Selling to public institutions in Denmark
Danish public institutions are among the most law-abiding and least corrupt in the world. With almost no exceptions civil servants in Denmark follow the rules and regulations for procurement. This includes an almost blanket ban on accepting entertainment from existing and potential suppliers.
For a newcomer to the Danish public procurement market this is both a blessing and a curse. Building relationship with key decision makers outside the narrow context of work is difficult and can be dangerous as even the suspicion of attempts to exert undue influence can have consequences. Thus, selling to the Danish public sector must be based on classic selling disciplines such as segmentation, early awareness, marketing, presence at key trade fairs and crucially constant monitoring of and participation in tenders.
Formally, EU-rules makes it possible for all European companies to bid for contracts in the Denmark. In reality however, Danish companies and companies with a local presence in Denmark are at a huge advantage when it comes to winning tenders in Denmark. Leaving aside the issue of having a local delivery and support organization there are three main challenges to overcome in the bidding process.
- Everything is not the same in the EU! While all European countries must abide by European law on procurement and thresholds for tendering etc. are identical the actual implementation and interpretation varies from country to country. Hence, what is acceptable and good practice when bidding in another country may not work in Denmark. Secondly, in Denmark a number of very specific ‘traditions’, with regards to how tender material and evaluation models are designed, have evolved
- The language, the majority of tenders in Denmark are published in Danish and require the corresponding bid to be in Danish. This means that to competitive it is required to have competent – in other words native – Danish speakers on the bid team.
- The Danish national procurement agency (SKI A/S) is a major and growing factor in Danish public procurement. With a turnover in excess of 1 billion Euro their framework procurement agreements SKI has a major influence on public procurement behavior in Denmark. Because of the duration of their procurement agreements (typically 4 years) SKI’s tenders have stifling effect on the supplier dynamics in the Danish market. Incumbents are well protected for long periods of time. Knowing how to work with – or around – SKI is essential to be successful in the Danish market.
Tenbid Consulting can help overcome all of challenges above. We have the knowledge and the experienced consultants who can help you with your entry and bidding the 300 Billion DKK Danish public procurement market
The management team
Tenbid Consulting is a partner-based consultancy company run by former principal consultants from the Danish national procurement agency.
The partner in charge is:
- Morten T. Pedersen, Managing Partner, M.Sc.
Between us, we have more than 30 years of experience within public sales and tenders; we have processed more than 100 public tenders and helped more than 50 tenderers. We are not lawyers; we are tender consultants and business developers/sales people.
Our winning approach
Tenbid Consulting’s unique expertise in the area stems from two things. 1. We have years and years of experience in the Danish market. 2. We work on tenders as well so we know both sides of the table and therefore knows the counterpart’s perspective as well. We work for both the public sector and for the private vendors wishing to sell to the public sector in Denmark. – Though obviously not on the same bid.
Our core competencies are as follows:
Public Organizations:
- Project management of public tenders
- Consultancy regarding public framework agreements and the use of them, e.g SKI agreements
- Help/sparring regarding procurement strategies and policies
- Contract management
- Matchmaking of public customers to private vendors
Courses and generel consultancy within the area of public procurement and tenders
Vendors:
- Bid management and the writing of proposals on public tenders and complex solutions
- Public Sales strategy/go-to-market strategy
- Up-sale on framework agreements, e.g. SKI agreements
- ”Matchmaking” of private vendors to public customers
- Courses and generel consultancy within the area of public sales and tenders
A typically project for us could be that a municipality wants us to make their entire tender structure on a certain area, e.g. procurement of an IT system or a welfare technology solution.
Our typical task is on behalf of the municipality to make/develop the tender conditions, scope of work, obligations etc.
Then we design the entire tender material based on the business needs of the municipality. This typically includes establishing the evaluation criterias and delivering to the municipality an evaluation report who points out the winner of the tender. Sometimes we also help the municipality with the contracting.
The other part of our customer base is the private vendors who either want to make a proposal on a specific Danish public tender, typically an already announced tender, or more generally to get better at selling to the public sector.
Any questions or requests?