How We Partner
We don't find tenders and look for a vessel to fill them. We find the equipment owner first — and identify the tenders that fit their fleet.
The principle
Most dredging consultancies are activated by a tender — the tender appears, the equipment owner calls a consultant, the consultant bills hours to prepare the bid. We work differently.
We establish a retainer relationship with the equipment owner before any tender is on the table. From inside that relationship, we monitor the relevant procurement portals, maintain the owner's prequalification status with the authorities that matter, and identify the tenders that fit the fleet. When the right tender appears, we build the submission and manage the delivery. The tender follows the relationship — not the other way around.
This means we understand the equipment owner's fleet, cost structure, and capacity before we price a bid. For the equipment owner, it means the back-office capability is available before the tender deadline, not scrambled together after it appears.
Engagement process
From first call to signed retainer agreement in four to six weeks.
Initial call
A short conversation to understand your fleet, your geography, and the kind of projects you want to pursue.
NDA
Signed before we exchange anything commercially sensitive.
Scoping
A structured assessment of your current prequalification status, target geographies, fleet capability, and near-term tender pipeline. Typically one to two weeks.
Retainer proposal
A specific recommendation on retainer tier, project model, and the cost definition we will use for the profit share or success fee.
Retainer agreement
A signed agreement with the cost schedule as Annex A. The first tender is identified from inside the relationship — not the other way around.
The retainer
What you get before a tender appears.
The monthly retainer covers our ongoing background work — the activity that happens between projects. It is not a project fee. It is the cost of keeping Dredge Partners permanently available and actively working on the equipment owner's behalf.
Market monitoring
Relevant procurement portals reviewed weekly. New tenders flagged within 24 hours.
Prequalification maintenance
Vendor registration documents kept current with the port authorities and awarding bodies that matter for your geography and fleet.
Monthly partner call
60 minutes: market update, upcoming tenders, project pipeline, issues.
General availability
Background scanning, ad hoc questions, competitor monitoring, tender library maintenance.
The retainer does not cover tender calculations, FIDIC submissions, project management, or variation claims. Those are project-specific and covered under the agreed project structure.
Commercial structures
The retainer is always the starting point. The project upside is structured to fit the opportunity.
Model 01
A small monthly retainer plus a share of net project profit. The profit share is calculated after direct project costs are deducted — fuel, crew operating costs, cutter wear, surveys, port dues. Both parties agree the cost definition in writing before the first project starts.
Best for: medium-term engagements, multi-project programmes, or equipment owners with a steady pipeline who want upside fully aligned from tender to handover.
Model 02
For major tenders, we co-bid as an equity partner in a project special purpose vehicle alongside the equipment owner and any local partners. Dredge Partners contributes project management, tendering, and commercial structuring; the equipment owner contributes the fleet on an arm's-length lease.
Best for: large international tenders where governance, risk allocation, and credibility with the awarding authority matter as much as price.
For equipment owners
Lower fixed cost.
The bid and mobilisation phase is the most cash-intensive period of any project. Our retainer-led structure keeps your fixed commitment modest until the project is generating revenue.
Genuine accountability.
When our fee is tied to your outcome, we make the same decisions a principal would make — not the decisions a consultant makes to protect their billable hours.
Access before the deadline.
Prequalification, vendor registration, and tender library maintenance happen inside the retainer — before the tender appears. When the right opportunity comes, you are already positioned to compete.
In practice
Drawn from our founders' combined experience. Specific client and project details are confidential.
Retainer + Profit Share
A CSD operator had the right vessel for a major reclamation project but was not on the awarding authority's approved vendor list. Dredge Partners ran a prequalification sprint — 13 days, full PQ package submitted — and got the operator onto the list before the tender closed. The FIDIC-compliant tender package won against a lower-priced competitor who was disqualified for an incomplete method statement. A differing site conditions claim was filed on the day the issue was identified and approved in full. The operator earned three times more from the project than they would have at their own gut-feel price.
Retainer + Profit Share
An equipment-owning contractor with a steady pipeline of capital dredging works engaged Dredge Partners for tender preparation, contract management, and execution oversight across multiple projects. A modest retainer covered day-to-day involvement; a share of net profit on each delivered project provided the upside. Every project had a signed cost schedule before mobilisation — so the profit share calculation was never disputed at project close.
We are happy to have an exploratory conversation under NDA before any commercial discussion. Most of our best engagements start that way.
Email Us — info@dredgepartners.com Email Us