Posted on

How to avoid a last-minute panic when bidding for a tender

You have found a tender that your company would be perfect for – fantastic!

But the deadline is tight and now you’re racing against time to submit the tender.

To avoid a last-minute panic when bidding for a tender, follow our Top 10 Tips:

  1. Read tender documents carefully

Download all the documents provided on the portal, read them carefully and consider:

  • Contract value
  • Length of contract
  • Key dates (submission deadline, contract award notice date, clarification dates, etc)
  • Contract details
  • Key requirements

    2. Plan, plan, plan!

Familiarise yourself with the bidding process. Have you been involved in tendering before? If so, what did you learn? Can you transfer any knowledge gained from your previous bids to create a more efficient plan this time?

You need to ensure your company is ‘tender ready’ and that you can fulfil the contract and submit a compelling bid before the deadline.

Often people underestimate the time it takes to prepare, write and submit a tender. From pre-bid to post-bid there is a large time span. Plan your answers so you hit all of the points the commissioner is looking for.

3. Get organised

Bid co-ordination is a key component of planning and organising a bid. Delegate tasks to the people within the company who are best placed to provide the relevant information. You may want to dedicate an individual to co-ordinating the bid and keeping track of the information required.

Create an information spreadsheet or mobilisation plan to keep track of who is responsible for gathering which piece of information. Set achievable deadlines to ensure information is gathered in time. Create shared folders to enable individuals to easily upload relevant information and documents.

4. Formatting

It is vital to consider the formatting of answers. For example, if the commissioner states they want the font to be Arial size 11, follow this guidance.

Answers will also be limited to specific word counts. Specify word counts at the end of your answers to save the commissioner time.

5. Relevant attachments

The PQQ (Pre-Qualification Questionnaire) will state the relevant attachments needed to support your submission. This may include:

  • Company policies
  • Case studies
  • Organisational charts
  • Mobilisation plans
  • Project plans

Case studies take time to write. Ensure you have relevant case studies prior to bidding. Attachments should be ready to be uploaded at the time of submission.

6. Clarify all ambiguities

Clarify any uncertainties as soon as possible. The clarification stage invites bidders to raise queries. At this stage, you should clarify anything you are unsure of.

The commissioner releases a list of these questions and their responses after this stage. Read through this carefully to check if there is anything relevant to your bid.

7. Pricing

Is your price right? A thorough pricing plan, prior to bidding, is essential. Having the means in place to fulfil the contract is vital and commissioners will look for a detailed and thorough pricing plan.

Make sure you have carefully evaluated your pricing – you can lose marks, or even worse, lose out on winning the tender completely, solely due to pricing.

8. Check thoroughly

It is important to check your tender responses thoroughly to check they are grammatically correct and read well. Sharpen your phrasing and key messages in your answers and ensure you are hitting the main answer requirements stated by the commissioner. Look at ways to make what you are saying more concise and ‘to the point’.

Get others to check through the answers to help refine key messages and add in any valuable points.

9. Submit early

Any tenders submitted after the deadline, even if it is only a few seconds late, won’t be considered!

However, before the deadline has expired, tender portals will allow you to amend or upload any additional documents after your initial submission. So, if you are waiting on that final quote or evidence to ‘slot-in’, get a completed bid submitted first. You can re-open, refine, and re-submit when it arrives.

If you’re still in the initial stages, deciding whether to bid or not to bid for a tender, read our ‘To Bid or Not to Bid’ blog post to help you make a decision.

10. Ask the experts

If this is really out of your comfort zone, ask for help. Often the value of the contract awarded by far outweighs the cost of using a consultant or advisor with years of bidding experience and it significantly boosts your chances of submitting a winning tender bid.

If you need help with tendering, get in touch today to see how we can help. Contact info@klowconsulting.com or give us a call on 0330 133 1041.

Posted on

Getting ‘tender ready’ in tough times

Every industry is experiencing major changes as we continue to adapt to a new way of life thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. Unsurprisingly, this has had an impact on the amount of tender opportunities that are currently available.

For example, lots of tender opportunities that were expected to come out in March and April have been delayed until mid-May.

But all is not lost, and there is still a lot you could be doing to get ‘tender ready’ for when the opportunities are eventually published.

Bidding for a tender takes a considerable amount of time. From undertaking research and collecting evidence, the tender process can be long, complex and require a lot of attention. So, the most important thing organisations can do now is to make sure they use this time to prepare for future tenders as much as they can.

Remember, if you are not spending this time doing preparation work, your competition might be!

