Time to Review of your Tender Strategy?
This month we have a guest blog written by experienced procurement professional Chris Williams MCIPS APMP. Chris’s background in both public and private sector procurement (includng over 6 years with the Crown Commercial Service) gives us an invaluabl …
Hints & Tips for Answering HTE Tender Questions
Having recently completed the HTE National & International Permanent Recruitment ITT, we developed a great model for answering HTE’s qualitative tender questions. This model will help you to secure maximum points on the recently published HTE Tota …
Just Answer the Question!
In this blog I share my top tip for writing a winning bid – and that is to answer the question……no more and no less. Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Yet, when analysing client bids, I constantly see copy and pasted answers that comprise reams of text …
Supplying the NHS with Recruitment Services
If there is one question I get asked several times a day, it is this: “I run an off-framework agency and I want to supply the NHS and get onto the frameworks – how can I do this?” Unfortunately, the answer to this is pretty short and sweet – you’ll hav …
HTE Total Workforce Solutions II Tender Overview
PQQ (SQ) – GENERAL Critical Timescales Deadline for receipt of clarification questions – 20th January 2020. Deadline for HTE to provide responses to clarification questions – 23rd January 2020. Deadline for submission of the PQQ (SQ) – 2pm, 29th Januar …
HealthTrust Europe (HTE) Perm & International Perm Tender Overview
PQQ (SQ) – GENERAL Critical Timescales Deadline for receipt of clarification questions – 1pm, 11th December 2019 Deadline for HTE to provide responses to clarification questions – 16th December 2019 Deadline for submission of the PQQ (SQ) – 1pm, 23rd D …
NHS Clinical Tender Checklist & Observations
Well – here we are, 11 weeks into surely the longest and most confusing tender of all time! There have been 8 tranches of clarifications with over 850 questions and answers, so it’ll be easy to miss something on this NHS Clinical Tender. We’ve put tog …
Overview of the Workforce Alliance Tender – CCS / CPP / LPP Clinical & Healthcare Staffing Tender for the NHS
PLEASE NOTE: This blog has been updated on 20th August after reviewing the clarification questions and answers provided by Workforce Alliance. Additional information has been inserted in green! So the long awaited Workforce Alliance tender for supply …
CCS Non Clinical Tender Overview & Checklist RM6160
General Critical Timescales Deadline for questions – 5pm, 9th May 2019. Deadline for CCS responses to clarifications – 5pm, 13th May 2019. Deadline for submission of the bid – 3pm, 23rd May 2019. Clarification Questions Questions, clarification and que …
CCS & CPP Health Sector Frameworks Update
We have all been waiting with bated breath for the CCS Health Sector Resourcing Framework to land for several months, and now we have received some clarification regarding their plans for the provision of healthcare workforce services (including tempor …
Why Evidence Wins Tenders!
Ever wondered how your competitors get those elusive last few marks on a tender? The answer is probably that they provide really solid proof and evidence in their answers. Theoretical answers are fine – by all means tell the Evaluator how you do it…..b …
How Tenders are Scored (and How to Get Maximum Points!)
One good thing about public sector tenders is the depth and quality of the feedback that you receive – and detailed feedback such as that provided by the CCS is a great (and sometimes painful) way of learning how tenders are scored. The CCS’s marking s …
How to Cut Word Counts!
Word and character counts are the procurement professional’s way of saying “get to the point”. When we write proposals and tenders, we tend to become verbose – waxing lyrical and using lots and lots of big words to try to impress the evaluator. What a …
CCS Supply Teachers Framework Overview
CCS Supply Teachers Framework General Information Critical Timescales Deadline for questions – 5pm, 16th May 2018. Deadline for CCS responses to clarifications – 5pm, 23rd May 2018. Deadline for submission of the bid – 3pm, 30th May 2018. Clarification …
CCS Permanent Recruitment Tender Overview
CCS Permanent Recruitment Tender – General Information Critical Timescales Deadline for questions – 5pm, 17th April 2018. Deadline for submission of the bid – 3pm, 2nd May 2018. Clarification Questions Questions, clarification and queries must be asked …
ESPO Strategic HR Services Tender Requirements
So the much awaited ESPO Strategic HR Services Tender has now been published, and we’re all ploughing through about 300 pages of specification, ITT documents, terms & conditions, and submission questions. As we’ve already been commissioned to work …
Forthcoming Public Sector Recruitment Frameworks (CCS, ESPO, SUPC)
CCS Permanent Recruitment Framework After our meeting with the CCS on 22nd January, we have gathered some new information about the planned structure, lotting strategy and timescale of this tender. Originally advertised as being published in January, w …
Demystifying the Forthcoming CCS Recruitment Frameworks
Hard sell marketing isn’t our style, but with two large CCS recruitment frameworks on the horizon we’re hearing stories from clients and prospects alike about bid writing companies using aggresive marketing and scaremongering tactics to try to sign the …
New CCS Supply Teachers Framework
In November, the CCS is planning to publish a tender opportunity for a totally new national framework for provision of supply teachers. The CCS and DfE have conducted a pre-market engagement exercise which provides some useful insights into how they a …
Added Value – What Procurement Want In Your Tender Response!
