Michael Cane once said to me...

not that Michael Cane, This Michael was my boss at the time. “Bob”, he said, “the more you are prepared, the luckier you will be.” I wish I had remembered that sometime later!

The Prime Minister has announced that the UK will ramp up investment in defence spending to meet the challenges of an increasingly volatile and complex world, as the Government launches an update to the 2021 Integrated Review.

No business is too small to get a share but is your business prepared for that Invitation to Tender (ITT) to arrive in your mail box?

It might not come directly. The enquiry could come from a Prime Contractor or a sub-prime for just that bit of kit that you make, to fit into a bigger system.

Have you got your cards in order? Have you got your team set up to respond? Have you got a bid response plan ready to set go? Do you have a good idea of what your bid should look like and how short the time scale to get the bid together will be?

Primes and sub-primes pass down the requirement placed in them to their suppliers. Have you got an idea what their ITT will look like, what you should accept and reject?

Prepare to get defence equipment business. Identify your bid response team, do your research and get lucky. Bob Collins