How to get ‘tender ready’
What you can do now will depend on your industry. To begin with, consider the information and resources that you will need for any upcoming contracts and your probable tender submissions. You can then work through activities and start to collate information that you are very likely to need. These may include:

  • Designing your delivery model and mobilisation plans
  • Meeting any compliance requirements and ensuring related policies are in place
  • Completing research
  • Addressing weaknesses and collating supporting evidence

For example, we are supporting a number of clients that have all successfully passed the selection questionnaire for HealthTrust Europe’s (HTE’s) Total Workforce Solutions 2 Framework. The second stage ITT, has been delayed until mid-late May. By taking the opportunity to perform preparation tasks and the draft ITT questionnaire, we are effectively extending the tender submission window which will lead to better higher quality scoring bids.

Review your previous tenders
Take this time to review your previous bids and refine them. Ask yourself: ‘Where could we have scored better marks?’ Identify any weaknesses in your business or your tender bid and tackle them.

Gather evidence
Collect examples of associated works that you have done, or are doing, that demonstrate best practice. Use this time to consult and engage with those you work with. Ask service users or clients for testimonials and any feedback or other information that may be useful. Think about the evidence you may need to give as they can form the questions you could ask your service users. The answers could also help you to make any improvements to your services, communications or processes. Also look at how you can prove your delivery model with statistics.

Get expert help
We might be biased here, but it can really be the difference between a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ if you employ the services of a professional consultant. Consultants – like us – can help providers with a variety of different processes. For example, we can identify potential holes in the delivery of a contract and can review policies and look for any gaps. Our expert team can anticipate what is needed from a contract and what you need to do to get ‘tender ready’. We identify gaps and weaknesses and can produce a clear plan on what you need to do. We charge on a consultancy basis but can also offer a free advice service.

K Low Consulting is unique in that we don’t just write tenders – we offer a four-stage process to help our clients:

1)      Business & Contract Strategy (Phase 1)

We help you develop a cohesive contract growth strategy aligned to your business and carried through in the opportunities we identify and win.

2)      Opportunity Analysis (Phase 2)

Our opportunity analysis service helps us identify and analyse the right opportunities for you to develop your strategic goals.

3)      Tender Writing & Management (Phase 3)

We are experts in tender writing and management. We have a cohesive tender writing and management process, helping you win bids.

4)      Mobilisation & Implementation (Phase 4)

Winning the bid is only one part of the tender outcome. We work with you to help break down and manage complex contract mobilisation and implementations, delivered against manageable work streams.

If you need help with tendering, get in touch today to see how we can assist you. Contact info@klowconsulting.com or give us a call on 0330 133 1041.

Posted on

To Bid or Not to Bid: A Step Towards Winning a Tender

Bid Writing

The tender process is often complex and requires close attention to the contract requirements and your organisations’ suitability to a contract.

As part of our services at K Low Consulting, we help clients to make a ‘bid or no bid’ decision in the initial stages of bidding. This often includes evaluating compliance and eligibility, commercial feasibility and competitor analysis.

After overlooking 100s of bids in different industries, it is often encountered that clients are keen to bid for a tender that may not be particularly beneficial to them. The attractiveness of a tender, therefore, is not a reason to bid. There should be careful consideration of many factors.

Providing critical feedback at the initial stages of bidding has placed us in a strong position to advise on how you can come to an informed decision regarding whether to ‘bid or not to bid’ for an upcoming tender.

Factors that may inform the ‘bid no bid’ decision

The bigger the contract, the higher the risk involved when bidding for a tender. Without carefully planning and evaluating if your organisation can deliver the contract requirements, you could be at risk of wasting time, money and resource by bidding for a contract that isn’t right for your organisation.

Here are some of the implications of bidding for a tender that isn’t right for you:

Time

Bidding for a tender takes a considerable amount of time. From undertaking research and collecting evidence, the tender process can be long, complex and require a lot of attention.

Answers will vary from tender to tender, but often, some may require a lengthy response which seeks evidence on how your organisation can deliver the contract. Thus, it is critical that you have internal teams or external bid writers to allocate the correct amount of time needed to undertake the project.

Those in senior management positions usually have to collect the right resources for the bid, which means there may be less focus on training and managerial activities. Employing an external bid team, however, could ensure that time is saved and take the strain off internal bidding teams and senior management.

Cost

There are a lot of costs associated with tendering. If you are choosing to invest in an external bid writer(s), then this will be one of the associated costs.

