CASE STUDY TWO

INTERNATIONAL WATER CONSORTIUM TENDER

Water treatment tender

We undertook technical writing for the West Pilbara Seawater Desalination Plant proposal for the TVL Water Consortium. The consortium was made up of one of Australia’s main pipeline companies with two Spanish water supply and treatment plant organisations.  Its contract value (for the water treatment tender) was approximately $370 million.

Client requirement

Madrigal Communications was engaged to write and edit the water treatment tender response. We also helped manage production of the bid documents and advised on the document structure, template and presentation.

Winning approach

The team identified several key weakness in the bid. Their was a perception with the client that the lead contractor did not have significant experience in water construction. Also the foreign joint venturers did not have local experience. Madrigal therefore recommended including comprehensive project lists and including and developing as many case studies as possible. This showed the versatile capabilities in desalination plant construction by the joint venturers. They had experience in many international locations including North Africa. They had successfully constructed several plants in remote, hot, dry locations. In turn, we emphasised the variety of projects undertaken by the local lead contractor as well as its relevant subcontractors.

Madrigal wrote the Executive Summary and edited the major sections of the document. We ensured that the key messages were emphasised and the details and language were consistent. We also created a case study template to attempt to present the case studies attractively and consistently.

Our principal, Tim Entwisle, spend much of his early career in water and wastewater research and development. He has a significant expertise and knowledge of advanced water treatment from working for Thames Water and Sydney Water. This came in very useful in interpreting the technical material supplied by the Spanish partners.

Successful outcome

Our proposal was successful in getting the TVL Water Consortium shortlisted (Madrigal’s KPI). Although they did not eventually win the contract they were offered a different, larger opportunity based on the quality of the tender.