Month: July 2020

Public sector procurement can be lucrative for suppliers but it can also be an immensely complex process. In this quick guide, Supply2Gov will explain the ins and outs of the procurement process, including details of what happens at each stage and defined definitions of terminology. By the end, your organisation should feel more confident to submit bids for public sector tenders in the future.

What is public sector procurement?

Public sector procurement is the acquisition by public authorities of goods, works and services through a public contract: for example, the supply of hospital beds and other furniture to a public hospital.

Tenders meaning

The term tenders refer to the contract opportunities published by public sector organisations for goods, services, works and utilities.

What is a Tender Process

If you want to tender for government contracts, it is important that you get to know the tendering process.

As public sector procurement must be fair and transparent, public sector bodies such as the NHS, Ministry of defence and local councils have to purchase goods, works and services via the public tendering process.

The public procurement process requires that an Invitation to Tender (ITT) is published to generate competing offers for the specified business the public sector organisation requires. These call for bids take different structured forms – open tenders and restricted tenders – but essentially they will set out details of what the public sector body wants supplied.

The steps taken in this process may differ slightly from those outlined below depending on the value of the contract being awarded and the tendering procedure it follows. So what is involved in a tender process?

1. The contract notice is published

A contract notice, otherwise known as an advertisement of the procurement opportunity to the market, is the first stage of the public sector tender process. It is the most fundamental requirement for a buyer to ensure that a broad range of organisations respond to the bid, encouraging healthy competition in the market. The contract notice will include just enough information about the project for an organisation to decide whether or not they will submit a bid. It summarises the object and scope of the contract and states the basic tendering conditions, such as the submission deadline.

In the European Union, standard contract notices over a certain value threshold are published in the OJEU, an accessible online platform which is free to use. Thousands of contracts are published on there every day from every country in the EU. To sift through them would take a huge amount of time and resource, which is why Supply2Gov’s tender alerts are here to help you maximise your productivity. More on that later.

2. Access the tender documents (call for tenders)

Once a contract notice has been published, organisations are invited to submit their tender bids to the public authority. To do this, organisations will need to obtain the full tender documents, including the detailed technical specifications. Thanks to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, especially Regulation 22, the vast majority of contracting authorities will use e-tendering tools or other online tools, so that all tender documentation is accessed and submitted online. You will need to make sure to read the tender documents thoroughly and understand exactly what the awarding authority requires before submitting. While you may see ways in which your business could add value, a bid which does not wholly meet the buyer’s actual requirements is very likely to fail.

It is important to note the difference in tone between contract notices and tender documents. Contract notices ideally should be written in a clear, honest and logical way so that they are easy to read. Tender documents, however, are heavy on legal conditions and reasons why tenders may be rejected. They are full of terminology and technicalities, but only because they need to be. Tendering conditions must be transparent in advance, so that firms cannot be rejected for reasons they didn’t know existed. The tender documents will also tell you about the selection and award criteria, which are the criteria against which your bid will be judged. Pay attention to these, and to any weightings, they include as they tell you what aspects of the contract the buyer considers most important.

What does contract value mean?

A contract value is the price of a public sector contract. Public sector contracts can range from several hundred pounds to multiple billions, depending on the size of the project and the public authority that issues the proposal. The contract value is not always publicised in the tender documentation, to avoid setting the wrong incentive for firms bidding. It is usually recommended to express the scope of the contract in terms of volume and not in terms of money, for example, ‘we will need 200 hospital beds every month over three years.’ Where the value is stated, contracting authorities are allowed to require bidding companies to have a turnover twice the value of the contract they are applying for. This is to prevent businesses becoming too dependent on one contract for their survival.

3. Submit questions and answers

Asking questions is vital throughout the tendering process. Organisations typically have an opportunity to ask questions to clarify the call for tenders. Some public authorities may choose to set strict deadlines for the questions to be submitted by, some do not. The answers that are given in response to questions are made available to all firms interested in the tender to avoid exclusivity – this reflects the principle of equal treatment of tenderers. Sometimes questions may clarify mistakes that were made in the tender documentation, so all potential tenderers should be made aware of them.

4. Visit the premises of the project

In instances where the tender is construction work or where machinery needs to be installed, a contracting authority may set a requirement that tenderers inspect the location where the work is needed before they submit their bid. This is to ensure that tenderers have a realistic idea of what is expected of them, giving the project complete transparency. If this requirement is mandatory rather than just recommended, firms that do not take part in this stage of the procurement process may not tender.

There are pros and cons to demanding premises visits, though. A visit to the premises can limit the competition for the tender, given that it will add costs for. This can be particularly costly if the organisation is based far away. This cost of travel will be added on to the final price, which is then paid by the public authority anyway, so it is arguably more limiting than productive.

