The Western HVDC (High-Voltage Direct-Current) Link project is a "first" within the British transmission network. "The overall problem was how to transfer significant amounts of renewably-generated electricity from Central and Northern Scotland to the centers of consumption in the English Midlands, without proposing an overhead transmission line which would, almost certainly, have been refused planning consent," says Colin Johnston, Siemens Energy Corporate Account Manager for National Grid. The solution was the Western HVDC Link, which comprises converter stations in England and Scotland, linked by a 420-kilometer subsea cable operating at 600 kilovolts (kV). This is the first link to operate at 600-kV direct current, and the longest link at a 2.2-gigawatts continuous capacity. Siemens' Energy Sector will deliver the HVDC converter stations, and Prysmian will deliver the undersea and land cables. The project’s total value amounts to €1.1 billion, with Siemens' portion being €350 million.

This impressive contract success for the Sector required an analytical and insightful approach during the tendering phase. "What makes this situation unique is the number and diversity of stakeholders in the Joint Venture (JV) customer, compounded by the fact that the JV partner Scottish Power is a subsidiary of Spanish Iberdrola," says Joerg Pelmer, Energy Corporate Account Manager for Iberdrola. The professional customer relationship management of our two Corporate Account Managers together with their close collaboration with the involved Business Units helped to manage this complex situation and to achieve an impressive contract success.

"National Grid is the experienced HVDC partner in the National Grid Scottish Power Upgrades (NSU) JV, but it is a true 50/50-JV and Scottish Power is playing its full part," says Johnston. To capture these complexities the Energy Corporate Account Managers used the Miller Heiman Strategic Selling approach. "This approach forces a full analysis of a customer's buying process, and an understanding of the influence of all stakeholders in the buying decision. Addressing the needs of all influential stakeholders increases the probability of success with a complex tender," explain Johnston and Pelmer.​

As part of the analytical process, during the tendering phase Johnston arranged a "review and challenge" session with the project-leading Business Unit. This introduced a fallback position that would have given Siemens an opportunity of winning the converter station business on its own, if NSU had decided to procure the converter stations and the cable separately. Continuing the analytical process, the Corporate Account Managers conducted several "must-win" tender progress reviews during proposal preparation, and Johnston prepared the Executive Summary and Proposal Overview sections of the tender.

The Siemens and Prysmian Consortium partners could leverage successful previous projects: for example, the Siemens/Prysmian delivery of the Basslink interconnector to National Grid in 2005, Siemens' delivery of the BritNed Interconnector converter stations to the National Grid-TenneT JV in 2011, and the positive feedback Iberdrola received in Spain from REE (Red Electrica de España) about their HVDC projects Cometa and Inelfe.

"We were able to leverage Siemens' and Prysmian's previous delivery record with National Grid and other customers,” says Johnston. Pelmer adds: "We also organized executive meetings with the decision makers, and technical site visits with in-house engineering staff." Both Corporate Account Managers emphasize the excellent collaboration between the relevant HQ and UK Siemens departments.

Through these activities, during the tender preparation phase the Corporate Account Managers contributed significantly to Energy's success in winning the Western HVDC Link project. At a key point during the tender negotiation phase, Account Management took the leading role in communication with the customer, and was able to advise the Business Unit on how much to improve their competitive position in order to win the project. After this positive experience, the Corporate Account Managers highlighted a key point that applies to all complex tendering situations: "Key point number one is the ability to track complex technical, commercial and political interactions, and to use this information to determine strategy and tactics.”​