Defence

We supported a large consortium of defence and technology companies to prepare its selection questionnaire to the Ministry of Defence for a replacement secure satellite communications network. Our security-cleared team had the responsibility for preparing multiple case studies to demonstrate the consortium’s technical capability, experience, expertise, and capacity to deliver comparable contracts for the national Government.

This was a challenging project as the timeline set by the Ministry of Defence to prepare the bid was short and we had to work across five different organisations, looking for the right case studies that evidenced all the competencies required for the new contract. Our team had to assimilate and understand large volumes of information that was complex and technical in nature so that they could then create a compelling bid narrative.

This was a successful tender for the clients, who qualified for the next stage of the competition. 

Our client was a new defence services organisation, formed as a joint venture between an established international public services provider and a multinational utility provider. Both parent companies are sector leaders with an established national and international presence, however, the future of the newly formed joint venture rested on this bid.

This joint venture was created to combine the established expertise of these industry-leading companies to bid for the Defence Infrastructures Organisation (DIO) contract to provide asset and facilities management services for the UK Defence Built Estate. As part of the Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) programme, these contracts aimed to support the UK’s defence capabilities by maintaining its built estate of more than 200 sites and 19,000 buildings. The service focused on Hard/Soft facilities management with planned and reactive maintenance leveraging advanced technology to develop a smart estate.

For both Lots, we provided a team of 3-4 writers to draft the large and complex responses, with questions ranging from a few sides of A4 to over 100 pages in length. Typical questions included: asset management; development and management of supply chains; design, development, and integration of secure IT systems; mobilisation, transition and transformation and data; recruitment, development and retention of staff; and contract management.

These tenders were a success; our clients won both Lots valued at £3.4bn over seven years.

A multinational outsourcing provider, operating in Australia, commissioned us to lead a project for the retention of a service with the Australian Defence Force for a contract extension. The contract involved the supply and logistical management of medical and dental supplies to over 650 military facilities across Australia and overseas.

Given the strategic importance of the project and tight turnaround, we assigned one of our Senior Writers. Our writer co-located with the client’s team in Australia, to facilitate efficient communication and collaboration. They worked with the client’s staff across its operational, commercial, and business development teams to gather the necessary information, creating a proposal for the Australian Defence Force that used both engaging narrative and graphics to make the case for retaining the contract.

This was a successful project for the client, completed in just one week, and led to them retaining the contract for a further two years.

Kittle Group was commissioned by a consortium of two consultancies to assist with the preparation of a tender to the Ministry of Defence to find and deliver the Army £2bn of savings over 10 years. We assigned two senior writers to this project who worked alongside the clients’ teams to draft and review responses together in parallel to the solution being refined. Topics covered in the bid included an overall methodology for identifying, assessing and delivering the savings, a detailed approach to two complex scenarios, details of the delivery team, and how the clients would use the contract to deliver social value.

This was a successful project for the clients, resulting in a 5-year contract valued at £20m.

We supported a specialist in measurement solutions, surveying equipment, and mapping systems on a PQQ for supplying civil engineering survey instruments for use by military engineers on worldwide operations. We provided a 3-person team for the project, who drafted responses detailing our client’s experience, technical ability, and management systems for safety, the environment, and quality assurance. The MoD needed robust and incredibly accurate equipment, so our team had to clearly articulate the benefits of our client’s hardware and software solutions, including how their quality assurance processes would deliver equipment defect-free and ready to use.

The PQQ placed a particular emphasis on providing detailed evidence and examples for every response. To achieve this, our team worked closely with the client to develop relevant and compelling examples that would give the Authority confidence in their capacity, flexibility, and capability.

This was a successful PQQ for our client who passed through into the next stage.

Our client, a German logistics and FM provider, contracted us for support on their first bid into the UK. They were bidding into the DIO to provide total FM (including cleaning, security, and waste) for the DIO’s Defence Estate on the South Atlantic Islands. The bid required over 500 pages of content across multiple, highly technical service lines, so we provided a large team of seven Bid Writers to draft and consult on responses to ensure they scored highly.

As it was their first time bidding into the UK government, our client chose us to provide expert guidance around unfamiliar requirements such as social value, TUPE regulations, and BIM. Our team attended weekly calls with the DIO and also supported our client with the BAFO stage, demonstrating our ability to provide a wraparound, end-to-end service.

The client was extremely happy with our service and their Bid Manager left us the following feedback:

“Kittle was a sensational help! The writers had their heads in the game right from the start. Proactively searching for information themselves, always reachable, absolute professionals. Very flexible in the whole process and absolutely committed and engaged. Could not think of a better company to work with. Highly recommended!”

Our client, a leading business management consultancy, approached Kittle to submit a competitive bid into the Crown Commercial Service, on behalf of the Royal Air Force. The bid was to develop and implement digital tools and changes to working practices for RAF HQ.

We provided a three-person team who worked to a tight turnaround of two weeks. This was compounded by a 40%-page extension five days ahead of submission, which our writers quickly adapted to by collaborating with subject matter experts to get the additional content needed. The team drafted responses including on the coordination of workstreams and social value. They also had to implement review comments from the client’s sub-contractor, ensuring that all changes still reflected the client’s approach, experience, and ethos.

We established a strong working relationship with the client and, overcoming added complications such as the involvement of an external consultant, delivered a compelling bid within the timescales.

Our client achieved their aim of creating a strong submission and were extremely happy with our work. The social value response scored 4/4 in the quality submission.

A mapping and land surveying specialist came to Kittle for support on their bid, the MOD’s plan to upgrade its military survey equipment.

Our client was familiar with bidding but needed our support to understand this large-scale and highly technical tender. There were over 1,000 pages of service requirements and specifications, with multiple references to the MOD’s Def Stans (Defence Standards). Question wording was also jargon-heavy and in places unclear.

Kittle writers are trained to process and comprehend complex information. Through a thorough and collaborative read-in, made possible by our in-person working, our team of four writers familiarised themselves with the technical language of the bid. We were therefore able to make the requirements clear both to the client and in our responses.

We delivered the Integrated Logistics Plans, outlining in detail the client’s delivery strategy, seeing them through from initial interviews with subject matter experts up to submission.

Our client was successful, winning the contract to deliver Project GROMA. They praised our team for their hard work and attention to detail throughout the bid.

“I’ve worked with Kittle on a number of projects now, which just speaks volumes of recurring business with a reliable partner. The team is very, very detail-oriented, and their assistance has been invaluable. Thoroughly recommend to anyone looking for assistance with tenders.”