powered by

How to Prepare for Gritting Tenders

Gritting Tenders: 5 things to expect

Gritting tenders can be a competitive process in the lead up to winter. This is why you must be prepared in order to outshine your competitors when it comes to your bid response. Due to the nature of the British climate, gritting tenders are consistently published by private and public sector organisations.

You should make sure that you are well prepared for when gritting tenders are released. There are a number of ways you can do this. Knowing what to expect can help as well as having an organisation-wide bid library. This can help save you time when it comes to writing your bid response.

5 things you can expect to include in gritting tenders

  1. A business continuity plan

Gritting tenders will often require potential suppliers to detail and business continuity plan. A bidder should maintain a detailed plan, which should be updated annually, including:

  • A disaster recovery plan
  • Recovery time objectives.

A business continuity plan should detail what provisions will be in place. It should plan to ensure consistency of supply in the event of:

  • Vehicle and/or equipment failure
  • Adverse weather conditions
  • Major road disruptions and fuel shortages
  • Industrial dispute/staff shortages
  • Receivership
  • Loss of information technology
  • Loss of premises.

It could also include, but shouldn’t be limited to the details of:

  • When and how the plan will be implemented
  • Safeguarding arrangements
  • Fallback contact details
  • Fallback relocation plans
  • Temporary arrangements
  • Arrangements for reviewing and modifying the contingency plan.
  1. Qualifications and accreditations

Buyers will be expecting you to provide your business’s relevant qualifications and accreditations. They will expect you to keep up with best practice as gritting can be a dangerous job. A few examples that could be required is:

  • ISO 9001; 14001
  • OSHAS 18001
  • RIDDOR
  • Health and Safety Management policies
  • Risk assessment.

You will likely be asked to provide these as attached tender documents in the appendices.

  1. References

Organisations commissioning gritting tenders will often require you to provide references of previous contracts you’ve worked on. A buyer may ask for up to three past case studies of contracts you’ve completed within the last five years. A question that’s asking for references may be phrased like this:

Please provide details of 3 previous contracts which you have won. The details must be for like contracts with a duration of at least 12 months, if possible. If you are unable to provide details of contracts with a duration of at least 12 months, please provide details of your longest contracts.”

These case studies and references should be similar in scope and complexity, demonstrating your business’s capabilities.

  1. Social value

If applying for gritting tenders in the public sector, you will need to consider your social value policies. There is now a mandatory minimum weighting of 10% within public sector tenders. This is because the government is obligated to take steps towards a more sustainable procurement practice.

You will need to consider the social, economic and environmental aspects of the contract. Buyers will be looking for suppliers that make promises they can keep. You could include social values such as:

  • Equal opportunity and diversity policies you implement to ensure a fair and diverse workplace.
  • COVID-19 recovery.
  • Environmental considerations such as reducing waste and tackling climate change.
  • Reduction of carbon emissions.
  • Employment of local labour to tackle unemployment.
  • Apprenticeships and encouragement of creating new skills.
  • Paying staff National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality.
  1. Pricing

Gritting tenders are often assessed on three things:

  • Quality
  • Cost
  • Social value (for public sector organisations).

The weighting of all of the above can vary greatly depending on the buyer. Pricing your services correctly is important. You want to make sure that the price you submit is accurate and one you can keep. Buyers will likely expect the price you detail in your tender response to be fixed and final. You shouldn’t undercut the price of your services. It may result in the buyer questioning the legitimacy of your services.

Need help writing your next gritting tenders?

Buyers care about the quality of your written gritting tender response. You might not have the resources, experience or time to write a winning bid and that’s ok. The average bid response totals 6,000 words. You have enough on your plate as a business owner. Outsourcing your gritting tenders to a bid writing service can help you win more contracts whilst saving you time.

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have over 60 years of bid writing experience and boast an 87% success rate. They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win gritting tenders. Whether you aren’t seeing success from your tendering efforts, or need your response proofread before you submit – we can help.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect gritting tender for your business, send it our way. Our Bid Writers will let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They can take care of the whole bid for you and they’ll even submit it on your behalf. This can save you time, allowing you to focus on delivering work.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for those who are completely new to tendering. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything you need in place to tender successfully. The Tender Ready programme offers your business:

  • A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding professionals
  • An organisation-wide Bid Library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

Tender Improvement

Tender Improvement can help if you aren’t seeing the desired results from your tendering efforts. The Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders and additional tendering development services.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Team will ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit. They’ll proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes.

Where can I find gritting tenders?

Finding the right gritting tender for your business can take hours out of your day. There are thousands of websites and portals that post tendering opportunities daily. Each may require you to have a different login and password from the next, it can turn into a full-time job. You would expect there to be a simple solution.

