Public sector procurement is a competitive business and it hasn’t always been very welcoming towards SMEs. It’s primarily been dominated by larger enterprises or organisations but the way is being cleared for small businesses that now have a fighting chance to win tenders and establish themselves as brands to be reckoned with.
It’s not exactly a breeze to enter the market, but we’re going to provide some handy tips that will help you and your SME maximise your opportunities to win public sector tenders in the UK.
Suss Out The Market
Before you can compete successfully in the market, you have to understand the market. By this, we mean the rules that govern public procurement because there are rules – a lot of them.
Privacy, data security, open competitive tenders, framework agreements, early engagement, and social value – these are all terms you need to understand and they each have their own rules.
It’s going to take more than an afternoon with a public procurement guide to get the complete idea of everything and some lessons you can only learn from experience, but you really should have the fundamentals waxed before putting your business on the line.
The Fundamentals Are?
Some of the tender submission fundamentals that you must fully understand before you hit the market running include:
Finding Contracts
You’re in serious trouble if you don’t know how to find public sector tenders. Fortunately, it’s actually quite easy. The government has Contracts Finder and Find a Tender platforms, but there are also independent tender alert platforms, like Supply2Gov’s tender alert service.
In fact, S2G’s database is even bigger than the government’s platforms and that’s in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. All you need to do is register, choose a plan, and you’ll start getting tailored contract notices virtually immediately.
Bid Writing
There is an art to tender writing and perfecting the art takes time, but here are some public sector bid writing top tips, to get you started.
1) Understand the project
This is a crucial step because a better understanding improves your chance to win a tender. Obviously, you start by reading the contract notice and tender documents to ensure you understand what it asks for, including objectives, requirements, criteria, timeline and the submission deadline for the tender response.
Then you need to dig a bit deeper and research the market, including similar projects and other bidders you’ve identified. It also helps to research the contracting authority, looking into past contracts and its mission, values, initiatives, etc.
2) Prepare the proposal
Start with a proposal template before you begin writing. There are plenty of free templates available online that you can tailor to suit your business and the contract in question.
Use a writing style that captures your brand but still maintains a professional tone. To be fair, tender writing is a special skill, so you might have to hire a bid writer, at least until you are more familiar with the whole tendering process.
3) Proposal elements
The buyer: exact elements are contract-specific. Stick to the buyer’s requirements and avoid tangents, even if they make you look good. So, if it says you need to deliver A, B, and C to win a tender, don’t go into detail about how your key skills are actually D, E, and F.
That’s not to say you can’t punt the quality of your team, skills, services, or products. Just structure it to suit the buyer’s requirements. Provide evidence of your company’s experience in case studies to unequivocally prove your point.
Typically, proposals include estimated timelines, pricing, and compliance criteria.
4) Social value
Don’t underestimate the importance and success of social value in winning public sector tenders. The Procurement Act 2023 states that social value is a key factor in awarding contracts with a weighting of at least 10%. The tender documents might indicate a preference for a certain type of social value project or leave it up to each bidder to develop a project that aligns with the public body’s values and the overall scope of the contract.
For example, if the project is building an extension to the town library a social value project might be to improve adult literacy in the community or to encourage children to read through a shelter reading programme. Children visit animal shelters and read to the dogs there. It’s a great non-judgemental, no-pressure environment for the kids and can help soothe anxious dogs.
Two birds. One stone.
5) Review
Always, always review and proofread your tender proposal. It should be error-free, including spelling and grammar, and read well. Ask others to review the tender bid, before you submit it. They might pick up mistakes that your brain glosses over.
SME Compliance for Public Contracts
Compliance can be a complicated affair because there are so many levels.
There’s compliance with the contract’s terms and conditions, but there are also industry-specific compliance requirements (for example, the defence industry has different regulatory requirements to healthcare), national public sector procurement regulations, and cross-border regulations for international tendering.
Non-compliance on any of these levels can have severe penalties, including debarment, so it is very important to fully understand exactly what is required and ensure you meet the requirements exactly. Even unintentional non-compliance carries penalties, so you must really be on the ball.
Leverage Feedback
Contracting authorities must provide feedback to all bidders regardless of whether their tender submission was successful. This gives you the chance to find out where you went wrong in the tendering and bid review process or where you need to improve your bid writing skills.
If your tender response is unsuccessful, you can pout for a day or two, but then you need to refocus and get back on your game because there are more opportunities out there waiting for you to put your new lessons learned into practice.
Supply2Gov Supports SMEs In The Competitive Public Sector Procurement Market
Supply2Gov’s services provide an array of benefits for SMEs and other business enterprises and organisations to increase their chances of winning tenders.
There is our own tender submissions and alert service, which enables you to create alerts tailored to your needs. You don’t need to hunt for relevant contracts across multiple platforms because they are delivered straight to your door. You choose which ones are worth writing and submitting new tenders.
Our pay-as-you-grow subscription model allows you to scale up or down your alerts as your needs and goals change. You can start with our free local subscription plan for tenders in your area and increase it to include all relevant tenders in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
We also have various tools and resources that help you consistently write winning tenders. For example, we have templates for bid proposals and comprehensive guides to public sector tenders to get you through some of the more complicated processes in government procurement.
Give yourself a competitive edge. Register for our tender alerts service and start receiving contract notifications and future bids that are right up your street.