When it comes to public sector procurement, recruitment isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. One tends to think of more tangible assets or practical services, like office equipment or office cleaning. But recruitment is one of the most underestimated yet most important sectors in the market.
Like all other industries in public procurement, the recruitment industry has had to change its approach to bidding on relevant contracts. This involves understanding the challenges and requirements such as standing out from the competition, providing added value services, understanding buyer expectations, and demonstrating compliance with industry accreditations and standards.
We’re going to look at what recruitment agencies need to do to stay competitive and flourish in an evolving marketplace.
Follow These 4 Steps To Bid On Government Tenders
These four steps can improve your chances to win public sector tenders and contracts in the UK.
Know what you’re looking for
You know what your recruitment agency can provide, so you need to find recruitment tenders that allow you to shine.
This is a two-step process.
1) Ensure the filters you enter on procurement portals accurately reflect your recruitment services.
2) Ensure that you perfectly understand the tender’s requirements, so you only bid on recruitment contracts that you know you can deliver.
Prove your processes
Transparency is king in the new Procurement Act. Contracting authorities want to know how you select suitable candidates that are registered on your system, what are your criteria, how you measure performance, and what you do with poor performers.
They want to know how you’re going to apply all of the above to their contract to ensure high-quality delivery for the duration of the contract.
This brings us, rather neatly, to …
Have a clear delivery plan
Most public sector bodies want you to prove you have a solid delivery plan that meets all the terms and criteria stipulated in the recruitment contract. This includes staff management and the appropriate resources necessary to fulfill the contract and meet ongoing demand.
A clear plan can include how you ensure ongoing compliance with industry regulations, as well as compliance with internal policies and what should happen in the event of non-compliance.
Provide value beyond what is included in recruitment contracts
Before the new Procurement Act, suppliers provided MEAT – Most Economically Advantageous Tender.
Now, suppliers provide MAT – Most Advantageous Tender. This means that while price is an important factor when awarding contracts, the focus on value has grown – a lot.
What is value?
“Value” has quite a broad definition in the public sector. It can be a new process that enhances the efficiency of supply chains. It can be a software tweak that extends automation capabilities and saves contracting authorities a bundle of time and money.
And then there is social value. This is the value you add to local council contracts. Value can be economic, environmental, and social, but it must make a tangible difference to the local community concerned.
Social value has been given a minimum weighting of 10%, but some organisations take it up to 15%, maybe even higher. So, it’s definitely worth spending a lot of your time and energy developing initiatives that provide extra value and exceed expectations.
What Goes Into A Winning Recruitment Tender?
Your bid is your best chance to impress the socks off public sector buyers. This is your opportunity to show off your recruitment agency. It’s your responsibility to ensure it includes everything that buyers require – without overloading them with information.
It’s a delicate balance. Let’s see what you need to put in your bid to win recruitment tenders.
Executive Summary
Executive summaries are an introduction to your business and recruitment services. It should be succinct without sounding choppy. Give it some flow, and naturally lead the reader through the document all the way to sign off.
We said it’s an opportunity to show off, and it is, but it’s not a glowing testament to your brilliance.
Consider the buyer’s perspective. How does your business use its resources to meet the buyer’s needs? Remember, the buyer always comes first.
Not all contracting authorities ask for an executive summary so make sure it’s a requirement before you include one in your tender.
A template that you can tailor to each contract is helpful.
Your Abilities & USP
This is where you can go into more detail about how you’ll meet their needs. Talk about your USP, but ensure you demonstrate how your USP will benefit their recruitment needs.
It’s also a good place to discuss the value you provide, especially the extra value (remember MAT).
You might also want to add information on some of the professional clients your business represents.
You could include info on your selection criteria, emphasising your clients quality (preferably with minimum levels of education, training, and accreditations).
Previous Experience & Successful Contracts
This is kind of a glowing testament to your brilliance but without the figurative strutting and puffed up chest.