Evaluating that your business can afford to implement a contract is fundamental. Thus, you must be aware of the additional costs associated with a new contract. It is vital that you understand your current delivery model and what it would take to deliver a new one.

Questioning: have we got the costs to scale up? Would be a good starting point. Some of the additional costs to implement a new contract may be:

  • Recruitment of staff
  • ICT
  • Property
  • Construction
  • Marketing and advertising
  • Equipment

Wasted Resource

Resource can easily be wasted if the tender that your organisation is bidding for isn’t right for you. We understand that for most SMEs, internal resources are crucial and need to be prioritised for bidding. By ensuring that we only bid for the most appropriate opportunities, we optimise where and how our clients deploy their resource. As mentioned previously, time is one of the most crucial aspects of bidding for a tender, and too much time and resource spent on a tender could potentially be wasted if you decide to bid without evaluating the impact.

Low win rates

Losing bids result in low win rates. You must analyse and understand where you are in the marketplace. Compliance is just first base; understanding that you have a proposition that could enable you to win is fundamental to optimising win rates. At K Low Consulting, we have a fantastic win rate of 88% and ensure that our clients have the right standing to bid. Before bidding, you should question the following:

  • Who are our competitors?
  • Where are we at with the delivery model?
  • Do we have a coherent strategy in place?

Making the ‘bid no bid’ decision

If you have found a tender that you want to bid on, there are many factors that you should consider before going ahead. At the very basic level, your organisation needs to fulfil the statutory requirements stated within the tender and have the right financial standing. Demonstrating your organisation’s capabilities in your answers, alongside evidence that presents added value, shows that you can deliver the contract requirements.

You must meet all the requirements for the contract. If you meet ‘most’ of the set requirements and not all, you will still lose the bid.

Thoroughly evaluating your standing as an organisation will help you when making the decision. There are many questions that you can ask to come to the right decision, some are:

  • Do you have an internal or external team in place to help support the bid?
  • Do you have time and resource to implement the bid?
  • Can you present added value to the bid, that will make you stand out amongst competitors?
  • Does the contract fit with your organisation’s strategic growth plans?
  • Have you completed tenders in the past, and if so, what have you learnt that will be beneficial when bidding for this particular contract?
  • Do you have the relevant evidenced experience to support your bid?
  • Are there any factors which would inform the ‘no bid’ decision? If so, what are they?
  • Is your team equipped to deliver the contract?
  • Does the contract align with your growth plans?

K Low Consulting’s approach to the ‘bid no bid’ decision

At K Low Consulting, we recognise that the ‘bid no bid’ decision is critical. Our initial consultation with you will outline whether we think you should bid or not, taking the strain and pressure away. We are open and honest with our clients from the beginning of the process, and unlike other tender companies, will not simply encourage you to bid for a tender for profitability. We will thoroughly evaluate your organisations standing and the likelihood of winning a contract. We strive for strong partnerships with our clients and want them to be aware of the best opportunities that align with their organisation’s strategic growth plans.

If you would like our help to decide whether to bid or not for a contract or to find out about our services, please contact us today on info@klowconsulting.com or call 0330 133 1041.

Posted on

How to present an accessible healthcare service in a tender

Accessible Healthcare

Accessibility in healthcare has been described as a ‘global challenge’. As a prominent challenge that many healthcare providers face, developing and maintaining an accessible service for patients is an ongoing issue across the healthcare industry.

Regularly, healthcare tenders have a question centred solely or partially around accessibility. Therefore, answering this question to demonstrate how your healthcare service is providing accessible healthcare for your patients is crucial.

This article will focus on what accessibility in healthcare is and why it is important, how it can be improved in practice and most importantly, how to answer an accessibility question on a tender.

What is accessibility in healthcare?

The definition of accessibility is given in the name itself; it is all about providing accessible healthcare for all.

Having accessible healthcare services available for those who need them is critical as it allows people to get the appropriate healthcare resources in order to help maintain or improve their health.

In a human rights context, accessibility is described by the World Health Organization as: ‘health facilities, goods and services must be within safe physical reach for all sections of the population, especially vulnerable or marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities and indigenous populations, women, children, adolescents, older persons, persons with disabilities and persons with HIV/AIDS, including rural areas’.

Healthcare accessibility is a broad scope and relates to many different aspects.

