Win local government tenders: Expert bid writing & Council contracts strategies

Our bid and tender writers specialise in writing winning council, shire and local government tenders

Our team has helped hundreds of companies to write winning tenders to local government and local Councils. Our local government and Council tender writers understand local government procurement processes. We have a 92% success rate and have helped clients secure over 63 local Council contracts. We have experience across Australia helping small, medium and large businesses win contracts.

Our services include:

• Bid and tender identification
• Bid and tender writing
• RFP and RFT review
• Creating a tender library so you can create tenders and bids more efficiently.

When helping our clients win local government bids we employ a range of strategies to help them win. The overall theme that is interwoven with in all our strategies is to tailor the bid. Tailor it to local government. Tailor it to the local area. Tailor it to the Council or Shire’s plans. Tailor it your bid to the needs of the local community.

How to tender for local government work and win local government tenders

We employ a number of different strategies to help our clients win Council contracts. Examples include:

Strategy 1: Align your bid or tender to Council strategic plans

It is important to gain a quick but thorough understanding of the Council’s strategic plans. Look at the contract you are bidding for and how they fit in with Council plans. For example, City of Melbourne have a 2030 transport plan, and the City of Sydney have a plan to limit car-parking. We recently assisted a ride sharing company to submit a bid the City of Melbourne. The majority of our bid incorporated the 2030 transport plan and they key locations within it.

When preparing your bid to a Council, shire or local government you should:

• Review the Council’s website for writing your bid or tender.
• Incorporate their plans into you bid to demonstrate that you have read, understood and applied them.
• Demonstrate that your proposal incorporates their plans.
• Align your response to any question about mission and values to the Council’s mission and values and demonstrate how you share their values.
• Read between the lines. What major issues are they tackling and what major concerns do they have? Is there a housing supply crisis for example? Ensure that you relate your proposal and solution to these issues if relevant.

For example, if there is a large problem with a specific pest in Council areas (for example rats), and there is community demand for a quick solution, make sure that your proposal talks about how your solution will quickly deal with the problem and how you will manage any community concerns as part of your bid.

This approach applies to any Council tenders from construction projects (such as the construction of a local new stadium) to writing a bid or proposal for a new toilet block.

Strategy 2: Maximise and demonstrate your local content and community integration

Local government organisations love to procure from locally-based businesses. In order to secure a contract, you need to put forward a comprehensive argument about how you are a locally based supplier. This isn’t only about location. It’s about your integration with the community. Your workforce. The local community groups you support.

Some questions to ask yourself and address in your local government bids and tenders:

Are you based in the local government area?

If so, detail your location and the scope of your operation. If not, that’s fine but you need to find something to demonstrate your commitment. For example, if you are appointed to the contract will you lease premises in the local area?

Do you support local suppliers?

This point is critical as local councils want to know where the downstream economic benefits of the contract are going. Provide a list of the local suppliers you use and how long you have been utilising them. If you don’t use local suppliers, it’s a great idea to provide a list of potential suppliers to Council and talk about in what capacity you propose to utilise them.

Do your employees live in the local government area?

Another point that is well worth focusing on. It’s all about the community and supporting jobs is a major part of it. When completing a local council tender, ask your staff where they live, especially any apprentices and highlight this to the council. Again, if you are from out of the area trying to secure a contract, why not confirm to council that if you are appointed, you will employ an apprentice from the local area or something along those lines?

From a bid / no bid perspective, your locality is important when deciding whether or not to bid or tender for a contract. The reality is that companies have more chance winning contracts from local Councils when they are based in the local area, or at least located nearby. There is a lot more to talk about in terms of supporting local jobs and hiring locally when you are either in the local government area or located nearby.

Strategy 3: Highlight relevant local government experience 

It’s important that where the tender asks for previous experience, you put forward experience that is highly relevant to Council. That means that sometimes your favourite, private-sector job may not be the right one to put forward. Governments generally prefer to award contracts to companies with previous government experience. Alternatively, if you put forward the private sector experience, you need to ensure that you highlight the similarities to the public sector.

For example, if you are putting forward a proposal to provide say electrical maintenance services to Council buildings, and you don’t have any previous government experience, you want to put forward experience for say servicing a University. It is also important to talk about how in servicing the University, you have had to adhere to similar requirements to that of the tender. Talk about how you communicate with the University project managers, provide regular reports, and work well and with minimal disruption in public. These are all traits and methodologies that the local council will appreciate.

