Invitation To Tender Template: Fill & Download for Free

1. Financial toolsOne of the most significant barriers for many considering going freelance is finance. Even when people do leap, many quickly find themselves out of control with unexpected tax bills and unpaid invoices.However, there are some great tools on the market that help avoid these problems. Tools such as FreeAgent, Xero, and Freshbooks.Tools like Freshbooks save money on accountant fees and put you in control of your finances.In some cases, these tools can entirely do away with the need for an accountant. But, even if that is not the case, it will reduce the amount you have to pay them.Most important of all, they will put you in control of your finances. You will be able to see your profitability at a glance, spot any future cash flow problems and know how much you need to set aside for tax. You will also be able to invoice clients, receive payments, and chase late payers, all automatically and for only a few dollars per month.Of course, before you can invoice, you first need to win some work. That often means writing a killer proposal.2. Proposal softwareResponding to invitations to tender is an essential but time-consuming process. You need to prepare each document carefully, and in many cases, there is also an expectation that it’s visually attractive.Of course, it’s entirely possible to create stunning proposals without any specialist software. However, there are advantages to using an application such as Qwilr or Proposify — most notably for the time savings they can provide.These applications provide a range of customizable design templates to ensure your proposals look as good as possible. They also allow you to save segments of copy that you can reuse between documents. Proposify will even replace things like client names when copying between proposals, saving you the effort of finding and replacing every occurrence of the old client name.But these apps offer other benefits beyond time-saving. They will also inform you when a client opens your document and provide statistics on which bits they looked at the most. They will even allow clients to agree to the proposal legally and also take payment.Qwilr and Proposify both also have advanced features that would be impossible in a Word Document or PDF. For example, they have interactive pricing tables allowing the client to customize the deliverables they want.Having a defined statement of work signed by the client will make life a lot easier when work begins, as will having a decent project collaboration tool.

Thanks for a2a.Much will depend upon the nature of your works offered. If your are bricklayers for example, you will have far more competition than if say you were a fire protection installer.Whilst bidding on a contract appears to revolve around the price, this only really needs to be in the region of - before putting a project out to tender, a client will have a general idea of the costs involved, because they have had to put a case together in order to secure funding. Usually the invite is a template such that any bidder has to enter exactly the same details. This is to make assessing the bids easier for the client, but also to promote transparency & avoid hiding or not specifying exactly as required. A client wants to know a principle contractor can do the work within their available budget, can remain solvent in between payment schedules & that there won't be any nasty surprises. It makes sense then, that if a good working relationship can be established, the chances of future work are increased.Similar principles apply for the sub contractor. When bidding for the principle contractor role, if they already know the quantities from the tender, they can apply a standard rate for their submission & only come to you when they have the contract. If not, then again it is about established relationships. If it's an important contract, who is going to want to risk their reputation on an unknown entity when they can stick with who they know will do them proud.It is expected there will be ongoing valuations for the works, so invariably, the original tender price means little come the end of the job.So, don't waste your time talking to architects unless they are directly employed by a contractor. Usually they are contractually bound to secrecy regarding a bidding process. Sending your bid to another contractor will end in tears. If your price is significantly lower than what they have, they will use it to beat down their own sunny, who will in turn rubbish your numbers. Unless there's a really good reason not to, your paperwork will end up in the shredder.So, what should you do?Network! Find out all the contractors in your area or those who will likely need the work that you do. Put together a portfolio to illustrate your work, along with completed project values etc, all of which should really be on your website. Establish a relationship & ask to be put on their list when future jobs come in. You will likely be tested for the first couple & won't get them. So make sure you follow up & request feedback as to why your bid failed. Don't be afraid to be blunt, ask them what you can do to improve your chances. Unless they have a best mate or brother in law who does the same as you, they have nothing to lose, so will often tell you all you need to know. If you can do this with a few, your success rate should improve & you will become more selective in what you bid for, waste less time quoting for nothing & ultimately, improve your success rate.Remember, personal relations & quality of service will trump minor pricing differences.