So you’ve read several hundred pages of specification, T&C and annexes and answered what feels like 500 (often seemingly repetitive) tender questions detailing exactly how you are going to provide the service for the price of two buttons and a safe …
Bidding for Executive Roles Made Easy
Many senior level public sector roles have to go through a procurement process now, particularly in areas such as Central Government, Local Authorities and the NHS. Alternatively you may have been to see a client who has an executive role and everythi …
Top Tips for Tackling the Hot Topic of CSR
So what is this CSR thing that we keep being asked for in tenders? It can seem such an intangible thing to write about so it’s easy to land up waffling about “doing the right thing” and “putting something back”. As a result CSR policies are of …
How about this for a New Year’s resolution?
As of September 2016, all contracting authorities in England (and most of those in Wales & Northern Ireland) have been legally obliged to replace the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) with the new Selection Questionnaire (SQ). This has been don …
Modern Slavery in Recruitment Tenders – Surely This Can’t Apply to Us?
I’m getting a lot of calls from recruitment agencies with questions about a “Modern Slavery Statement” as this subject is appearing more and more in tenders. This is because companies with a turnover of over £36 million per annum are now obliged to pu …
CPP National Clinical Staffing Framework Tender
The CPP National Clinical Staffing Framework tender has recently been published (submission deadline 19th April 2016) and it’s demanding a lot of documented policies and procedures! Possibly the largest piece of work is putting together the verificatio …
Top 10 Tips for Writing Successful Awards Nominations
There are lots of awards about at the moment, but sadly it’s often not the best company that wins them, but the one with the most well written and compelling awards nominations. So here’s some advice to help you showcase your business and win those pr …
Top 5 Forthcoming Public Sector Recruitment Bids
Now that summer is over, if the trend of the past 5 years continues, public sector recruitment bids will come thick and fast from now until the end of the year. Some significant frameworks are already mid tender, with Procurement for Housing and Scott …
How to Make the Right Bid / No Bid Decisions
You’ll often see a tender opportunity that on the surface looks really interesting, but writing tenders is incredibly time consuming and expensive so it’s vital that you are selective and only bid for business that: You’ve got a good chance of winning …
How to Score Maximum Points in the Diversity Section of a Tender
Diversity questions in tenders are often viewed with scepticism by recruiters, however tendering processes are increasingly weighted in favour of those organisations with diversity initiatives in place, therefore by improving your approach to diversity …
How NOT to Irritate the Buyer!
I’ve recently spent a bit of time with Marc Ibbotson, a highly credible and experienced freelance procurement professional. I know you won’t believe it, but he was human. What’s more he had a sense of humour, he wasn’t a “jobs-worth” and contrary to po …
How to use the Copy and Paste Function in Recruitment Tenders
I review tenders written by recruitment agencies for a living, and the single most common mistake I see is poor use of the copy and paste function in PQQs, tenders and proposals. If I can spot a “set piece” which has been pasted into a tender a hundred …
How to Write Good!
OK – so maybe I didn’t think this up all by myself…..actually I stole it from a friend’s Facebook page (originally courtesy of The Gutter Bookshop, Dublin), but I think it puts across in a single page some of the most important points to consider whe …
15 Documents Every Agency Should Have In Their Tender Library
The worst time to build your library of company information and update your policies to support recruitment tender writing is when you’re actually writing a tender! When you’re up against a tight deadline, wouldn’t it be nice to know you have current a …
Four Rules for Finding & Selecting Profitable Tenders
Rule No 1: Choose just ONE tender notification service – otherwise you’re paying multiple times for the same service! Finding tenders isn’t hard….the public sector ones are all advertised on the internet and there are any number of tender notificatio …
