Case Studies

First time success: a near perfect score secures a first public sector contract

case study excellence in Public Sector bidding the challenge

Our client - a large international logistics company - wanted to win a contract to supply uniforms and personal protective equipment to a public sector client in the UK. The bidding process itself represented a daunting obstacle to success for our client, being unfamiliar with UK public sector bidding and the inherent complexity of the proposals required. The available bid budget below industry norms increased the challenge.

The client chose Harmonic as a result of a referral from another area of their business - testament to a previous positive intervention by Harmonic. To accommodate the restricted bid budget and based on our independent assessment of the clients win probability, we agreed to undertake work at our risk in return for being paid a win bonus in the event of our client winning the work.

the Harmonic impact

To realise important business for our client through an exemplary proposal, Harmonic:

Provided valuable competitor research and hot button development, enabling the development of powerful win themes and ghosting statements to make our client more competitive

Used our `Scoring to Win` approach to optimise the quality of the proposal where it counted the most, resulting in higher quality outputs and efficiency for our client

Helped to plan and lead business winning reviews including the Kick Off, storyboard review and final proposal review to drive performance and effectiveness in key areas

Worked closely with Subject Matter Experts and reviewers to ensure the proposal was compelling and differentiating

Provided best practice consultancy and writing expertise

Deployed “sign-posting” techniques in documents, making the proposal easy to evaluate and thus making it easy to award high scores

Provided coaching, guidance and support to educate our client’s team, enabling them to respond to Public Sector tenders with compliant and compelling proposals.

the outcome

Our client has secured a valuable and prestigious contract worth an estimated £700m over 10 years and Harmonic received 100% of our win bonus.

Public sector tenders are typically won by bid scores of approximately 70%. The high-impact interventions of the Harmonic team resulted in an outstanding winning score of 91%.

This success enabled us to establish our credentials with our client, providing a platform for the development of an enduring business relationship. It also provided our client with a credible case study to support other bids, along with the understanding and confidence to pursue and win other public sector opportunities in the future.