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Quick Quotes Explained

 

Talking to a buyer or contractor, you might have heard them mention putting a ‘Quick Quote’ out for a lower value contract.

A Quick Quote is a function within the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) website that allows buyers to request a costing for a low value/low risk procurement exercise, from suppliers that are PCS registered. It can also be used to run mini competitions within framework agreements.

 

How to Get on a Quick Quote

To be in with a chance to win a Quick Quote, you must be on PCS, however, this is not enough in itself. Once registered you must complete your Supplier Finder profile, set it to ‘publish’, and tick the SME box, which will help buyers find your business and consider it for their contract.

If a buyer doesn’t see your business in their Supplier Finder search results, they cannot invite you to bid on their Quick Quote, and this is the only way you can compete in this type of tender process.

 

How Buyers Find Your Business on Supplier Finder

After you have published your profile, it will show up in Supplier Finder searches that include its keywords, post code or supplier category. For instance, if a buyer was looking for a burger van supplier in Hamilton, their search might include the keywords ‘mobile catering’, the post code ‘ML10’ or the category ‘Catering’ – and if your profile contained this data, it would be included in the search results.

It is important that you are thorough when completing the details of your profile, to give your business the best chance of showing up in buyer’s Supplier Finder results.

 

After the Invite to Quick Quote

Once a buyer has found your business on Supplier Finder, and they have invited you to compete in their Quick Quote, then they will supply you with the documents that outline the criteria against which your bid will be judged.

 

Likely Criteria Within a Bid

When using a Quick Quote procurement process, buyers need to ensure it’s a fair competition, typically between three or five suppliers.

To do this, they will assess suppliers against certain criteria. While each buyer can set their own criteria, they will typically be ones that ensure the competitors:

• have the skills required
• have adequate resources
• are reliable
• offer a competitive price
• can meet the quality standards required

You should therefore make sure that your quote demonstrates this as clearly as possible.

 

Know Yourself

Before you get into the fine detail of your response, read and re read the requirements and all the Quick Quote documents. Then ask yourself, is it suitable for your business or social enterprise, and can you fulfil the ask?

If you are unsure of any of the Quick Quote requirements, identify the problem items and use the Q&A functionality to ask the buyer for clarification, to ensure you fully understand what they need.

 

Explain Yourself

On the other hand, if you understand and can meet the Quick Quote requirements, then in your response explain the practical details of how you will meet them.

Each time you bid you must assume the Buyer doesn’t know anything about your business, therefore you must fully describe who you are and what you do. Each individual question should contain this summary of your business,  as different people may mark different questions without reading the whole response!

 

Show your Differentiator

Consider what differentiates you from your competitors, and explain how you do what you do better than them. To do this, think about the benefits your value proposition will bring to the Buyer/ public body, if they use your business or social enterprise.

Don’t confuse benefits with features. Features are what you do or deliver, and benefits are the impact that these features have.  For instance, does your Quote bring the benefit of helping buyers meet government targets, improve quality of life or meet Net Zero goals?

 

Consider the Costing

Consider any guarantees, after sales service, or warranty periods your Quote includes, and explain these, as they can make a real difference to its overall lifecycle costing.

Also, check the requested pricing format in the Quick Quote, don’t just add your rates if this is not what has been requested.

 

Get Further Information

For further information on how to use Quick Quotes, visit the SDP website, where you will find webinar training on this and other aspects of the tendering process.

Or you can access our e-learning modules 24/7. Don’t wait to get tender ready, be tender ready when you receive an invitation to Quote!

 

Get information here.