Keep a library of recent recruitment contracts. If you represent people from different sectors, you’ll want to keep separate files for each area of expertise or category. Include details on contact value, scope, volumes, challenges, solutions, and KPIs, and provide case studies as proof of your success.
A library like this can quickly grow to unmanageable proportions. Create archives for past successes you’re particularly proud of, but ensure that you only use cases that go back three years when you apply for new recruitment tenders.
Financial Records
Every major financial transaction requires proof that you are financially secure and reliable enough to justify the risk buyers take when engaging your recruitment services. Proof typically includes three years’ worth of bank accounts (statements), which is considered sufficient evidence of financial stability.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPIs are like milestones. They measure progress in bite-sized pieces on the road to the ultimate goal. It’s essential that you hit each KPI on time and within quality requirements to keep buyers’ satisfied.
It’s not a crisis to miss a KPI, provided the cause is reasonable, but do not make a habit of it. Too many missed KPIs give buyers the impression that you either don’t have the capacity or the skills to deliver the goods on a recruitment contract.
Value and Innovation
Proof is the crux of value and innovation. Properly documenting recruitment systems and processes is essential, especially when targeting public sector buyers. You can claim you have a reputation for providing the best value to buyers’ operations, as well as implementing groundbreaking social value initiatives. But, so will every other supplier bidding on the recruitment tender.
Show that your claims aren’t hot air, you’ve got the evidence to support them – whatever that evidence happens to be.
The same goes for innovation. You must have evidence to verify the value of your innovations for supply chains, procurement cycles, or local communities. Case studies are perfect for showcasing your value to the recruitment sector and public procurement industry at large.
Graphics & Images
Graphics (grafts, graphics, and infographics) naturally attract the eye so make them count. Distil important information into easily digestible visual chunks.
Public sector buyers often remember data in your graphics more than plain text, so don’t be afraid to repeat some content or summarise key points.
Relevant (stock) images give eyes a break from long chunks of text. They provide quick refreshment so buyers can find out more about your recruitment services with renewed vigor.
Insurance
Most public sector buyers want to know that their suppliers have the correct insurance in place to cover various events that result in injury or illness. The three types of insurance recruitment agencies need are:
- Employers liability: Minimum £10 million cover is standard
- Professional indemnity: Minimum £10 million cover is standard
- Public liability: Minimum £10 million cover is standard
Public sector recruitment tenders and frameworks are slightly different in that £5 million to £10 million is sufficient for insurance cover.
Accreditations & Awards in the Recruitment Industry
Accreditation is not mandatory for recruitment tenders, but contracting authorities tend to look more favourably at suppliers that are professionally accredited than those that aren’t.
It’s strongly suggested that recruitment businesses have the following accreditations:
- ISO 9001 – Quality Management
- ISO 14001 – Environmental Management
- ISO 27001 – Information Security – covers all data, including non-digital
- Cyber Essentials – Cyber Essentials Certified or CE+. These cover all digital information and networked IT assets
This is also your opportunity to showcase awards. Provide as many details about each award you’ve won as possible – without being a braggart.
Pricing
Pricing should be competitive. That means in line with market research and in the vicinity of your competitors. However, you must include the worth of added value and innovations in the contract price, after all, they took a lot of resources to perfect and are the reason you stand out from the crowd.
Details you might want to include are:
- Fee structure
- Additional costs
- Discounts
- Incentives
- Optional costs: Add ons (extra features and functions)
Supply2Gov Makes It Easy To Find And Bid On Recruitment Tender Opportunities
Supply2Gov or S2G enables suppliers to receive tender alerts for recruitment and other industries as soon as they are published. You have control over the type and location of recruitment tender alerts that you want to receive. This means that you can scale up or down as your needs change.
Our portal provides large organisations and SMEs with opportunities to tailor their information so that they only receive notifications specific to their recruitment services. A good example is low-value contracts for recruitment in the Cotswolds or bigger contracts for electrical engineering nationwide.
Register on our portal and begin receiving recruitment alerts for large business enterprises and SME tenders immediately.