Australia including in WA, Victoria, South Australia, QLD, Northern Territory, the ACT and New South Wales write and win tenders and contracts in the aviation and aerospace industry. Our experience extends internationally and we can assist clients both in Australia and overseas to bid for major projects globally. Our Director, Jason Cooney, has extensive international contracts and business development experience as well as a strong background in aviation bid writing.
Call our Director, Jason Cooney on 0410 448 770 for assistance with your next air services and aviation tender.
