Transport

One of the UK’s largest bus companies chose to partner with Kittle Group for their first bid to Transport for Greater Manchester. This bid was for the first of three tranches, which was split into two lots: Wigan and Bolton. We supported our client in bidding for both lots, for a contract valued at over £200 million.
The initial deadline for this tender was for an unmarked submission. The Authority was very satisfied with this, giving us great feedback and recommending few modifications. Once the subsequent dialogue period of the bid had ended, we resumed collaboration with our client’s internal team to create the remainder of the bid, totalling at 360 pages of content.
On numerous occasions, the Authority changed the scope of the bid and the specified fleet numbers. We helped our client to work around this, adapting as necessary, until they were extremely happy with the final submission. The client said that it was the best bid they had ever produced.
The bid is currently under evaluation.

We supported a client with preparation of a tender to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to undertake an independent assessment of Network Rail’s capability and capacity to deliver a successful procurement strategy.

Having spent time assessing the ORR’s and Network Rail’s specification, we assigned two writers to work with the client to understand their solution and where they could evidence past relevant experience that demonstrated their capability and capacity. This project had tight deadlines and so we agreed a plan in advance that set clear milestones for our team and our client.

“Kittle Group’s knowledge of procurement rules and public sector procurement is second to none. They rapidly understand the requirements of each bid and hold us to account to ensure each question is answered with the aim of scoring 100%. They are able to distil complex information into very clear and well considered messages. Kittle’s ability to understand our business and their unerring attention to detail has made them invaluable to us.” – Nichols Group (Strategic Consultancy), COO.

This was a successful project and resulted in the client being awarded the contract by the ORR.

A consortium of UK, Hong Kong and Australian companies sought our assistance with preparing a bid to Transport for London to undertake construction and renovation projects valued at £4m each on the underground and overground.

This was a two-stage competition, with an initial selection questionnaire, followed by the main tender.

Throughout the project, our writers worked across the consortium of 6 organisations to understand their solution for Transport for London, how they would work seamlessly together, and where they had delivered similar scope projects in the rail industry. We then turned the information into compelling narrative to demonstrate our clients’ experience and expertise.

This was a successful project with the client being awarded the contract.

Our client provides micro-mobility solution for cities, campuses, and businesses. In the UK, the Department for Transport (DfT) is allowing local authorities to conduct public trials as part of a wider evidence-gathering exercise intended to determine whether e-scooters should be fully legalised, and how. Our client’s participation followed the submission of two successful bids as part of public sector tender competitions. Fierce competition in the sector, and heavy and constant bidding workload prevented our client from participating more widely. With a second round of trials expected, and eventually the possibility of contracted e-scooter schemes in the UK, our client wished to maximise the likelihood of success.

Our client, therefore, commissioned us to undertake an analysis of their previous submissions, including quality scores and feedback; their responses against the bid requirements and evaluation criteria, to identify patterns of feedback; strengths and weaknesses; and provide meaningful data.

One of our Senior Consultants carried out this review, creating a report of recommendations intended to support the prioritisation of preparatory and improvement work within their bidding function, to increase future success.

We prepared three bids for a client delivering cleaning and graffiti removal from trains, stations, and other infrastructure. Preparing three large bids with relatively short deadlines set by the Buyer brought particular challenges to ensure sufficient time was given to the drafting and review processes.

We organised our team using a simple project management methodology, including a writing plan agreed with the client to track progress daily, the allocation of responses between our writers, the coordination by a Senior Writer, and a process of internal review.

The responses covered: meeting regulations governing work on the railway; the competence of the client’s team; logistics to respond to the train operator’s requirements; recruitment, training and retention of staff; use of equipment and chemicals; management of health and safety, quality and environmental systems; and mobilisation.

This was a highly successful project for the client, winning two of three contracts.

We supported a multinational rail operator with the preparation of its tender to the Department for Transport for the franchise to operate the West Coast Main Line. Our involvement was to support work on the preparation of the Shadow Operator Plan (ShOP) setting out the client’s strategy for operating the line, including rolling stock, ticketing, assets, and station management.

We co-located our team with the client and their Joint Venture partners at their offices in London, working alongside their bid teams and consultants preparing the plan. We agreed a writing plan with the client’s bid management team with clear deliverables and milestones. Drafting involved a combination of reviewing material created by the client’s team, research, and interviewing subject matter experts.

Our drafts went through multiple review iterations by the client’s executives and changes were implemented accordingly.

The outcome was a high-quality contribution to the ShOP and resulted in further commissions from the client.

A joint venture between a major UK manufacturer of pre-cast concrete structures and a specialist tunnelling company in France sought our support for a major tender for the manufacture and installation of green tunnels for High Speed 2.

Our bid writers worked remotely with the clients in Lincolnshire and Paris to collate information on their solution, evidence where they had successfully undertaken similar projects, and the added value they would bring. Our team then prepared draft responses, refining them with the clients as part of a review process. Responses covered a wide range of topics including manufacturing and installation processes, quality control, staff training, logistics to transport the structures to the construction site, and environmental management.

This was a successful project, winning the contract for the client.

A national PLC sought our support with preparation of six tenders for:

• Project works
• Maintenance of structures
• Removal of asbestos and other hazardous substances
• Maintenance of track drainage systems
• Maintenance of HVAC, lifts and escalators, and mechanical and electrical systems
• Management of vegetation, arborology, and treating non-native invasive species.

Our writers had total responsibility for the project, both managing and writing the bid. We, therefore, established a project plan, worked with the client’s team and their 6 major subcontractors to understand their solution, and prepare the tenders, which ran into hundreds of pages. We also provided the client with bi-weekly updates to give confidence in the progress of the project.

This was a most successful project for the client, winning all five contracts. 

The M25 is a 117-mile orbital motorway around London and is Europe’s largest ring road. Our client, a Tier 1 construction company, commissioned us to support its tender for the maintenance of the road. This was a particularly challenging project as deadlines from the Buyer were incredibly tight. Our writers co-located in the client’s offices and worked closely with their subject matter experts to understand how they intended to deliver the contract 24/7, manage resources, and work safely. Our writers then prepared their draft responses for the client to review overnight.

This was a successful project for our client, resulting in them being awarded the contract by National Highways.