Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are vital in the UK defence sector. These enterprises offer specialised solutions and digital innovation and contribute a wealth of tailored human ingenuity.
In more recent years, the defence sector, along with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has placed more emphasis on maximising SME integration, enabling more accessibility for defence procurement opportunities.
Part of this integration process is to ensure that SMEs can effectively navigate the defence supply chain and help shorten the delivery of critical components for the defence sector. However, despite these efforts, roughly 5% of the defence procurement budget is currently allocated to these businesses, with a robust 42% of all advertised opportunities being awarded to the MOD’s incumbent top 10 suppliers.
The UK government procurement spend has helped bolster support for the defence industry, and support UK defence and security challenges. SME suppliers are vital to the UK industrial base, armed forces, national security, and the procurement lifecycle.
How To Win Government Contracts In The UK?
To ensure the effective delivery of services, products and other defence-related equipment such as deep technologies developed by small and medium enterprises, organisations need to ensure that they have a thorough procurement strategy in place to bid and win defence contracts.
To bid for defence contracts, a small and medium-sized enterprise can take action as follows:
Tender research: To find relevant tenders related to a company’s expertise, business leaders should research all available tender opportunities that align with their business objectives and expertise.
Register business activities: Next, ensure that the business is registered with the necessary defence procurement entities. This may include the Central Supplier Database (CSD) and Defence Contracts Online (DCO), which is the official portal for MOD contracts over £10,000.
Ensure compliance: Be sure that the business, employees, suppliers and stakeholders fulfil regulatory compliance. These standards may be contract-specific, or be adjusted to meet new regulatory changes under the Procurement Act of 2023. Additionally, you can sign up to a defence suppliers forum for more up to date information regarding the UK supply chain, defence infrastructure organisation, and general trade associations information related to the MOD and wider government.
Review relevant qualifications and experience: Ensure that all employees and suppliers have efficient experience in managing defence procurement. This should include relevant qualifications, awards, or any past tender experience that you may hold.
Support claims: Use evidence-based research to support claims of experience and qualifications. This will help to demonstrate the business’ strengths, capabilities and problem-solving.
How To Bid For A Contract?
Once you’ve found a relevant defence contract that aligns with your experience, you will need to put together a team of professionals to assist with the tender bidding process. These activities may include the following:
Market research: Before starting the bid process, ensure to conduct thorough market research to have a better understanding of current trends and buyer demands. This will ensure that you can effectively align bid writing proposals to meet these current needs.
Competitor research: Another facet includes researching current competitors in the marketplace. Defence Contracts International (DCI) provides SMEs with relevant research tools to effectively navigate the defence procurement landscape. This includes researching past tenders and competitors and conducting bid analyses.
Understand defence sector challenges: Defence buyers want to see how your business can resolve current challenges effectively and economically. Be sure to include a problem-solving statement with your proposal that outlines how you will approach a specific problem, and what your directive will be to overcome near and long-term challenges.
Follow tender requirements: Make sure that your business, suppliers and relevant stakeholders fulfil the tender requirements. Highlight relevant experience or qualifications that will meet the needs of buyers.
Write a compelling bid: Putting together an award-winning bid takes practice. DCI services can assist enterprises with the bid writing and proposal process, which in turn ensures more effective bid proposal delivery and outlines critical skills or expertise the business has to offer.
Plan accordingly: Allow your team enough time to research and compile relevant information before completing a tender proposal. In addition to this, allow enough time for writing and reworking a proposal before submission.
Tips For UK SMEs In Defence Procurement
There are plenty of moving parts to take into consideration when putting together a tender proposal. As an SME you need to ensure that all the grounds have been covered to stand out against fellow competitors.
Collaborate or partner with other enterprises.
A collaboration with another SME or larger corporation can help you become more competitive. Working with another company to form a consortium will help you to leverage larger contract opportunities.
Work as a subcontractor
Another way to gain experience is to work as a subcontractor. In some instances, a company that has been awarded a large contract will outsource, or subcontract some of the work to a smaller enterprise. Taking advantage of these opportunities will help you gain experience in the relevant field and provide your business with more exposure to defence procurement for small businesses.
Use relevant tools
There is a wealth of tools available to small and medium enterprises that can assist them in navigating the complexities of defence sector procurement. For instance, DCI provides enterprises with access to various tools, including data analysis, trend analysis, and spend analysis.
Learn defence contracting standards.
Over time, you will need to equip your business with the relevant knowledge of defence standards. This should include various compliance and regulatory standards and value-added evidence that will maximise your chances for success.
Review your bid
Before submitting defence equipment contracts, ensure that you have reviewed the proposal, and have included all the required documentation. This should include all experience, awards, and qualifications. More importantly, make an effort to have a thorough, and well-detailed plan of action to provide an overview of how your enterprise will resolve government defence challenges.
Choose Success With DCI
Navigating military tenders for SMEs often presents a range of challenges that require the necessary expertise to overcome such obstacles. Business leaders can take action through effective strategic planning and by using services offered by DCI.
Defence procurement for small businesses can provide enterprises with a wealth of new opportunities, exposing them to new stakeholders, and allowing them to collaborate with larger enterprises to establish a more competitive advantage.
With DCI, small and medium-sized enterprises can obtain relevant exposure to defence contracts that are aligned with their expertise. Our team of specialised consultants provides a tailored service and assists throughout the proposal process. Take advantage of DCI, and leverage new success for your business in 2025.