Thanks Alvin Sibi to for the questionWhy did Kerala lose the BMW plant to Tamil Nadu in 2008?BMW plant in ChennaiA very popular narrative that goes in Kerala is that BMW decided to invest in Kochi, but when top executives came to Kochi to sign the MOU, there was a Hartal and some of the cars on the roads were smashed by hartal supporters from CPM, resulting them in backing off.This narrative is propagated for a long time and even some of the intellectuals fell for it including Shashi Tharoor.Sad plight of KeralaHowever, its far from truthBMW was planning to invest in India in 2003 and it was the time, Kerala conducted its first investor meeting- Global Investors Meet- GIM. BMW was invited and an MOU of Interest has been signed. As part of this, BMW officials came to Kochi to explore the possibilities of investment their new plant.BMW was offered with 25 acres of land in Kalamassery at a subsidized price with an option of additional option of 50 acres of land without any subsidies only after 5 years after operation of the plant. This was the offer made by KINFRA, Kerala’s premier industrial facilitation agency. There was no other subsidies like power discounts or water discounts etc. BMW wanted outright purchase, but KINFRA rejected the proposal, citing they can offer only max of 50 year lease or else ownership under JV model ( the standard template of KINFRA where companies invest in KINFRA land where KINFRA picks up stake in the SPV in lieu of land)However when BMW officials came to inspect this land, they found it uneven. Anyone who been to this land (the plot is the one that lies opposite to current Cochin Govt Medical College in Kalamassery), one can understand its a very hilly terrain and the land is not flat, rather at uneven elevation. This means to either BMW needs to level the land where it needs to have factory (for which they need permission of various environmental agencies) or else construct multiple units rather one single factory block which doesn’t fit to the efficiency/line assembly model of most of the car manufacturers.Talks with BMW on Kochi plant soon - Times of IndiaIn this time, BMW also visited and explored the possibility of procuring land from Cochin Port Trust which was then developing Vallarpadam Island (where the current transhipment terminal comes up). CPT offered max of 40 acres of land in the Vallarpadam or Bolgatty Island. The key attraction was availability of a port right next to the proposed unit. But the key problem was the land was not so set. It was just developed thro’ reclaiming and there was a serious concern of foundation at that time. As per many engineering estimate, it should take 4 to 5 years for the land to set, which was too long for BMW. Then another clause also affected them- participate in the tendering of CPT or else BMW needs to get approval from DIPP of Central govt to bypass tendering. That made the proposal unattractive.BMW checks outs Kerala too for manufacturing baseIn this time, BMW was also exploring other cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon etc. That time, TN was ruled by Jayalalitha and her efficiency in doing things is well known (due to her dictatorial style of functioning).BMW entered talks with another company- Mahindra Group who offered 60 acres of land in their new project- Mahindra World city at Maraimalai Nagar which is outskirts of Chennai (approx 65 Kms away from Chennai city)The good part was, already Ford India established its unit close to Mahindra World city way back in 1999 and there was already a thriving automobile suppliers market catering companies like Ford, Hyundai, Ashok Leyland etc. This is very critical component as automobile plants depend on suppliers in a big way and Chennai has already a very matured supplier market, thanks to Ashok Leyland and HVF which created a huge spare parts base and engine development base around Chennai cities even in 1960s.For BMW, Maraimalai was so good as it was absolutely flat land and hardly any residential area close it, with open fields and barren land all around. It has potential to expand if required. TN govt waived electricity charges for 3 years then as well as water supply was good enough as Kolavai Lake is so close by. Moreover, the whole project is within Mahindra World city, a self contained gated city. Mahindra was developing a world class city there with quality modern housing, an international school, parks, gardens, shopping etc.Mahindra World city- Chennai, which is a fully developed gated township where BMW came upSRM university, one of the biggest Engineering university is very close by and SRM that time had the biggest polytechnic college in TN. SRM polytechnic used to have add-on certificate course in Automobile Engineering since 1999, as part of its collaboration with Ford India. So already that university was churning out quality Automobile technicians in large numbers as required for BMW. Whereas there was no such course anywhere in Kerala that time (even now, its very rare course). So as in 2004, SRM University