Our Services

Meet the Team

  • Joannegillen

    Joanne Gillen - CEO

    B.Comm, MBS, PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, PPM.APMP, FIITD

    Joanne specialises in bid management and public procurement, seeing it as an applied discipline of project management.  Since the start of her career, Joanne has delivered superior levels of service, building relationships that grow over time and developing specialist industry knowledge to help her clients recognise tender opportunities and ultimately achieve their goals and win tenders. Joanne has significant international bid management experience, having worked on projects in Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Bermuda, the Netherlands and Australia. 

    She was instrumental in the accreditation of Bid Management Services to the ISO9001:2008 standard in July 2010 for both the company’s bid management and training processes.  It is the only company in Europe to hold such certification.

    Joanne is both Project Management Institute PMP™ and PRINCE 2™ certified for project management and is an accredited member of the Association of Proposal Management professionals (APMP - the global industry body for proposal professionals).  She is registered on both the FÁS/Enterprise Ireland National Register of Trainers, as well as registered as a FETAC Registered Training Provider.  She is a Fellow of the Irish Institute of Training and Development and is the founding Chairperson of the Irish Chapter of APMP.  Joanne is the only person in Ireland, and one of 55 worldwide, to hold the Professional level accreditation of APMP. 

  • Peterbrennan

    Peter Brennan - Chairman

    BSc PhD

    Peter has 40 years’ experience in both public and private sector procurement and tendering, at both national and international levels.  In recent years Peter has carried out projects for Government Departments, the Oireachtas, State Agencies, Local Authorities, the European Commission and a wide variety of private sector clients.

    Peter’s areas of expertise include evaluation studies, strategic planning and public procurement policy.

    Peter is a member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) and is a regular speaker at its international conferences.  In addition, Peter was a keynote speaker at last year’s Forum on Public Procurement conference. He successfully lobbied Government to have the rules changed so that SMEs get a better opportunity to tender for government contracts; Circular 10/10 issued by the Department of Finance is based in good measure on his proposals.

    As well as being Chairman of Bid Management Services, Peter was President of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce in 2010. He is also Chairman of the Institute of European Affairs Climate Change Project, a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisors, and an active member of the Institute of Directors and the Small Firms Association. 

  • Colinborland

    Colin Borland - Director Northern Ireland

    B.A., AM.APMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner

    Colin has ten years' experience of working with clients in the public and private sector, with a background in banking and ICT. His diverse set of skills includes export sales and marketing, training course development and delivery, delivering winning bids, as well as client management.

    Colin delivers procurement and tender mentoring to clients who have attended the InterTradeIreland Go-2-Tender programme, along with working alongside clients to respond to proposals and developing Bid Management Services' presence in Northern Ireland.

    Colin is an accredited member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals and a certified PRINCE2 Project Management Professional. He has delivered training courses to banking institutions, ICT organisations and public sector clients, and has extensive presentation and public speaking experience.

  • Sheenalowey

    Sheena Lowey - Bid Specialist

    Marketing & International Languages Degree (MII), AM.APMP

    Sheena has twelve years’ experience as a consultant and trainer in marketing and public and private sector procurement, working with a diverse range of organisations across all industry sectors.

    Since joining Bid Management Services, Sheena has delivered procurement and tender mentoring to clients who attended InterTradeIreland Go-2-Tender programme, conducting half day and full day mentoring sessions.  Her skills in bid consultancy have been developed by the focused and methodical approach she takes with every client. She is candid with clients in her assessment of what needs to be done to build tenders and win. She will not encourage the submission of a tender unless there is a clear and visible path to success. Sheena strives to achieve comprehensive, quality bid submissions which best represent individual client organisations and ensure success.

    Sheena Lowey is an accredited member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP).  In addition, Sheena has delivered CPD training courses in marketing and bid management to the legal and engineering professions in previous roles and has a thorough understanding of each stage involved in the tendering process.

    Sheena has spoken and written extensively on the topic of ‘How to Tender Effectively’, with articles published in both Architecture Ireland and Engineers Ireland. 

