PROCUREMENT
Getting the green light for Words Cameron Cooper In addition to tackling the typical writing, regulatory and pricing issues with tender submissions, cleaning and hygiene companies must now be up to speed with modern demands around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies.
38 INCLEAN July / August 2022
G
reat tender writing can be the difference between success and failure for cleaning companies and building services contractors – yet too few business owners devote much time to the skill. For those who only periodically complete such tender documents, it can be a somewhat tedious and time-consuming task. However, in the absence of outsourcing the job to a third-party specialist, there are some guidelines to follow that can help. Vanessa Watson, founder of business consultancy Give and Take Co, advises clients on sustainable environmental, social and governance strategies. She is also an experienced tender writer and believes that ESG compliance is one of the keys to winning contracts for cleaners and other service providers in today’s market. “There’s so much noise around ESG and pressure coming from regulatory bodies and the broader community for businesses to do the right thing,” she says. “When submitting tenders, smart companies have an ESG plan, including developing an
tenders
authentic Reconciliation Action Plan, and wellthought-out policies and procedures to address important issues such as biohazards and modern slavery. While your company may not be large enough to be officially required to have these policies by law, I encourage all businesses to understand the benefits of these policies for their team, the community, and for the success of their company.” Without paying attention to such detail, Watson says there is every chance that a tender document will fall to the bottom of the pile. While such a rigorous tender approach could be daunting for some, she urges cleaning and hygiene businesses to get on board and respond to the needs of their prospective clients. “They want to see transparent and ethical supply chains. They want to see little or no plastic, or at least a circular path to recycling and reusing that plastic. There’s a huge amount of work that can be done to reduce emissions and landfill in the cleaning industry.”
THE WRITE STUFF
Susan Crane, a tender-writing specialist and business consultant at Crane Consulting, knows