Accessibility, therefore, may mean:

  • Access to buildings
  • Communications with healthcare staff
  • Management of appointments

There may be a variety of reasons as to why patients cannot access healthcare services. Some of the reasons may be:

  • Lack of transport links. Those living in an urban area may particularly struggle with transport
  • Health-related conditions. Certain health conditions may mean that an individual cannot travel to the property
  • Financial barriers. Primarily for transport or service charges (e.g. dental or eye tests)
  • Organisational barriers

Why is accessibility in healthcare important?

As mentioned above, accessibility in healthcare is key because an individual who is restricted from healthcare access can suffer from further or more serious health-related issues. Consequently, it could lead to serious complications such as disease, disability and even premature death.

Healthcare Accessibility Questions on a Tender

A healthcare tender will usually involve accessibility in one form or another. Before answering this question, think holistically about the healthcare service that you are currently providing to patients.

Asking questions such as “what are we doing to make our healthcare service more accessible for patients?” and “what do we plan to do to improve accessibility in the future?” will help direct your answer.

When writing your answer, you may want to focus on these specific elements:

1) Location and Transport

The location and transport links to your service will need to be carefully considered. Are you located in a central part of the city? Do you have transport links to your practice?

Presenting that you have bus routes, car parks or express buses available for your patients, all feeds into the accessibility of your healthcare service.

If you have free parking bays nearby, or even a ‘park and ride’ option, stating this within your answer will show that your service is accessible to patients.

2) Appointments

For healthcare to be accessible for all, there needs to be appointments available for those who need them. Offering on the day appointments is ideal for those who need urgently seen to.

Appointments available out of hours, for example, 6-8 pm, or weekend appointments, will be made accessible for those who can’t make the standard appointment times. Again, having these additional services enables ease of access for those who work full time or have other commitments that mean they can’t get to the standard appointment hours.

Making these appointments easily available, via online booking systems or through telephone lines, is also imperative. If patients are unable to get through to the line, this is an indication that this healthcare service isn’t readily accessible for them.

3) Equal Access

Considering equal access to healthcare services is a crucial implementation within your answer. This will also enable you to present that your service adheres to best practice and the Equality and Diversity (2010) policy.

For this answer, implementing your Equality and Diversity policy and providing details of the training provided to staff which relates to Equality and Diversity, will be beneficial when demonstrating best practice. We have an article centred around Equality and Diversity that has further information about this.

Equal access ensures that those who are part of a minority, are vulnerable, have protected characteristics or particularly ‘hard-to-reach’ groups are being treated fairly and non- discriminatory.

Providing details of any additional work that you do within the community to help those that are disadvantaged or within a minority will add value to this answer. This could include work undertaken with the homeless or the elderly.

Asylum Seekers or individuals that are limited in their ability to communicate also form part of this group. Having a translation organisation in partnership with your healthcare service will again, improve the accessibility for those groups.

4) Domiciliary Appointments

Although domiciliary appointments may not be stated within the contract, providing these appointments to those who cannot get to the service, will demonstrate that you are considering these groups and have additional measures in place for them. Reflecting this within your answer, will again, be highly beneficial.

5) Demonstrating your patient care service

Indicating that you aim to provide an excellent patient-centred service will be rewarded when answering this question.

Showing that you have various methods of feedback in place and that you actively strive towards improving feedback points, presents that you are trying to provide the best possible patient experience; this helps patient experience and accessibility.

If patients are experiencing any problems in terms of accessibility, asking them what their problems are will help you make the right steps to improving this. Feedback can be done in a variety of ways, our last article outlines some methods of feedback and how to improve patient experience overall.

 6) Accessible Information Standard

The Accessible Information Standard states that from 1st August 2016, organisations providing NHS care and/or publicly funded adult social care are legally required to follow this standard. Being aware of this standard and reflecting that your service aligns with best practice is essential.

NHS England stated that organisations should:

  • Ask people if they have any information or communication needs and find out how to meet their needs
  • Record those needs clearly and in a set way
  • Highlight or flag the person’s file or notes so it is clear that they have information or communication needs and how to meet those needs
  • Share information about people’s information and communication needs with other providers of NHS and adult social care when they have consent or permission to do so
  • Take steps to ensure that people receive information which they can access and understand and receive communication support if they need it
  • Contact and be contacted by, services in accessible ways. For example, via email or text messages, receive information and correspondence in formats they can read and understand, be supported by a communication professional at appointments if this is needed to support conversation.

Contact Our Team Today 

If you need help on a tender, contact our experienced team of writers today on 03301 1331 041.
Alternatively, send an email to info@klowconsulting.com for more information and details.

