Success Stories

Ultan Bannon and his brother Ross Golden-Bannon of Dublin-based public relations and marketing firm Bannon & Bannon recently spent €150 to win work to the value of €160,000.

The company attended a MicroTrade public sector tendering session in Dublin in June 2006 and by September of that year they had their first big win, a €70,000 contract with the Office of Public Works for a national flooding awareness campaign. A €34,000 contract for Marketing Sligo Forum and a €56,000 contract for Failte Ireland North West soon followed.

The recent tendering successes have moved Bannon & Bannon in a new direction. Ultan explains: "The MicroTrade tendering session has given us a renewed confidence in ourselves. Before we attended the sessions, tendering would have made up around 15% of our business, now it accounts for approximately 50%. Our projected turnover figure for this year, significantly boosted by the recent tender wins, is €370,000."

"The tendering course cost us only €150 and has provided real results. We now have a more selective approach to tendering and strategically analyse tenders before we go forward for them."

PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) delivered the MicroTrade tendering session that Bannon & Bannon attended. As there is only so much time trainers can spend with each company at the two-day course, MicroTrade offered a facility, at no extra cost to companies, where they could avail of a trainer at a later date to further analyse some tenders.

Ultan jumped at the chance for more in-depth feedback from a trainer. He explains: "I found the two-day event insightful and quickly picked up where we had gone wrong in the past. We then met with a trainer from PWC who looked through several tenders we had completed, which enabled us to see that we couldn't be all things to all men. We had to be more specific and more selective in our targeting."

"The trainer also looked through the tender we were completing for the Office of Public Works and was able to give us a few pointers on how it could be improved. I am glad to say, we fine-tuned this and it was the changing of tides for us."

"With our acquired skills, we hope to have several more large tender wins before the end of this year."

Bannon & Bannon,
Guinness Enterprise Centre,
Taylor's Lane,
Dublin 8, Ireland
+353 (0) 1 4151 227
info@bannonandbannon.com

The public sector market, North and South, is currently valued at £11/€16.5 billion per annum. The two-day MicroTrade training programme tells companies how to find out about tender opportunities and explains public procurement procedures. It includes a half-day advice session from a consultant who will provide constructive feedback on previous or current tenders.more...

Details of upcoming MicroTrade public sector tendering sessions can be found on our website, by emailing info@microtrade.org or alternatively by contacting Breanndan Casey on +353 (0) 1 4948414.