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To prepare your business to tender for contracts, you should make improvements where possible. 

The starting point for improving your business is an assessment of the current situation. This will help you to identify gaps and develop your business in order to meet qualifying criteria when tendering for contracts.

Take a business health check

A business health check is a short, focused and critical review of your current business performance. This assessment can reveal strengths and weaknesses across various areas helping you make informed decisions to drive growth and improvement. Key areas to focus on during evaluation include:

• policies and procedures - ensure they are up-to-date and compliant with industry standards
• financial performance - review financial statements and key performance indicators

We have a set of guides which can help you with assessing current performance in your business.

Drive business growth using staff and customer insights

The best ideas to improve your business may already be within reach. For example your staff and customers may have a unique view on how to make positive changes to your business. For guidance on how best to gather, share and exploit knowledge in your business read our guide on the knowledge management and business growth.

Support from Invest Northern Ireland

Invest Northern Ireland can help your business develop and compete by offering specialist 91香蕉黄色视频. Find a range of advice and .

When competing for contract work, it is important for your business to meet essential criteria. Gaps in your policies, skills, or compliance can harm your chances of winning contracts. Taking the time to implement necessary changes can open up new markets and opportunities.

Make the right changes

If you have identified areas for improvement in your business, it's important to plan how you will make changes. This can help you to avoid common pitfalls and improve your chances of a successful outcome.

Create an action plan

Start by developing a detailed action plan outlining the changes you need to make and the steps required to implement them.

Seek expert advice

Consider bringing in external experts to advise on the best strategies for change. Find out how to get the right advisers for growth.

Develop a marketing strategy

A marketing strategy can communicate the benefits of your product or service to potential customers. Find out how to create your marketing strategy.

Focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Good corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be attractive to potential customers. Find out more about the change management process.

Key areas for best practice

Consider three key areas where best practice can set your business apart from the rest. These are employment practices, health and safety and environmental compliance. For more detail on these topics see:

• best practice in employment and improving skills
• improve health and safety in your business
• demonstrate good environmental compliance

Quality management

Quality management standards provide a framework for a business to manage its processes and activities. Many large businesses and public sector organisations require suppliers to have recognised certification. Achieving standards may lead to a higher profile and increased business overseas.

Find more information:

• find out how to make best use of standards in your business
• implementing quality management standards can take your business processes to the next level
• evaluate how other successful businesses operate and implement best practice

Construction industry specifics

The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) is a set of special rules for handling payments for construction work that contractors make to subcontractors. See Construction Industry Scheme.

When preparing your business to tender, it's important to follow best practice in employment and skills development. 

Ensuring your employment policies and procedures comply with the law is fundamental to any business. Winning sector contracts can depend on your business showing best practice in staff management.

Your business may need new skills to move forward. Recruiting staff can fill gaps in your team, or you can invest in training current staff to develop into new roles.

Employment policies

When tendering for contracts, your business can gain an advantage with good equality practices. Public sector bodies, in particular, have a legal duty to prevent discrimination. They aim to promote equality of opportunity on the grounds of gender, race and disability.

A strong equality policy could influence potential contractor. You should be able to show the policy is working in your business. 

Consider the following to get your business ready to tender:

• You may benefit from a review of your current policies to draw upon best practice. See set up employment policies for your business.

• You should be able to show compliance with equality legislation. See prevent discrimination and value diversity.

• Employers are responsible for preventing bullying and harassment in the workplace.
• Businesses in certain sectors are required to carry out . 
• Gathering and retaining staff records is a legal obligation, but it can bring business benefits. See keep the right staff records.
• Recognising a trade union and working with its representatives can be positive for your business. Find out how to work effectively with trade unions.

Develop your staff

Staff training can improve your business in many ways, including increasing the chances of winning contract work. Recognise the potential of your staff and reward their commitment. This can create champions for your business.

Find advice on developing skills:

• Our section on staff training and development includes guides on how to build your organisation's skills.
• To find the right advice and training providers you should look for local sources of training and advice. Search the for courses and workshops. 
• Successfully tendering for contracts may mean expanding your team. Browse guides on taking on staff. 

Develop your management team

Developing an effective management team can help you to create a more efficient business. Competing for tenders means your company may be aiming to grow. Effective leadership is important to a developing business.

As your business grows, the range and complexity of skills your business needs will grow too. Find out how you can build on your talents - see skills and training for directors and owners.

When competing for contract work, you should show a solid health and safety ethos. This should be backed by effective policies and systems. Raising the standards in your workplace can improve staff relations. It can also increase the chances of winning new business.

Assess your compliance

First, carry out an honest and accurate assessment of your health and safety compliance. You should review your existing policies to ensure they meet best practice.

The provides advice and guidance for businesses looking to improve their compliance. 