Enter…Facilities Tenders

Facilities Tenders is one easy-to-navigate, centralised portal that hosts all the live tenders from the facilities management industry. It’s a time-saving tool that can help streamline the tendering process. Our Opportunity Trackers manually search and upload tenders from across the UK. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes! They post exclusive, public and private sector opportunities. You’re able to filter and search the results by keyword, budget, location and more. This helps you to find the perfect gritting tenders for your business.

A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders offers your business:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector opportunities within the facilities management industry.
  • A dedicated Account Manager that’s available to answer any questions you may have about gritting tenders. They can help you understand the procurement process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants each month.

Below are previous gritting tenders sourced on our portal:

ID3715 Winter Maintenance — Stansted Airport

Stansted Airport Ltd- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Bulk Supply of De-icing Salt for Winter Road Surface Treatment

North Yorkshire County Council- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: £15,000,000

Grounds Maintenance including Winter Gritting

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire- East Midlands- Budget: £650,000

Roads and Car Park Winter Gritting from 1st November 2020 to 30th April 2021/HMCD

The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

Provision of Winter Gritting Services

PD Teesport Limited- North East- Budget: £20,000

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for gritting tenders for your business.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid strategy.
  • Weekly phone calls with your Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Boiler Contracts in the UK: What to Expect

How are boiler contracts in the UK evaluated?

Boiler contracts in the UK are constantly put out to tender due to the nature of the British climate. Tendering for work can be beneficial to your business, and you should consider it as a viable business expansion option. Boiler contracts in the UK can range in duration from a few months to multiple years. Securing them can create a constant stream of work.

Boiler contracts in the UK could be required for a number of reasons such as:

  • Replacement of boilers
  • Boiler servicing
  • Maintenance and service of boilers
  • Design and installation of replacement boilers.

The contracts could be released by a wide range of both private and public sector organisations. Universities, councils, schools, residential and commercial buildings have a need to maintain the upkeep of boilers throughout the year.

Regulations, qualifications and accreditations

A tender response for boiler contracts in the UK will require you to be up to date with certain regulations. A buyer wants to be reassured that you uphold best practice. Therefore, they will likely require you to have certain qualifications and accreditations. These will help demonstrate your company’s capability.

  • Health & Safety at Work Act of 1974
  • Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations of 1999
  • Provision of Use of Work Equipment regulations of 1998 & Amendment 2018
  • Boiler work carried out in relation to the latest British Standards relevant to the type of boiler being worked on
  • CHAS
  • Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998
  • CDM 2015.

Staffing

Buyers will often ask for details on your staff that you expect will work on the project. They may ask for the following:

  • Personal identification
  • Sub-contractors.

Site visits

The tendering process for boiler contracts in the UK may allow for site visits. This will be detailed within the specification. Sometimes it’s mandatory, sometimes it’s optional and sometimes it might not be offered at all.

If they are optional, it’s highly recommended that you go as they can really strengthen your tender response. Site visits give you the opportunity to see the proposed working environment. They may even allow you to develop more accurate pricing and gain an insight into the buyer.

The award criteria

The award criteria for boiler contracts in the UK is typically split into two or three areas, depending on the buyer. These can be the following:

  1. Pricing

Pricing your bid right is an important part of any tender. You want to be realistic. Don’t submit a price just to undercut your competitors. A buyer will often expect the cost of your services to be fixed and final. If you price unrealistically then run overbudget while fulfilling the contract, a buyer won’t be best pleased.

Public sector businesses will often look at more than just price. They award the bid to the most economically advantageous tender. This means that the cheapest bid does not win. Public sector businesses will be looking at a combination of factors. These could include:

  • Accessibility
  • Customer service
  • Innovation
  • Ability to deliver on time
  • Quality
  • Environmental factors.

However, if tendering for UK boiler contracts in the private sector, it would be a different story. Private sector businesses don’t have to meet certain policies or requirements on how they spend their money. They may award to a contract based simply on price.

  1. Customer requirements

For boiler contracts in the UK, you may be required to detail the service delivery and your technical capacity. You may be asked questions like the following:

“Please explain how the account will be managed and the structure of the personnel involved.”

“Please describe how your organisation will provide technical support and advise prior to, during and after work completion.” 

“Implementation plan: How will your organisation ensure the successful implementation and subsequent delivery of the contract. Consider different establishments with different due dates on their servicing schedules.”

  1. The environment and sustainability

This section can also be known as added value or social value depending on the contract. For public sector buyers social value has a mandatory minimum weighting of 10%. This means it is not something to skip over when applying for public sector contracts. Buyers care about your response and want to see you making promises you can keep. It’s expected that you have considered the environmental, social and economic aspects of the contract. These could include:

  • COVID-19 recovery.
  • Environmental considerations in place such as reducing waste and encouraging recycling.
  • Paying staff the National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality
  • The equal opportunity policies you implement.
  • How you are creating new skills or jobs via employment of local labour or apprenticeships.

