Our client secured a place on two new multi-supplier frameworks on Defence Equipment and Support’s (DE&S) Marine Systems Transformation Programme (MaST)
It will provide spare components and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to the Royal Navy. We supported our client by providing end-to-end strategic writing, review and challenge.
The opportunity
MaST is a DE&S programme that seeks to transform platform equipment support provided to the Royal Navy fleet. The programme’s goal is to achieve optimum availability for Royal Navy vessels. It consists of three multi-supplier frameworks:
- Spares provision
- MRO services
- Post-design and technical services (PD&TS).
With many companies competing to be on each framework, competition was fierce; therefore it was vital we demonstrated our client was reliable, sustainable and affordable to DE&S. Our strategy to demonstrate this was to highlight our client’s selling points (e.g. value for money, global credibility and experience) and provide evidence (e.g. case studies and performance data) that it was reliable, sustainable and affordable.
EiB approach and involvement
We met with the client early in the process, before release of the tender documents, helping them to develop a strategy and solutions for each framework. This extensive preparation included a strategy pack highlighting DE&S key priorities, which includes providing ‘value to the taxpayer and society’ and the vital requirement of the Royal Navy vessels to be available. The pack and workshops we organised before the release of the bid documents helped align our strategy with DE&S’s aims, developing our client’s selling points and ensuring the client had the evidence needed to support the submission.
Upon the release of the bid documents, we worked with the client’s subject matter experts to storyboard, write and review each response. Our client’s team was fairly new to bidding: therefore, we focused on developing a strong relationship and providing constructive challenge to support continual improvement of the bid submission. This included having bi-weekly MS Teams calls with the bid team to track progress of responses and ensure we had the right information and evidence from the subject matter experts to develop an excellent submission.
We worked on highlighting the client’s expertise and organisational capability to support Royal Navy vessels not just in the UK, but globally. We helped the team choose appropriate case studies, aligned with the DE&S requirements, in our responses. This demonstrated how our client could provide reliable, sustainable and affordable services to DE&S, including previous experience in supporting Royal Navy vessels.
Success and outcomes
In a congested field of bidders, we demonstrated that our client could meet and exceed the Royal Navy’s needs. Our support resulted in our client winning places on the Spares, MRO and PD&TS frameworks. This included places on the optional lots such as:
- ‘Safety Critical’ – Spares and MRO
- ‘Asset Availability’ – Spares
- Safety & Environmental Support – PD&TS
- Logistics Activity – PD&TS.
The client is incredibly pleased by this win, which will mean it will be able to supply, repair and provide PD&TS for Royal Navy equipment over several years; helping the navy to maximise fleet availability at a crucial time.