Contractors must carry out a health and safety risk assessment for any work they are responsible for. They should agree how any risks will be managed with the client and any sub-contractors involved. 

Set up a health and safety system

Your business may already have health and safety systems in place, but it is important to review these regularly to ensure they are meeting the needs of your staff and business.

• If you employ five or more people you must have a written health and safety policy statement. You must also keep a record of your arrangements. Find out how to create and operate a health and safety policy.
• To effectively plan and control health and safety activities and reporting, you can set up a health and safety management system.
• It is important to communicate your health and safety procedures to staff, customers and the public.

Best practice

When tendering for work, many buyers will include a pre-qualification stage. This ensures that businesses competing for the contract have a minimum set of standards in place. Ensuring that your business measures up to best practice can mean the difference between success and failure.

See what you need to do about health and safety. 

If you are self-employed, employ other people or are in charge of work premises, you have a duty to report and keep records of certain types of incident or accident at work. See first aid, accidents and ill health in the workplace.

Tendering for contracts outside Northern Ireland

Health and safety requirements may differ outside Northern Ireland. It is important to contact the relevant authorities to understand if different standards apply:

• in Great Britain, the relevant authority is the
• in the Republic of Ireland, you should consult the 
• if you are a service business looking to do operate in another EU country, you should consult the EU Commission

When preparing your business for tender, consider your environmental practice. 

All businesses must ensure their activities are not harmful to the environment. Companies offering contracts often want to work with a business who is committed to environmental protection. Strong environmental policies can give your business the edge when competing for contracts.

Assessing your current performance

Environmental law and standards change over time. You should review your policies often and check the latest rules.

Assessing your current performance is key to setting goals for improvement. See carry out an environmental review of your business.

Implementing change

Putting good systems in place can improve your environmental performance:

• An environmental policy shows that you responsibly manage environmental impacts. See write an environmental policy.
• Setting up an environmental management system can boost efficiency. It helps you monitor progress and meet legal duties. See set up an environmental management system (EMS).

Reviewing and refining your business processes can lead to new markets. This can improve your bottom line. You may be able to build new business relationships and supply chains while reducing your environmental impact. 

Working closely with supply chain partners to improve environmental compliance can benefit everyone. See supply chain efficiency.

Contractors in construction care more about the environment. Find out how to use resources efficiently in construction and building trades.

Business benefits of environmental responsibility

Being environmentally and socially responsible brings benefits to:

• your business
• staff
• customers
• stakeholders
• the wider environment

If your business is setting a good example, you should consider spreading the message to others. Making your business attractive to customers and buyers can open new opportunities. It can improve stakeholder relationships.

Showing that your business cares about the environment may attract new customers. See 
See market your environmental credentials.

Find out how to build a reputation as a responsible business with our guide on corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Environmental regimes outside Northern Ireland

European Union law is harmonising areas such as environmental law across the EU. Understanding local differences can be crucial to winning contract work outside Northern Ireland.

Find sources of local environmental information:

• the is the agency for the Republic of Ireland
• if you are a service business looking to operate in another EU country, you should consult the EU Commission 

Ensuring your business is ready for the process of tendering is just the beginning. If your business is in shape to pass pre-qualification, chances to submit tenders should follow. 

Finding new opportunities

Contractors adopt different methods when advertising tenders. A business keen for new contract work needs to know where to look. For more detail see finding out about private and public contracts.

Find further information:

• tender for contracts in the Northern Ireland public sector
• tender for public sector contracts in Great Britain and Ireland
• find new business opportunities

Getting your tender right

Having the right policies and procedures in place should make pre-qualification straightforward. The final step is preparing and submitting the tender documents:

• Find detailed guidance on the process of tendering. See tender for a contract.
• It is important to understand the specific requirements of the buyer. See understand your customers' needs.
• You need to strike a balance between ensuring a good return for your business and offering value for money for the buyer. Improve your chances of setting the right level. See price your product or service.
• When bidding for contract work in different sectors, it can be difficult to set the right price for your work. Find out more about price lists, estimates, quotations and tenders.

Networking and joint ventures

Northern Ireland businesses in all sectors face tough competitors. This includes the domestic market and beyond. Consider ways of working with other businesses to derive joint benefits. Networking can help you find out about private contract opportunities. It can also lead to ideas for improving performance or developing lucrative joint ventures.

See:

• learn and develop through networking
• Northern Ireland business networks
• joint ventures and partnering

Contract opportunities outside Northern Ireland

A company ready to tender for contracts may find expanding beyond Northern Ireland can grow their business. Northern Ireland has access to a large market for procurement in the United Kingdom. It can also avail of opportunities in the Republic of Ireland. You can register for updates on tender opportunities for the following regions:

• United Kingdom - search the
• Scotland - opportunities on
• Wales - public procurement on 
• Republic of Ireland (ROI) - find contract work on 
• European Union - regular updates of opportunities on