[Jonny Swirljet]

Happy Easter

I was approached by a local council to submit a quotation for gutter cleaning at a council office. I submitted the requested quotation but was unsuccessful. Last week the same council contacted me again to submit a further quotation to clean bus stops in the area.

The cynic within me tells me they already know who is going to win the contract and that i have been approached solely to come along for the ride.

I would appreciate your comments on this subject and whether or not if i was successful the paperwork involved would be a nightmare.

Thank-you     

[Splash & dash]

If it’s work for a town council I think you are far more likely to get it , we were asked to tender for the town hall and some bus shelters , we didn’t get the contract a local guy quoted £5 per bus shelter and £75 for the town hall , it’s 4 storey high very awkward to do and has to be done out of normal working hours and would take two people around 3 hours.
 County council work again is difficult to get we used to do stuff for them years ago but each time the tender came out they were expecting a cheaper price , but they wanted things like , chas,safe contractor , iso9001 etc ,it’s just mot worth all the hassle we earn far more cleaning domestic houses than we could ever earn working for the local authorities, the last tender that they sent me consisted of 40 + pages just to apply and be considered for the contract , it went straight into the shredder , we do however do some work for schools that are owned and run by the council , no tendering process just put in a price verbally then we got phoned back saying we were authorised it do the work , it does however take about 12 weeks to get payment , I am convinced we got theses jobs beacause I knew the local head teachers , I wouldn’t do work for the council and any tenders they send go straight in the bin theses days I think they have already decided who they want to do the jobs but have to be seen to be transparent so ask local firms tk put in a price the whole system is totaly corrupt as far as Ime concerned

[Smudger]

As with the majority - lowest price is king!

I would say that they don't have a particular contractor in mind - all tenders/quotes are based on cost (65 to 80%) with the remaining being based on service, quality and reputation

we "won" a lovely gutter clearing contract for a council - town hall and various other buildings - full clear twice a year 

another time they wanted specialist cleaning of a clock tower - we didn't get it

if you don't mind spending the time filling out the tender process then its always worth a punt - just put in your price - if some idiot ends up doing next to nothing - so what there's plenty of good stuff out there 

Darran

[Jonny Swirljet]

Thank-you so much for your reply's guy's -  I found them very helpful indeed - i think i'll give the bus stops a miss this time but i'm sure they'll be another one along in a minute.

Have a great weekend

Jonny