Recently, my colleague Nicole Coleman and I attended the Queensland Government Small Business Expo. We were particularly interested in a presentation from Rob McRuvie, Director of Procurement for Brisbane 2032.
Brisbane 2032 is the organisation responsible for sourcing the complex network of inputs that will make the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games happen – everything from marketing and branding, through to visual design, catering, security, ticketing and more
Knowing how Brisbane 2032 intends to conduct its procurement is vital, given our role of helping suppliers win the contracts that support the delivery of this global sporting event.
The three things we learnt from the day
1. Brisbane 2032 will run a very agile procurement process
This makes intuitive sense given the complex jigsaw of goods and services required to make the Brisbane Games a success. Brisbane 2032 has clarity about its desired outcomes, but is open to exploring the differing supply solutions (or combination of) that can deliver them. This necessitates a flexible and iterative approach. One example is the recent uniform supply work package, which on the basis of initial response feedback, has subsequently been divided into four separate packages.
This procurement agility creates the potential for new supply solutions and partnerships to develop, but only for suppliers who engage in, and remain committed to, the process. As it develops, relationships and trust will matter.
On that, it was heartening to hear that the initial EOI screening process will be used to narrow the supplier field to an invited ITO process, after which successful suppliers will have an opportunity to make their pitch – face to face.
Our question to you…
Are you pitch perfect? If not, get your tuning forks out. We can help with that.Â
2. The right type of practice makes perfect
Just as Gout Gout didn’t wake up one day being able to run a sub 20 second 200m sprint, the same is true for the work-winning process. Ericssonn, Krampe, and Tesch-Romer’s (1993) research into expert performance found that a key contributor is not just any practice, but deliberate practice. Knowing what skills to develop and practising them is key to achieving the results you seek. It was true then and it’s still true today.     Â
Rob McRuvie neatly contextualised this to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games when advising suppliers to:
- learn the bidding skills required to win contracts
- practise them regularly
- apply them in Government contexts.
Our question to you…
If you don’t already have the bidding skills to win Government supply contracts, are you going to learn them the hard way, or the easy way? The School of Hard Knocks can help you with the former approach. Our Bid Academy is the key to the latter.
3. The best indicator of future performance is past performance
With the eyes of the world focused on Brisbane in 2032, there’ll only be one shot to get this event right on the day – no re-runs, or remastering. Being able to prove you can walk your talk will matter to those who are making the buying decisions.
Our question to you…
What concrete evidence of past performance do you have, and what form is it currently in? You don’t want to be developing this on the fly or having to add to the pressure already felt during the ITO submission process. We can help with that too.
Level up by showing up
We walked away from the Expo understanding so much more about Brisbane 2032’s approach to this procurement campaign.
The information we captured sharpened our perspective on what matters to the Brisbane 2032 procurement team and by extension, what it’ll take to win supply contracts.
So, if you hope to earn a slice of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games supply pie, and you need help to perfect your pitch, bolster your bidding skills or polish your past performance, we can help with that.
That’s what we’re here for.
To receive our latest insights on winning Brisbane Games contracts and other tendering news and views, sign up to our free Bid Talk mailing list.
To find out how our BidWrite team can help you develop your strongest bid for Brisbane Games opportunities and win the work that matters most, visit the Brisbane Games page of our website.
