Says David Blyth, chair of think (the South African Communication Design Council) and MD of Enterprise IG (newly rebranded to The Brand Union from today, Monday, 5 November 2007), "Tenders have not replaced free pitching. They've always existed and come in a variety of forms with different requirements. Generally, it's the procurement department who call them tenders, while business uses terminology like request for proposal, or even pitch."
Blyth points out that many tenders may contain a request for design work as one of the requirements – which means that, in essence, the full circle has drawn us back to free pitching.
Having fought long and hard to educate clients about the drawbacks of free pitching, it's perhaps not surprising that many industry members have concerns about this aspect of tendering. For example, Mohammed Jogie of MSD Zulera says that while he agrees with the objective of tendering – transparency – he's not convinced that the process always achieves this aim.
Other designers worry about the amount of work that is involved in completing a tender – work and resources that, once more, are not remunerated. For small agencies in particular, this can be a major pitfall.
Speaking of which, Kassie Naidoo, a think board member and creative director at King James RSVP, points out that one of the challenges associated with tenders is that "they attempt to make a rational decision based on creative property, which itself is not necessarily rational." It's a difficult one – creative resources are different to tangible ones, so how can they be managed in the same way? By the same token, how can they be priced in the same way?
This is another issue that industry members grapple with. Many feel that companies are not well-informed when it comes to pricing structures – as Ashantha Armogam of Grid observes, "People don't understand that we are selling time. There's no feeling for the pricing of this 'commodity', and people don't have a concept of value for money."
Meanwhile, Glenda Venn of It's a Go!, vice chair of think, has a different viewpoint: "It worries me that a number of companies have adopted a practice whereby suppliers are subject to a three-year review, as per the laws of corporate governance. I fear that we are heading towards a commoditisation of design, and that we'll lose the great relationships and brand-building partnerships required for good design."
And Des Brown of Original Writing has this to say: "Tendering is a bit like asking an umpire in a game to blow the whistle your way – except he has more than two opposing teams." She makes an analogy of the tender process being akin to a rugby field where South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, England and France are competing for the Rugby World Cup, along with Fiji and Argentina – why not? – all at one and the same time.
One of the problems with this is that it's sometimes unclear what, precisely, is expected from participants. This is something that Gaby de Abreu of Switch, and a member of the think board, has found, particularly when tendering for government business. "Often, the tender notification period is inadequate, and we generally do not have time to respond as we would like to. We frequently find that the information given is unclear in terms of the scope of the work required."
Naturally, this has several implications: when it's time for payment, the client is reluctant to cough up, defending its reticence by saying that it had not requested some of the work undertaken.
This is a symptom of another problem: the people responsible for providing the tender are often ill-informed, and are not able to supply answers to crucial questions that impact on generating work and meeting deadlines.
A far more serious issue is that of transparency. Echoing Jogie's concerns in this area, De Abreu says that, "Sometimes one gets the feeling that an agency has already been selected, and a tender process is just being carried out for appearances' sake".
And yet, in spite of this apparent negativity surrounding tenders, many agencies have undeniably enjoyed success with the process. Many have developed their own ways of handling the issue. For example, Armogam says that Grid has responded to potential stumbling blocks by submitting only criteria, credentials and case studies. "We have developed a bank of this standard information. We don't submit creative work, and if any is needed, we will put forward a case study that demonstrates our expertise in that particular area." She adds that Grid has minimised strain on the agency by training younger staff members to handle tenders.
On the other hand, Jogie refuses to participate in pitches – as does Bluprint Design, which is headed by Jacques Lange, past president of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda) and co-chair of the International Design Alliance. "Bluprint Design has insisted on following international best-practices – as informed by Icograda – since 2004. We do not participate in no-compensation tenders/pitches and consistently embark on educating potential clients whenever they call for tenders without compensation."
Lange says that although some companies initially perceive this approach as "arrogant", and are surprised by it, the agency views these as short-term losses which are perhaps a necessary part of long-term gain. "We have opted to be uncompromising in our ethical stance to elevate professional practice in South Africa. Hopefully, tender procedures will change in the long-term."
Can anything to be done to reduce the negative impacts of tendering further? Lange believes that education is key: "We need to teach procurers of design services the benefits of best practices and ethical procurement, which is founded in respecting the expertise of well-qualified and experienced design service providers with a reputable history."
Gary Harwood of HKLM, and a think board member, points out that think may have a role to play in this regard: "Perhaps the council can assist or advise in putting tender requests together," he muses.
Blyth agrees: "Every company is different and one of the key challenges is to ensure consistency in the way tenders are constructed, including their content – this is where think can help." He believes that standard guidelines for tendering – embracing recommendations on content and construction of tender requirements documents – is a must going forward.
The last word goes to Brown, "If you trust the client, if they tell you who you are playing against, if you have the money to spend on the potential, if you think you can win, if you actually trust the process and you get paid for your time and thinking even if you lose – then tender."
Blythproposes these tips to ensure a fair tender process:
