home / news

April 2009

IN THE NEWS - Bids In, Quids In

The tendering process for Thames Water’s multi-billion pound investment programme used to be labour-intensive. Now an electronic system has made the operation slick and efficient, as Lee Hibbert explains in this week's Professional Engineering magazine (29th April 2009)

Thames Water is about to embark on the latest phase of its asset management investment programme for its water and sewer network. And that could be very good news for industry.

The scope of the work is truly staggering: a multi-billion pound outlay over the next five years, to be spent on a range of maintenance activities such as the replacement of worn-out pumps and pipes through to the construction of new treatment plants. Spending on such a scale represents an enormous opportunity for engineering companies across the country. But it also presents Thames Water with a logistical nightmare – how to manage a tendering process that will involve dozens of suppliers bidding for hundreds of different contracts.

The solution is an innovative e-tendering system developed for the water company by software specialist Business Collaborator. The system enables all tender material to be managed in a secure location, automatically notifying the supply chain when documents are updated, while also providing a full audit trail.

Its introduction promises to provide Thames Water with significant savings on each tender invitation it issues, by cutting response times, simplifying the document change process, and reducing the reliance on printed material.

Click here to read the full article

Download the full case study about the Thames Water e-tendering solution here