5. Submit your bid before the deadline

This is an important part of the tendering process. Writing a response to a tender is a demanding process, combining a vast amount of research over a relatively short time period (again – depending on how big the project is.) Tenderers need to be sure that they have answered all the questions carefully, especially the mandatory ones, and that questions with a higher scoring are given more weight and detail in their response. Often, several people work on aspects of a bid. Suppliers should get someone else to read the complete document through before submission to make sure it is consistent and there are no silly mistakes or annoying typos.

The essential thing for a tenderer is that they submit their bid on time. No matter how good their bid is, if it arrives even a few minutes late, it will automatically be rejected.

Now that you are familiar with the tendering proccess, build your procurement knowledge further with Supply2Gov. We offer blogs rich with resources and tips throughout the procurement process to help you win business. Your organisation can register for free to receive daily tender alerts filtered by geographical location and your business interests. This means you don’t have to search through thousands of public sector tenders every day, taking up valuable time and resource. Instead, you’ll receive relevant contracts straight to your inbox, giving you contract information at the touch of a button.

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It is an exciting time it is to work in the UK local government procurement marketplace.

One of the key takeaways from the Local Government Procurement Exhibition (LGPE) 2019 was that the public and private sectors must come together to transform local government procurement.

At the event, there was overwhelmingly positive understanding of the sheer size of the opportunity available in the sector – and an appreciation that buyers and suppliers should collaborate to make a real difference to the lives of people across all our communities.

 

How much is local government spending?

Local government currently spends over £57bn annually on a vast range of goods and services. It is a huge and diverse market, as local authorities require everything from vast regeneration projects to personal care for individuals. Contract values range from over £1bn to just a few hundred pounds.

Many of the larger opportunities will be granted to larger contractors – but this doesn’t mean that your business can’t win work here. SMEs win government work through another larger contractor via the supply chain – an excellent way for a company to get its foot in the public sector door. A large organisation may win the contract, but that does not mean they will deliver all aspects of it. SMEs can contact the main supplier to find out whether there are sub-contracting opportunities available. This is seen as a valuable way for smaller businesses to establish relationships, win public sector business and build credentials.

However, local government also issues hundreds of lower-value contracts each month, many of which are eminently suitable for micro and smaller businesses. Many of these are local needs – repairs to fences, cleaning to one particular school – which offer an ideal opportunity for local micro and small businesses to win work and start to build a public sector client portfolio.

The local government sector consistently issues large volume of contract notices and wants to see more SMEs benefiting from contracting opportunities. BiP Solutions has commented that:

“The average weekly reported total contract value in this sector is approximately £1.1 billion.”

The report, which was released in June 2020, revealed that local government has been severely challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report highlights that

“local government organisations are tasked with continuing to provide established, essential services; making adaptations where required, as well as considering how they will continue to provide said essential services in a post-pandemic landscape. “

Whether available opportunities are due to recent changes, or part of local government’s long-standing usual requirements, this is a vast and steady market for suppliers of varying sizes and specialisms to tap into.

 

Start finding council contracts

With Supply2Gov, it is easier than you think to find council contracts. Our users can access local council tenders from across the UK with our tender alerts tool.

We publish local council tenders from throughout the UK and the whole of Ireland and give our customers the choice of the area/country that suits their business.

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Or find out more about local council tendering.

 

 

The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has announced what the Government described as one of “the most radical reforms to our planning system since the Second World War”.

In a post-Coronavirus world, Mr Johnson wants to make it easier to build better homes where people want to live and has also promised that work will begin to look at how land owned by the government can be managed more effectively.

 

New rules for the construction industry

On 30 June 2020, new regulations were announced that will give greater freedom for buildings and land in UK town centres. This means that builders will be able to change use without planning permission and create new homes from the regeneration of vacant and redundant buildings.

The Government hopes that the new rules will kick start the construction industry and speed up rebuilding.

Under the Government’s new rules, existing commercial properties, including newly vacant shops, can be converted into residential housing more easily. On the Government website it states:

“A building used for retail, for instance, would be able to be permanently used as a café or office without requiring a planning application and local authority approval. Pubs, libraries, village shops and other types of uses essential to the lifeblood of communities will not be covered by these flexibilities.”

The full list of changes includes:

• More types of commercial premises having total flexibility to be repurposed through reform of the Use Classes Order.
• A wider range of commercial buildings will be allowed to change to residential use without the need for a planning application.
• Builders will no longer need a normal planning application to demolish and rebuild vacant and redundant residential and commercial buildings if they are rebuilt as homes.
• Property owners will be able to build additional space above their properties via a fast track approval process, subject to neighbour consultation.

The Government has announced that these changes are planned to come into effect by September.

