Building Your Competitive Advantage

Environment and Sustainability

We work with organisations of all sizes to assess and improve the sustainability performance of their business, products and services. We have extensive experience in a wide range of industry sectors.

Our services include:

• Sustainability performance and strategic benchmarking
• Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Carbon Footprinting to various standards
• Strategy development for improving resource efficiency and reducing costs
• Development of bespoke tools for carbon/environmental accounting
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) support and strategy
• Development of strategies and tools for sustainable procurement
• Research and critical review of LCA and related assessments
• Environmental management systems support
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) review
• Data analysis

Health and Safety Support

As well as being critical to meet legislation and best practice, demonstrating health and safety compliance often plays an important part in the public sector tender process.

We can provide:

• One-off consultancy (e.g developing best practice models, H&S monitoring and achieving legal compliance)
• Affordable retained services for SMEs which do not have the benefit of an appointed specialist advisor
• Support for your HR team
• Bespoke training to meet a wide range of industry standards, including:
• Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) competent person risk assessment training
• IOSH Managing Safety Certificate and IOSH Working Safety Certificate training
• Training in the internationally recognised National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety and the National Certificate in Construction Health awarded by NEBOSH; exam preparation for NGC, NGC2 or NCC1
• Online training in:
• Asbestos handling
• Legionella
• Food safety
• Manual handling
• Fire safety
• COSHH
• Display screen equipment
• Abrasive wheels safety (e.g. griding, disc cutting)

ISO Certification Support

Certification by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) means your company is instantly recognised around the globe as being a cut above the rest. It tells existing and potential customers that you are serious about meeting the highest standards and delivering the best service you can. Public sector organisations often look first to see if a potential supplier is ISO accredited, so it’s important to consider as part of the process of getting your company bid-ready.

Bid Pro Quo will:

• Work with you to identify which ISO management system is appropriate to you
• Audit your organisation to identify where you are already compliant and alert you to where improvements are needed to reach the standard
• Help you create a bespoke Management System that leaves room for continuous improvement
• Take care of all the necessary documentation

Bid Document Presentation

SMEs often complain that they get overlooked in the public sector tendering process; that they are too small to compete. Wrong.

Many are as good or even better than much bigger companies in the competition; they’re overlooked simply because they fail to stand out.

It all comes down to your bid document. This is your shop window – your one and only chance to sell yourself.

However compelling and memorable the content, it’s unlikely to win you any bids if your presentation isn’t compelling and memorable, too. It’s a sad fact that the smaller you are, the louder you have to shout. And that’s where Bid Pro Quo’s Bid Document Presentation service can help put you on the top of the pile.

By bringing our extensive document design experience to your bid, your dull but worthy read could become a best seller.

We can provide:

• Graphic design for your bid or grant application
• Research and, if necessary, commission imagery
• Oversee print production

Digital Security Accreditation and Compliance

Every business, be it a multinational or a corner shop, is vulnerable to online threats of all kinds. And while big data breaches, such as that experienced by the mobile phone network Talk Talk in 2015, find their way into the headlines, it’s often the less obvious cybercrimes that can cripple an SME and impact on both its suppliers and clients.

While the immediate disruption caused by data theft and scams such as ‘phishing’, ‘whaling’ and ‘social engineering’ are bad enough, the reputational damage and impact on an SME’s ability to win future work can be catastrophic.

Accreditation works on many levels:

• It helps SMEs that are vigilant and have up-to-date security procedures and software in place protect their organisations from attack
• It acts as a deterrent to cyber criminals
• It gives you a competitive advantage by reinforcing your reputation as a trustworthy organisation
• It immediately puts a tick in the box if you are tendering in the public sector

Bid Pro Quo through our strategic alliance can offer the following accreditation services:

Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus

The Government-backed Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation scheme was introduced in 2014 as part of the National Cyber Security Strategy to help UK businesses strengthen their cyber defences.

Compliance is mandatory for any sized organisation bidding for public sector contracts that involve the handling of sensitive or personal information. But since almost all tenders placed by local or national government or their agents potentially exposes such data, that means most organisations conducting business in the public sector must be compliant.

IASME Standard

This standard is specifically aimed at smaller companies and is a comprehensive but affordable way for them to demonstrate baseline compliance with the more challenging ISO27001.

It shows you can properly protect your customer information and are following best practice by having the right information assurance polices and procedures in place.

The IASME Standard compliments Cyber Essentials certification.

ISO/IEC 27001

This international information security management standard helps organisations handle sensitive company data, including financials, intellectual property, employee details or that entrusted to you by third parties.

It lays down requirements for best practice around management systems and staff, processes and IT are all involved in the compliance procedure.

The standard can help small, medium and large businesses in any sector keep information assets secure.

Wherever you are on your cyber security journey – from basic security controls, through to more robust solutions, such as certification to ISO/ IEC27001and Cyber Essentials Plus - we can help give your customers confidence that their information is safe in your hands.

Contact us to find out more.

Presentation and Interview Training

The tender interview forms an imperative part of the submission process. With experience across a range of sectors, Bid Pro Quo can help you when it comes to knowing what is expected of you during the presentation and interview stages whether you are on-bid or simply wish to provide the training. We can put together a comprehensive training package for the members of your team so they turn up well-prepared, boosting the strength of your bid. Moreover, we’ll make sure those crucial members of the team outshine the competition. You don’t have to be on-bid to approach Bid Pro Quo to deliver training for you – there is never a bad time to improve your bid interview and presentation performance.

You need bid presentation and interview training if you:

• Need us to coach, mentor and train your staff for the all-important bid interview
• Require your team to appreciate the client’s perspective, understand the importance of working as team in unfamiliar environments, and know how to impress the representatives
• Want a tailored training package on-bid or off-bid, for groups or for 1-to-1 coaching and mentoring

Our presentation and interview training could prove to be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful bid for your team.