| While many contracts say they want innovation, the tendering process is actually biased against the most innovative bidders… What if we reverse engineered the tendering process? |
Tendering: Killing Innovation and Creativity?
A SEAANZ white paper
by
David Gregory OAM, SEAANZ Vice Chair, Practitioners and Business
Tui McKeown, SEAANZ Chair
Historically, there have been numerous barriers standing in the way of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) when it comes to bidding for government tenders. While often very publicly and actively encouraged to apply, the reality is that for many small businesses, the tender process itself provides the single largest barrier. For those who do apply, the prescriptive nature of the process sees any thoughts of innovation and creativity quickly extinguished. The net result is a loss of new ideas and new ways of doing things that are borne not just by SMEs but by the missed opportunities for the tendering organisations and ultimately for Australia.