As of today, Tuesday 18th April, TePAS 2 (RM6098) will no longer be accepting supplier applications. The deadline was 3pm, so anyone who wanted to get on should have finalised their applications long before.
Despite the 2 week extension given to the application period in order to get all supplier clarification questions answered on time, we’re still expecting to see TePAS 2 go Live in the early Autumn. Suppliers who submitted on time will be notified if they were successful by the 25th August. That’s plenty of time to work on other areas of your strategy for this framework. So what can that involve?
What should I do now that my TePAS application is in?
We now have a waiting period of around 4 months before suppliers are notified of whether they have been successful in getting on the framework, and another week after that before TePAS 2 goes Live. Below is a refresher on the timeline.
So with that in mind, here’s what we advise…
Don’t just wait around for the results
There’s a lot of work that goes into a public sector strategy. Getting on to a framework like TePAS 2 should never be an end goal. Instead, it should be a major step in your overall journey.
This means that suppliers should get to know how it all works. It’s crucial there’s a good understanding of the framework across your organisation. For example, if your sales team don’t understand how it works, how can they let buyers know you can be procured through it? Once you show public sector bodies how they can save time and effort when buying your services, they’ll be more inclined to work with you.
Getting to this point may require attending events, working on your social media strategy, seeking training for your teams, sharing knowledge throughout your organisation and perhaps involving members of various teams in planning your TePAS strategy.
But my application might not be successful?
Spending all this time on TePAS 2 might seem excessive when you don’t yet know if your application was successful. Doing your preparation for the framework going Live will benefit your wider public sector strategy. You will likely find similarities between this framework and other frameworks from Crown Commercial Service (CCS). Other procurement agencies and organisations will adopt a similar approach, too. Making sure your sales and marketing teams are ready and know how your routes to market work properly can help with your wider public strategy and other frameworks you might use. With that in mind, we advise that if you don’t already have a wider public strategy in place, that that’s your next step.
Don’t stop there!
If there are other frameworks or Dynamic Purchasing Systems relevant to you, get listed on them. TePAS may have a crossover with other frameworks in CCS’s pipeline, and buyers may look there too. You’ll miss out if you’re not listed on the frameworks – it’s as easy as that! Suppliers should always be looking at all the best routes to market, especially during this free time before TePAS results are announced.
So there you go. The main takeaway is don’t sit around waiting for the results of your application. Get preparing and get ready to start winning public sector business!