made a new diploma in Automobile Engineering, one of the first universities in India to have such a full fledged niche course. This fits exactly what BMW required.For any large scale automobile plant, three factors are requiredLarge landHighly skilled talent forceMatured suppliers marketLandKerala has no large acres of open land unlike TN. What Kerala at best can offer, is parcels of these kind of 20 acres or 30 acres land. Any attempt to garner larger scale land, say 100 acres or 200 acres, it shall be paddy lands and thereby comes under Wetlands conservation act, a highly controversial topic if reclaimed for industrial purposes. So BMW didn’t get any worthy open land in Kerala, while they got almost double the land what Kerala offered in TN.In Kerala, they were offering only barren land. Rest everything BMW has to develop. The best part in TN, they got land within Mahindra World city and Mahindra offered world class city for them. For its executives, its work-home-play concept, as the factory is located next to a world class township. On the contrary, the Kalamassery land offered to them in Kerala was so remote at that time, it looked as if its inside a Forest area and for any civilization, they have to travel 20–30 Kms down into city area. Even now, that area is remote, though a township rose in closer to 10 km rangeMaraimalai Nagar in Chennai where BMW came up. You can see the extend of open flat and Barren lands in the area even todayKalamassery HMT area where the land was proposed to BMW. Please check with terrain map of Google to see the undulating terrain surface of the region and one can see the lack of barren land beyond the HMT area.2. Talent poolIn 2000s, TN had around 209 Polytechnic colleges (now 467) and churned out out more than 30K grads annually. In the same period, Kerala had just 60 (now 83) Polytechnics and churned less than 8k. An Automobile plant primarily relies on polytechnic grads, not engineers. There are so much requirement for blue collar workers. And this is one area, Kerala rarely fits much into. Most of the people looks for white collar jobs, not blue collar. Even people in lower strata tries to get professional education and looks for white collar worksSecondly Polytechnics in Kerala doesn’t have automobile courses. Its focused on traditional courses like civil, mech etc. So the right talent which BMW looks is not available. Even those available, their first preference is to go to Gulf where they earn more. They may work in BMW etc for few months or a year or two, gain experience and use that as experience for opportunities in ME. Whereas in TN, most of these blue collar employees are looking for long term or permanent opporunities.3. Supplier marketAs I mentioned, Kerala has no supplier base. No major manufacturing of parts or engine components etc. Whereas TN do have.Apart from all these, the labour force in Kerala is unionized and seek their rights. I consider that as fair thing, because labourers are not slaves and their rights need to protected. Infact, BMW knows that well, because in Germany too, Labour rights are considered sacred and trade unions do have huge role. Germany is one of the few nations that have labour representatives in the Board of Directors of the company so as there shall be equal representation of all stakeholders. BMW has 10 members from trade unions and employees as Supervisory representatives and Independent directors in their board. Does they have the same system in India?Company PortraitOne key factor is that, labour rights are not that greatly protected in TN, so as hardly any unions etc. Any manufacturing HR Manager/Director loves non-questioning workforce.I agree unions in Kerala are aggressive (no more militant as it used to be in 70s or 80s), but if properly engaged, they will support back.The rumors of hartal or Bandh as a reason for choosing another site is simply faux, because every place has its own cons and pros. Hartals mostly affect trading units or retailers as they rely on customers, hardly manufacturing units, particularly large scale because they are mostly inhouse and outsiders have no access into the facility. Have doubts on that- check with BPCL Kochi Refineries which has not lost one single man day in last 5 years or Apollo Tyres or Modern Bread or Binai Zinc or TCC or FACT or similar plants etcThe news of BMW investing in Kochi was more of hyped by media. Rather it was just exploration onlyBMW’s decision to choose Chennai over Kochi was purely on the fact, Chennai fits exactly what they look for and Kochi don’t fit there anything close. It wasn’t even a close fight at the very first place.Further readingBMW to set up plant in India.BMW?s Kerala plan on fast trackBMW chooses Chennai for car plantBMW to set up plant in Tamil Nadu - mwcArun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to Why is Kerala not so developed industrially like Tamil Nadu?Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to Why is Kerala not generating many jobs despite having India's highest literacy rate?