Strategy 4: Demonstrate community benefit

Most Councils will want to know that the economic benefits of their contracts through to their local communities. However, there are often social and sometimes environmental benefits. When bidding for a contract you need to show that the downstream economic, social and environmental benefits of the contract will through to the local community and not to another state or territory or community.

The above strategies help our clients win more local Council bids. If you would like assistance implementing these strategies, call our Director, Jason Cooney on 0410 448 770 or email info@thetenderteam.com.au.

Three steps to find your next local Council contract

To write a winning local Government tender you need to:

1. Register for tender alerts. This can be through your local Council website, and is generally then completed by subscribing to TenderLink. Once you have registered they will send you alerts for your local Council as well as local government areas nearby.
2. Conduct a bid / no bid process. Many businesses make the mistake of bidding for everything and everything. Especially if you are a builder or tradesperson. You need to assess each opportunity and bid for what aligns with your expertise and experience (as well as location).
3. Download the RFP documents and write and submit your bid. This is the real part. Once you have decided to bid you need to download the document and write and submit your bid. The best way is to create a list of supporting documents required and then start gathering them straight away. After that, write your draft and refine it. Refer to some of our other blogs about best writing bid techniques for more information and ensure you employ the strategies outlined above.

A tailored approach to helping your business win a local Council tender

We help businesses across Australia write tenders and bids to local Councils. Our team of bid writers specialises in local Council bids. We adopt different strategies to help you win local Council tenders based on your business size and the industry you are working in.

Strategies for small local business to win Council or Shire contracts

If you are a small business, our team will help you win by:

• Focusing on your ties to the community and your ability to hire locals.
• Talking about how you are an agile business that can deliver the contract and any varying contract requirements.
• Personalising your bid to build a real personal connection with the Council procurement team and talk about any local initiatives you are involved in.
• Detailing if your existing team are locally based and any other ties to the local community.

Strategies for SMEs and medium sized businesses to win more local government contracts

If you are a medium sized business looking to win local Council tenders, we will help you win by:

• Integrating win themes throughout your bid.
• Focusing on your specialisation.
• Demonstrating your depth of resources and size as well as the size of your ‘specialised’ team.
• Detailing your track record and focus on your size.
• Focus on any similar government experience including in neighbouring local government areas (this applies to businesses of all sizes)

Strategies for larger organisations to win local Government contracts

Larger businesses need to careful navigate local content rules in order to secure contracts with a Council or Shire. Our tender and bid writers will help you by:

• Highlighting any local government experience.
• Developing initiatives to enhance your response to local content rules and how well you will score in local content.
• Clearly demonstrate how you will pass on the benefits of the contract through to the local economy and social base.
• Develop a local jobs plan that includes upskilling as well as a local procurement plant
• List potential local suppliers.
• Demonstrate and explain the benefits of your experience on national contracts and any economies of scale which will be leveraged to provide a better service.
• Talk about insights into the project gained from experience on similar projects in other local government areas.
• Focus on innovation and reporting and your ability to manage other Council or government contracts.

Contact our team today to discuss how we can help you win a tender with your local Council or shire.

Helping business from all industries win local Council tenders 

The Tender Team can assist and we help businesses across Australia including in all states and territories and across all industries including:

We help businesses win tenders with local Councils across Australia

We have assisted businesses across Australia secure tenders with local Councils including businesses in regional areas and remote areas in:

• New South Wales
• Queensland
• Victoria
• South Australia
• Western Australia
• Australian Capital Territory
• Northern Territory
• Tasmania

We have also helped business located across all Australian cities bid for local Council contracts such as in:

• Sydney (including for City of Sydney)
• Brisbane (including or City of Brisbane bids)
• Melbourne
• Perth
• Darwin
• Hobart
• Canberra
• Adelaide

Meet Jason Cooney | Your specialist in local government and Council bids

Our Director, Jason Cooney, has sixteen years experience helping clients win tenders with Councils, Shires and local government. He is an expert in:

• Writing local content plans
• Tailoring case studies and experience to the local government sector
• Ensuring compliance with all procurement requirements
• Developing win themes and strategies to help you secure the contract
• Managing the bid process from start to finish.

Jason takes the lead on helping businesses secure contracts and knows the intricacies of the bid process. He has a track record of success, a high win-rate, and specialist knowledge in writing tenders and responding to RFPs where the services are to be provided in regional and remote areas.

Call us for help with your next local Council or Shire bid

If you require any assistance winning local council tenders, call our team anytime 0410 448 770. We’ve written hundreds of tenders to local governments (Councils and Shires) across the country. This includes tenders and bids in regional and remote locations, where an understanding of the local area is critical.