Posted on

How do I write an equality and diversity answer on a tender?

Equality and Diversity

Have you ever wondered how to get maximum marks on an Equality & Diversity question on a tender? The answer is simple.

The key to an effective Equality & Diversity answer is to improve your approaches to Equality & Diversity within your workplace, offer as many Diversity initiatives that you can and build a stronger and more inclusive workforce.

As you may be aware, an Equality & Diversity question appears on a large number of tenders. Thus, it is critical for your organisation to be aware of the requirements and provide the best possible answer. Being awarded top marks on this question will increase your chances of winning a tender.

The Equality Act (2010)

To demonstrate to the commissioner that you have an in-depth knowledge on Equality & Diversity, your policies should align with The Equality Act (2010). This shows that your organisation exercises best practice.

The Equality Act (2010) protects individuals, acting as a standing point for a more diverse and equal society. Types of discrimination can be against the following:

  • Age
  • Gender Re-assignment
  • Being married or in a civil partnership
  • Being pregnant or on maternity leave
  • Disability
  • Race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
  • Religion or belief
  • Sex
  • Sexual Orientation

The Act covers:

  • The Equal Pay Act 1970
  • The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
  • The Race Relations Act 1976
  • The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
  • The Employment Equality (religion or belief) regulations 2003
  • The Employment Equality (sexual orientation) regulations 2003
  • The Equality Act 2006, part 2
  • The Equality Act (sexual orientation) regulations 2007

In order to stand as a diverse and equal organisation, buyers must reflect and implement the policies and codes of conduct that the Equality Act (2010) represents, making their policies readily available for customers, clients and any other significant stakeholders.

The Impact of Equality & Diversity Within an Organisation

Equality & Diversity within an organisation can improve the quality of the work delivered, create a diverse and integrated workforce, build stronger communities and identify under-representation within society. The more that this is evidenced within your answer, the more effective the answer will become.

To build a stronger and more inclusive workforce, there are some recommendations for what can be done. Reflecting some of these incentives will enable you to build a more constructive answer:

  • Conduct research to evaluate those who are under-represented within local communities
  • Monitor diversity during the recruitment process
  • Advertise traditionally and present vacancies utilising diverse job-boards
  • Build relationships with diversity partners to network more candidates
  • Work towards obtaining accreditations for diversity such as the ‘Two Ticks Scheme’ and ‘Clear Assured’

Having these initiatives and incentives in place within your organisation will help you substantially when answering this question.

What to Expect from An Equality & Diversity Question

You may be required to submit an eligibility questionnaire as part of the process; part of this questionnaire may be based on your organisations Equality & Diversity policies. Your answers to these questions will be measured against statutory regulations.

If equality is a core principle within the tender, you may be asked to provide further information and evidence to support the submission. For an Equality & Diversity question, commissioners need to ensure the quality in the terms and conditions; employers must offer equal pay, terms & conditions promotion, transfer opportunities, training, dismissal and redundancy procedures to all employees regardless of any personal characteristics.

It is important to know what will be asked of you for an Equality & Diversity question. You may be asked to provide:

  • Your organisation’s Equality & Diversity policies
  • Details of any unlawful discrimination breaches
  • Any formal investigations carried out on your organisation in the last 3 years
  • Copies of recruitment training or promotion instructions

An example of Equality & Diversity questions:

  • Provide the processes your organisation has in place to ensure that candidates are managed in a fair and non-discriminatory manner
  • Provide the processes your organisation has in place to ensure that you attract a diverse and inclusive candidate base
  • Do you provide Equality and Diversity training for staff?
  • Has your organisation been the subject of any formal investigation by the commission for Racial Equality, The Equality Opportunities Communities or the Disability Rights Commission on grounds of alleged unlawful discrimination?

Preparing your Equality & Diversity Answer

You will need to take into consideration your organisation’s practices when it comes to Equality & Diversity. When providing details of your organisations Equality & Diversity policy, your answer will have added quality if you are able to understand, monitor and evaluate the local demographics that are contextually stated within the tender. Identifying and demonstrating your knowledge of under-represented communities and then proposing practical ways to engage with them with help you to prepare this answer.

You will also have to take into consideration when preparing your answer:

  • How to attract a more diverse workforce
  • How you ensure equal opportunities within your organisation
  • How to measure and evaluate the success of attracting and retaining a diverse workforce
  • How you ensure that staff are well equipped to meet the equitable approaches expected of your policy and procedures
  • How you advise clients on Equality & Diversity issues and impacted procedures