 

Start your search for construction opportunities

With lockdown now lifting and government, citizens and business all looking forward to a ‘new normal’, it is vital that your business continues to monitor new construction opportunities.

Learn more about the construction tenders we offer or register for free construction tender alerts in your local area today…

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On 8 July Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak revealed a set of new measures to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the UK economy.

The mini-budget followed the government’s “Build, Build, Build” announcement, which included changes, investment, and opportunities for the UK construction industry and infrastructure sector.

The Chancellor said that the statement was “the second phase of the government’s economic response to COVID-19” and announced several measures that will support construction jobs and boost housing, to protect the sector from mass redundancies later in the year.

 

The UK’s green recovery

Mr Sunak pledged a green recovery during his speech, announcing a £2bn Green Homes Grant, and a £1bn investment to make public sector buildings greener.

Homeowners and landlords will be able to apply for the £2bn Green Homes Grant to make their homes more energy-efficient.

Mr Sunak said:

“The grants will cover at least two-thirds of the cost, up to £5,000 per household.

And for low-income households, we’ll go even further with vouchers covering the full cost – up to £10,000.”

He claims that these new measures would see up to 650,000 homes retrofitted and create 140,000 green jobs.

 

Stamp duty holiday

Mr Sunak also announced an immediate stamp duty holiday, exempting the first £500,000 of all property sales from tax. This applies both to first home buyers and those who have owned property before.

The announcement means that homebuyers in England and Northern Ireland will not pay any tax on homes up to £500,000 until 31 March 2021.

 

Job retention bonus

The Chancellor also launched a bonus to “reward and incentivise” businesses that retain staff once the Jobs Retention Scheme (the ‘furolough scheme’) ends in October.

Employers will be able to claim £1,000 per employee for every worker brought back from furlough and kept in work for at least three months – to the end of January 2021. During the announcement, Mr Sunak said:

“It is vital people aren’t just returning for the sake of it – they need to be doing decent work.

So, for businesses to get this bonus, the employee must be paid at least £520 on average, in each month from November to January.”

 

Kickstart scheme

The Kickstart Scheme is a new programme with the goal of giving hundreds of thousands of young people, in every region and nation of Britain, the best possible chance of getting on and getting a job.

The Kickstart Scheme will directly pay employers to create new jobs for any 16 to 24-year-old at risk of long-term unemployment.

Firms will be paid £1,000 to take on trainees, with £100m pledged to fund places in high-demand sectors such as engineering, construction, and social care.

 

VAT reduction

Currently, VAT on hospitality and tourism is charged at 20%. In a move designed to support this sector, which was brought to a standstill by lockdown and is struggling to recover, the Chancellor has decided to cut VAT on food, accommodation, and attractions.

Takeaway establishments, restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotels, B&Bs, campsites, caravan sites and attractions like cinemas, theme parks and zoos will all feel the benefit of this new measure.

VAT has been cut from 20% to 5% until 12 January 2021..

 

‘Eat Out to Help Out’

The hospitality sector was also given some more good news as the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme was launched.

To help protect 1.8 million jobs in the hospitality sector, the government has announced that restaurants can offer 50% off meals during August, from Monday to Wednesdays, with a maximum discount of £10 per head.

Mr Sunak said that registered businesses can then claim this money back, and the funds will be in their bank account within 5 working days.

 

Stay in the loop

If you would like to find out how you can start to win government tenders, visit our website. We offer free advice and local tender alerts to small businesses across the UK and ROI.

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New to the tendering process?

Tender writing can make or break your chances of being successful in the public sector marketplace.

If you have found a great opportunity for your business, but do not know where to begin when it comes to tender writing, this blog is for you!

Don’t know what a tender is? Our article “What is a Tender” will help!

Tender writing for beginners

The fact is you must write a tender response before you win a contract.

As part of the tendering process, the bidder must put together a tender proposal. If you are new to procurement, this can be tricky as there is no tried and tested template to follow each time you bid for a contract.

That said, every tender is different, which means your response should be unique and tailored to the individual buyer’s requirements every time you bid for work with a public sector organisation.

 

What does a tender writer do?

A lot of work goes in to winning tenders.

Some SMEs have a tender writer or a bid writing team, that is focused on writing winning tenders. Realistically, however, many SMEs do not have the resources to have a dedicated team.

If your business does not have a bid writing team, it is important that your employees work together to submit a quality-controlled document that displays all the great things your business can offer the public sector and that answers all the questions asked by the buyer in any SQ or tender document.

A bid writer will not only write the bid but should carry out research on the client to understand their requirements.

In some cases, to gain a clearer understanding of a potential client’s requirements, a bid writer will arrange a meeting or have a telephone conversation with the buying authority before they begin work on the tender response.