Our service and experience extends across all states including New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. We’ve also written a number of bids in Tasmania particularly to City of Hobart.

FAQ

Can you win a council or shire contract if you are not from the local government area?

Yes. We have helped clients win local Council tenders when they are not based in the area. Sometimes, they are small and medium businesses that are based in a neighboring local government area and they have close ties to the area.

Other times it’s for larger companies where we put forward a comprehensive local development plan to help them win and they have skills in a highly specialised area or service. It’s certainly possible to win Council contracts from out of area. You just need to put forward a quality, client focused tender submission.

Do you need to write a tender submission to Council in Government language?

It is a good idea to use their terminology when you write the bid. You should also align your submission to any relevant local government plans. Beyond that, simple English is usually the best approach.

How can we win more government including local government but also state and federal government tenders? What do you do at The Tender Team that increases our win rate and helps us win more?

If you want to increase your win rate you should:

• Focus on any local content, suppliers and other experience.
• Put forward a detailed methodology.
• Comply with all the mandatory criteria.
• Use the same language as government where possible.
• Put forward a detailed response.
• Conduct a robust bid/no bid process to make sure you are bidding for realistic opportunities.

I need a tender writer or bid writer that knows how to win government contracts? We have an existing contract we can’t afford to lose and need outside help.

Certainly. Here at The Tender Team, we have helped many small, medium and large businesses across Australia write winning local Council tenders. If you have an existing contract, it’s generally a must-win. Also, many of our clients with existing contracts with local Councils, be they in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth or regional and rural Councils and shires across Australia, rely on the contract as their main source of income. In addition, many of our clients have not tendered in the past as they have held the contract for a long time. In this case, the tender process is a bid more demanding as you will generally need to create supporting documentation which you do not have as well as other tender content.

It’s important to start the process early as there is a lot of work involved, and focus on compliance and coming up with a compelling value proposition. We can certainly help you write your bid and put you in the best position to retain your contract.

Do all your writers specialise in winning bids with local councils and shires?

Yes. We specialise in public sector bid writing to all levels of government. This includes the local government sector. As we are writing public sector bids on a daily basis it’s fair to say that  all of our writers specialise in winning Council bids. In addition, some of our writers bring specific experience in different sectors such as construction and have a track record helping tradies across Australia win tenders.

Do you have any free government tender tender writing resources to we can access?

Yes we have a number of guides we have developed over the years to help clients win local Council contracts. Contact our team for a copy.

Is there a consultant in Australia that can tell us how to get a contract with the Council or even a subcontract?

Yes. Here at The Tender Team, we help small, medium and large businesses from across Australia find tender opportunities with Council, as well as bid for them (and win). We can help you through the entire process. We also help clients to find opportunities to sub-contracts with other businesses that hold Council contracts. We will help you find a contract opportunity and create a compelling bid to an RFP or RFT. We work with lots of clients and businesses that want to know how get council contracts and generally recommend:

• Registering for contract opportunities with specific Councils.
• Networking and attending open days with Council personnel.
• Boosting your business profile within your community as much as possible.
• Actively seeking sub-contractor work with current providers to the local government sector to increase your experience.

Do you help with plumbing and electrical bids and other trades to local Councils?

Yes. We help with a broad range of building maintenance tenders and bids including plumbing and electrical.

What parts of Australia do you service? Do you help businesses with local Council tenders in rural Australia?

Yes. We work across Australia including in all major capital cities such as Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, all states and territories including Northern Territory and the ACT, and across rural Australia. We have a track record of success and very high win rate helping businesses in rural and remote Australia win contracts with their local Councils by focusing on their locality and the benefits it brings.

Testimonials

Our contract with the local Council (Gold Coast City Council) came up for renewal and we had to re-tender for it. It was a stressful process and we had held the contract for over twelve years. We knew we provided a good service, however, as a small business, we also knew we were up against some larger players who really wanted the contract. We didn’t have a lot of supporting documentation which they required.

We spoke with Jason at The Tender Team to get some help. He knew all about concreting tenders and civil works so that was reassuring. He and Deirdre supported us through the whole process and wrote most of the responses for/with us. They are very supporting, hard working and transparent. They guided us through the process, knew all about the requirements, and helped us to become reappointed. We were happy with their outstanding service and when it comes to Council contracts they certainly know their stuff.

Bruce W | Concreting Contractor | Gold Coast