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Section 2: FINDING THE RIGHT PERSON TO DO THE JOB
Step Eight: What tendering process should I use?
Generally speaking, a tender is a consultant's response to the brief and tendering is the process through which you select your researcher.
In many respects it is like recruiting a member of staff and is governed by similar guidelines, for example, equal opportunities.
However, there are a variety of different tendering processes that you can use depending on the scale of the project, its budget and the guidelines of your own organisation.
Health Warning: remember to check your own organisation’s guidelines before entering into the process!
The most common tendering processes are:
Open competition – normally only used on major projects and open to anyone to submit a tender/proposal to do the work in response to advertisements in the national press and specialist publications. These are less popular with research suppliers as they require a high input of time to work up a tender and they are also time-consuming for the research commissioners in terms of evaluation.
Expressions of interest – are open invitations for expressions of interest. These simply require the research supplier to submit a curriculum vitae (CV) and a letter expressing a wish to be considered for the work. These then lead to an invitation to tender.
Invitation to tender - where the commissioner, represented by the project manager and a small sub committee of the steering group (no more than five), assess the expressions of interest and select a number of researchers to submit a formal tender (the usual number of researchers invited would range from a minimum of three to a maximum of six).
"tenders should be treated in confidence and not shown to others.
When my friend got the job I’d tendered for he rang me up –
'I've just been looking at your tender', he said,
'lots of useful stuff here – can’t think why they gave me the job'"
Consultant
Closed competition – where a number of research suppliers known to your organisation or recommended to you are approached to submit tenders as above.
The direct approach to a particular research supplier– there are times when you know the right person to do the job and when it is appropriate to simply offer him or her the work without any tendering process (for example, when there are time restrictions or the budget is under an agreed ceiling). However, you will need to follow the procurement guidelines of your organisation.
"If you know who you want appoint them.
Avoid the bogus beauty competition!"
Consultant
Top tip: allow reasonable time for research proposals to be developed – at least two to three weeks for the smallest, simplest and most straightforward projects, and five to six weeks for larger or complex ones (SRA, 2002, p. 32).
For more information on options for selecting a tendering process see:
- Guidelines for Commissioning Research (LARIA & LGMB)
- Commissioning social research: a good practice guide (SRA)
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