Asking questions is an important part of the tender writing process. When bidding for tenders, you have every right to formally contact the buyer to fully understand the contract. You can ask:

• The scope of the contract
• How the tender will be scored
• Confirm the tender procedure
• What the value of the contract is over the full contract lifecycle

 

A bid writer should never be afraid to reach out to a contracting authority. Buyers want the best possible outcome for their procurements, so it is in their own interests to help every supplier submit the most accurate and well-informed bid.

 

How do you draft a tender?

Although there no one-size-fits-all template for tender writing, there are ways you can make sure that your tender response shows off what you can do and makes the buying authority really take notice.

Here are our tips for drafting tenders.

 

Start from scratch

Copy and paste may seem tempting but try to avoid using stock answers when applying for tenders, as an experienced buyer will be able to spot them from a mile away.

Tailoring your response will only benefit you. If you do not take time to read the questions and give a specific answer to them, then you have failed before you have started. Make sure that your responses answer the questions that the buyer is is asking, not the ones you wish they were asking, and that key information in each response is easily found and understood.

 

Be specific

When drafting a tender response, it is important that you give detail and confirm clearly how much the goods or services you are offering cost, the time scales involved, and how long the project will take.

This is where the research you did earlier comes in to play as you can talk about the benefit you can offer, focusing specifically on that client as you will understand what matters to them. Zone in on their needs and how the services or products your business can offer can solve their problems.

 

Stand out from the crowd

Rhyming off the benefits of working with your business is a good place to start but have a think about what differentiates your business from your competitors and what your solution can offer beyond the scope of the contract.

It is important that you always specify the add-ons which are included in your price, as the buyer may not have worked with your business before. Little things can add up: the small things could be a deciding factor in a buyer’s decision, so give them the full details of what your business can offer as part of your package.

“Added value” is an incredibly important part of the selection questionnaire but suppliers often ask, “what does that mean?”.

This section is the part where you can promote what your business does. For example, if your business supplies equipment, mention in the Added Value section if your business will fit it for free or offer a maintenance package.

What does the public sector look for?

If you want to win tenders, you must offer price and quality.

Public sector organisations want to achieve efficiency savings and invest in sustainable solutions that will offer real value to their organisation. That said, the The cheapest bid does not always win. Many organisations are moving towards which takes consideration of issues, other than just price.

The UK Public Procurement Regulations 2015 state that when buyers are scoring a tender, the focus is not just to be placed on price, but on the best value for money – the best price for the best quality, which increasingly includes life-cycle costs such as parts, maintenance and even disposal.

 

The tender process

The tendering process can be complex – we give you a quick overview below.

The first step in the tender process may often be to complete a questionnaire. This is designed to help the buyer shortlist the most suitable companies and invite them to submit a full tender. In other cases, you may go straight to the tender.

If you are selected, it is vital that you allow enough time to collate the necessary information and to write and submit the tender.

Writing a good tender may take longer than you think, so always make sure you leave enough time for your submission to be proofed by a colleague, who may have feedback to offer – and fresh eyes to see your typos!

If you submit a late tender, your response will be disqualified immediately. To ensure that this does not happen, get your references and all supporting documents in place well in advance, including a covering letter that responds to the bid invitation.

After submitting a bid, it will be scored and evaluated by the buyer. At this point the buyer still might be uncertain about the supplier it wants to work with and may want to examine your bid in greater detail.

In some cases, they may want to check for themselves whether your business can meet their requirements. They may do this by setting up a site visit, interview, or meeting. When a public sector organisation is deciding on suppliers to work with, environmental and social impacts should always be taken into consideration.

As public sector organisations spend using the public purse, they must be open and transparent about the companies that they are spending with. To ensure that public funds are spent with businesses that benefit the community, organisations across the public sector include ethical sourcing policies in their operational standards and principles.

In due course, you will hear whether your bid has been successful or not. Even if you do not win the contract, ask for feedback. Every bidder is entitled to feedback from the buyer, and it may help you to succeed another time.

If you do succeed and are awarded the contract, then the work of fulfilling the contract begins.

 

How can Supply2Gov help?

Whether you are taking your first steps towards tendering, or just looking to brush up your skills before your next government contract bid, we have got a host of resources to help you every step of the way.

Our Tender Ready Toolkit, which is full of useful hints and tips, can help you get the most out of our tender alerts service as well as develop your tendering strategy.

Here is what you will get in the toolkit:

• Top tendering tips on how to prepare for your next tender
• Step by step guides that help you create a winning email alert profile
• Checklists for completing important documents such as the Selection Questionnaire

 

Start winning work by registering on Supply2Gov for instant free access to your chosen local area and receive your tender ready toolkit today.

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