Pippa’s expertise is in the highways and civil engineering sector, which made her the perfect choice for a South West based civil engineering company who wanted to elevate their position as a Tier Two contractor and start working directly for Highways England.

In 2016, Pippa managed the South West Construction Works Framework submission for them, successfully securing a position on a five-year contract worth £27 million.

In 2021, Pippa returned to manage the contract renewal bid –retitled the Scheme Delivery Framework, a much larger submission with three Lots targeted at a value of almost £200 million. This renewal was a must win.

Here is what their Managing Director had to say about Pippa:
“It is a pleasure to work with Pippa. She always has a very professional approach to her work, and recently led the bid team (as well as writing) for our recent framework submission. She added great value to the process and directed the team to ensure that they met the objectives and deadlines required. I would be very happy to engage her again as she has a proven track record with us”

In April 2021, a London-based new homes and property development company approached Pippa to provide a bid review on a tender they were submitting.

This bid was to secure an important partnership with another development corporation which would secure two large land development contracts.

Already shortlisted at the selection stage, they were at the final hurdle and their tender submission had to be perfect.

The client had already researched and planned the content, using their own in-house resources. What they needed was an experienced professional pair of eyes to read, review and if needed -improve their response.

Pippa discussed the project and their requirements over the phone, organised an online meeting and agreed a programme for receiving content to review.

Here is what their Head of Land Acquisition had to say about our service:

“I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your hard work and input into the bid that was submitted this morning… The result of everyone’s hard work is the emergence of two really exciting and considered masterplans. Kind regards and many thanks!”

Pipster’s expertise is in the airfields, highways and civil engineering sectors, so public procurement processes and large tenders are very common, and something we are used to.

Highways England select suppliers and contractors for construction work through a Framework, typically lasting between four and six years. The recent SDF submitted in 2021 was worth £200m to our client across three Lots tendered for.

When this bid arrived, it came with a huge number of tender documents and instructions.

We supported our client by downloading, reading and analysing them on their behalf, so they could carry on with their day jobs. Missing small details on a tender of this size could be detrimental to the bid.

Pippa then summarised the requirements and organised a kick-off meeting with the clients bid team, Directors and key commercial personnel. This highlighted the scoring mechanisms, list of returnable forms, responses and key themes.

Throughout the bid, we managed the portal and over 1,000 tender queries! We developed a colour code system to categorise them, making it easier to apply any changes to our response.

Here is what their Bid Team had to say about our service:
“Pippa was excellent at not only writing but also managing the bid process for the Highways England contract, a difficult task given the size and detail of the content required.”

Some of our clients know what contracts they want to apply for. These can be a huge step up, to supply directly or for a bigger value, or for a high-profile project that they want to be a part of.
Having worked as a supply chain member for 12 years on a Highways Framework, one of our clients had dreams of going further. They wanted to deliver the works themselves, directly to the ultimate client.

They approached Pipster in advance of the existing Framework expiration date, to discuss this opportunity and ask for her advice.

Getting involved early meant Pippa could carry out important market research, competitor analysis and guide them through a bid / no bid decision –all aimed at improving their chances of being successful.

Pippa also built a Bid Management System to improve their bid processes, give structure to their team and help them locate and express interest in future public sector work.

Since implementing these systems, this client’s turnover has gone from £48m in 2016 to £62m in 2020.

Here is what their Bid Manager had to say about our service:
“Our experience of Pippa is that she brings tremendous commitment and energy to the process. We are really pleased with the way she integrated seamlessly and helped us raise our game.”