The AWARD® Prepare solution encompasses the Structured Criteria Development (SCD), Weighting Workshop and Real Value for Money (RVfM) modules, along with our Procurement Evaluation Design Services, to support you through the most critical stages of your procurement design.
AWARD® Prepare is part of the AWARD® Solution which spans the entire procurement process. Covering the middle stage of your project journey, AWARD® Prepare comprises 3 of our expert modules, and is underpinned by our pioneering methodologies and thought leadership, so you can be confident that you are running your projects using the most advanced tools and techniques on the market.
Unlike a spreadsheet, the Prepare modules provide a robust and auditable methodology/process so you can ensure a timely and successful delivery, avoid non-compliant bids and protect yourself from challenges.
Why AWARD® Prepare?
Specifically developed to guide you through the most important (and often trickiest) stages of your complex procurement design, AWARD® Prepare ensures you’re primed for success, and empowers you to:
- Ensure your expected outcome is aligned with your project objectives, so that you meet the needs and expectations of stakeholders; facilitate strategic decision-making and optimise project success
- Create a defensible, robust set of weighted criteria to ensure fairness, accuracy and informed decision-making
- Select the most appropriate value for money method to assure the right outcome and avoid overspending or under delivering
- Protect your decisions from challenges to avoid a timely and costly legal challenge, with an automated robust audit trail created as standard
- Simplify gaining approvals and reduce pushback: via a well-documented methodology and process, backed up by our reputation
- Handle complexities with deep technical knowledge: we have the knowledge needed to make your job easier, and help boost your professional reputation too
What’s included in AWARD® Prepare?
Structured Criteria Development (SCD)
Developing effective criteria is easy to get wrong: we ensure it’s done correctly so you can effectively establish criteria that align with your desired outcomes. Our AWARD® SCD module addresses the challenges of developing robust criteria, aligning all stakeholders and capturing their input, and establishing consensus, plus ensuring fair and objective-decision making.
The Requirements Management functionality also forms part of the AWARD® SCD module. It provides a collaborative environment for the development of requirements during the early phases of a project or program, well before the consideration and development of the evaluation criteria.
The module arms you with a comprehensive set of tools and processes to:
- Create robust, fit for purpose and defensible contract award criteria, ensuring your decisions are based on clear and well-defined parameters
- Ensure stakeholders are consistently directed to a single version of the truth, promoting a unified understanding and ensuring there is no room for confusion
- Deliver a consensus view of requirement variables, ensuring alignment amongst your stakeholders and allowing you to manage expectations
- Record engagement with geographically displaced stakeholders, ensuring their perspectives are considered in the procurement process
- Remove undue influence from independent thought, enabling a transparent and unbiased evaluation, and ensuring integrity in your process
Weighting Workshop
Empowering you with the confidence that your decision-making process can be defended if necessary, and that your chosen solution neatly aligns to the requirements of your stakeholders – this is where our Weighting Workshop comes into play.
Included as part of the RVfM module, or as a standalone, this collaborative tool:
- Enables you to apply a meaningful set of weights across the project’s criteria set
- Takes you through thorough testing and sensitivity analysis to help achieve success
- Gives internal stakeholders the confidence that their requirements are being fairly considered and taken into account when choosing a solution
- Provides a robust process to ensure your chosen supplier meets team requirements
RVfM
Supported by our expert services, the AWARD® RVfM module has been specifically designed to support our pioneering methodology for determining value for money.
Through our RVfM module you can:
- Avoid the pitfalls of commonly used methodologies
- Define value for money and undertake sensitivity analysis
- Ensure a robust ranking for each bid
- Utilise a transparent scoring mechanism
- Allow bidders to optimise their bid in order to deliver thebest value for money solution possible
- Ensure value for money is achieved
Evaluation Design
You also have support available during the Prepare stage of your procurement from our expert team, who – as well as providing technical support with software – can help with:
By leveraging our support, you can achieve real for value for money and confidently award your contract to the very best bidder.
- Suitability testing and verification for your criteria/questions: gain assurance our through end-of-model testing or wargaming.
- Criteria/question writing support: to develop robust criteria/questions as part of your evaluation strategy.
- Improved outcomes and efficiency: our preparation and methodologies lead to better overall outcomes and reduce the risk of project reruns, potential delays and project failures.
- Early stakeholder engagement: to avoid potential issues/politics that can later arise, ensuring a smoother evaluation process.
- Shared knowledge and explanation: we empower you to make informed decisions, arming you with transferable skills.
To find out more about Commerce Decisions and AWARD® Prepare, get in touch: info@commercedecisions.com