  • Rachelwalker

    Rachel Walker - Bid Specialist

    Rachel Walker is a Bid Specialist with Bid Management Services.  Rachel has 15 years experience as a Bid Professional in the United Kingdom.   She has successfully pre-qualified and subsequently submitted bids on nearly 300 tender opportunities in the last five years alone.  She has worked successfully on both public and private sector contracts, predominantly in the construction and services sector, under a variety of differing methods of procurement including single stage, two-stage, design and build, negotiated, competitive dialogue, partnered and framework contracts. 
    Her skills also include extensive business development and marketing experience, as well as training, mentoring and being an industry accredited quality manager.
    Rachel’s key experience focuses on the ability to bring together a bid team with a view to drafting and writing the bid document, managing the proposal phase and ultimately delivering the bid.  Her key skills are her ability to project manage all bid activities and resources and to maintain effective communication with clients throughout the bid life-cycle. 

  • Franciscarroll

    Francis Carroll - Tendering Specialist

    Certificate in Strategic Procurement, Certificate in Marketing

    Francis has 37 years’ experience in the public sector to his work as a mentor for Bid Management Services.  Francis works in Bid Management Services’ public sector practice ‘Public Procurement Services’, advising government departments and state agencies on their procurement plans and activities. 

    His unique mix of public sector insight is teamed with a strong commercial acumen that is invaluable to Bid Management Services’ clients engaging in public tender competitions.  

    During his public sector career, he was responsible for managing a procurement spend of €78 million out of a total budget of €125 million.  Francis cultivated his ability to develop strong client relationships, having supported team members to see how their ideas could be combined to create value for a large public sector organisation. 

  • Edpowell

    Ed Powell - Bid Specialist

    MMII

    Ed has over 15 years of sales and marketing experience gained with some of the country’s top companies across a range of sectors such as online, outdoor advertising and print management. He has extensive experience of the tender process having successfully devised, written and delivered winning tenders to both the private and public sectors for many years. 

    He has worked with bid teams for both domestic and pan-European opportunities. His role with Bid Management Services is to assist companies with all aspects of the tender process and also to mentor companies who attend the InterTrade Ireland Go-2-Tender programme, conducting half day and full day mentoring sessions.  Ed has vast experience of developing key relationships with strategic partners and clients.

  • Seadnaryan

    Seadna Ryan - Trainer and Mentor

    B Comm, MBA, Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning (Level 9)

    Séadna has developed a methodology for training groups of people in tendering such that the experience changes their knowledge, skills and attitudes in a short space of time. His training approach centres on ensuring that participants are encouraged to engage in the training interactively, sharing experiences and building on their knowledge in a very enjoyable manner.

    Since 2005, he has worked as a lecturer in Athlone Institute of Technology, specialising in business subjects for Degree and Masters programmes. He has worked as a trainer with Bid Management Services since November 2009.

    Séadna spent twenty five years as an officer in the Irish Defence Forces. During this time, he served in a variety of roles, including procurement and training. He was responsible for the organisation’s procurement function, including the design, conduct and evaluation of public tender competitions. He also served in procurement positions with the United Interim Force in Lebanon, which involved large scale procurements using a tendering system. 

  • Royscannell2

    Roy Scannell - Project and Tender Coordinator

    BSc. MA

    Roy has been a project and tender coordinator for Bid Management Services since February 2011. Roy is also a member of the company’s bid consultancy team.

    Roy has worked on bids in industries as diverse as the provision of home care, provision of training services, funding applications for charitable organisations and tenders for the provision of legal services.

    Roy has previously worked as a Market Executive in Enterprise Ireland’s Public Procurement Department and was responsible for managing the organisation’s relations with a variety of bid and tender training programmes for SMEs. These were often focussed on particular tender competitions for public bodies such as the HSE and local authorities and also included the lauded Go-2-Tender Programme for which Roy is now the project coordinator. Within this function, Roy engaged in activities designed to connect Irish suppliers to Irish Public Sector contracts.

    Roy has a degree in Government and Public Policy and a Masters Degree in International Relations from Dublin City University. He is also a member of the APMP and is an officer of the APMP Ireland chapter.

  • Hazel

    Hazel Aherne - Marketing Coordinator and Office Administrator

    BAgrSC MiM

    Hazel holds a degree in Food Science from University College Dublin and a Masters in Management from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School where she majored in Strategic Marketing Theory and Practice. Through her participation in the Masters programme Hazel has engaged in several high profile marketing projects and initiatives.

    Hazel is responsible for identifying business development opportunities for clients, promoting Bid Management Services to prospective clients and taking a lead on our client care programme. She joined Bid Management Services in August 2011.