This section is often where you would detail ISO 14001 or equivalent. Examples of such social value and environment questions that could be asked are as follows:

“Please detail the initiatives you intend to employ to minimise or reduce adverse environmental impact incurred in delivery of this contract, including the scheduling of site visits to reduce carbon in transportation.”

“Your organisation’s internal policies, processes and procedures in relation to environmental management including how they are regularly monitored and updated.”

“Please describe any initiatives that will be in place within your organisation to reduce the impact you have on carbon emissions in relation to this contract, including but not limited to energy reduction within your premises and fleet; and keeping transportation of goods to a minimum in relation to this contract. Your response may also include any other initiatives that will be in one place within your organisation to offset your carbon emissions in relation to this contract.”

Need assistance writing a bid for UK boiler contracts?

You may not have the time or resources in house to write a winning tender response for boiler contracts. Writing isn’t everyone’s strong suit and navigating bid responses can be difficult and confusing. So, why not outsource it to a bid writing service?

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have an 87% success rate and over 60 years of bid writing experience. They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win your next boiler contracts in the UK. Whether you’re completely new to tendering, or need your response proofread before you submit – we can help.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect boiler contract for your business, send it our way. Our Bid Writers can take care of it all for you and they’ll even submit it on your behalf. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. 

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for those who have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything you need in place to tender successfully. The Tender Ready programme offers your business:

  • A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding professionals
  • An organisation-wide Bid Library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

Tender Improvement

Tender Improvement can help if you aren’t seeing the desired results from your tendering efforts. The Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders and additional tendering development services.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Team will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit.

Where can I find boiler contracts in the UK?

Finding the right boiler contracts in the UK can take up a lot of your day. There are multiple sites and portals that host opportunities, each requiring you to have a different login. Many of them post multi-industry opportunities and searching for sector-specific leads can turn into a full-time job.

Luckily for you, we have a time-saving tool that can help optimise your search using one, easy-to-navigate centralised portal. Facilities Tenders is a portal that hosts all live tendering opportunities within the facilities management industry. There’s no reliance on inaccurate CPV codes!

Our Opportunity Trackers source and upload exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK. You’re able to filter and search the results by keyword, budget, location and more. This streamlines the process, allowing you to find the perfect UK boiler contracts for your business.

Below are previous boiler contracts in the UK sourced on our portal:

Parkfield High School Boiler Re-Location and Associated Mechanical, Electrical and Builders Works

Wolverhampton City Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

Newchurch Primary School Boiler Works

Isle of Wight Council- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

Boiler replacement – Hanworth Air Park Leisure Centre Feltham

London Borough of Hounslow- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Beneavin De La Salle College

Beneavin De La Salle College- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Design and Installation of Replacement Boilers and Associated Mechanical Plant at City Hall

Norwich City Council- Eastern- Budget: £500,000

A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders offers your business:

  • Access to all exclusive, public and private sector opportunities within the facilities management industry.
  • An on-hand Account Manager that’s available to answer any questions you may have about boiler contracts in the UK. They can help you understand the procurement process and answer any questions you have about the tendering process in general.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new sector-specific opportunities are uploaded.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants each month.

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for boiler contracts in the UK.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable facilities tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

School Maintenance Contracts Explained

School maintenance contracts and where to find them

School maintenance contracts often involve maintaining and updating an inventory of equipment and building fixtures within a school premises. These duties require service contracts as educational institutions often look to outsourcing the works or services.

School maintenance contracts can cover a wide range of services. These could include:

The tendering process

Tendering for school maintenance contracts generally follows a standard process. You will often need to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) or a selection questionnaire (SQ). This is a preliminary stage that establishes if you meet the necessary minimum eligibility criteria. It’s usually a box-ticking exercise that generally asks for the following information:

  • Company information
  • Subcontractor information
  • Economic and financial standing
  • Health and safety policy and risk assessment
  • Grounds for mandatory exclusion
  • Non-collusion statement
  • Equality and diversity policy
  • Environmental policy
  • Modern Slavery policy.

Once you have passed this initial stage, you’ll be shortlisted and sent an invitation to tender (ITT). This is called a closed tender. This stage requires you to write your tender responses to the buyer’s questions. The tender documents will contain information such as:

  • A buyer profile – detailing the buyer’s overall missions and objectives.
  • The award criteria – detailing how the tender is awarded and evaluated.
  • Specification – an in-depth document detailing what’s required.
  • Separate appendices – these vary depending on what’s being procured, it can include pricing schedules or key performance indicators for example.

Framework agreements

Framework agreements are often used as a tendering procedure for school maintenance contracts within the public sector. A framework agreement is a multi-supplier agreement that can run for months or several years. They allow a potential supplier to be able to supply a certain good, work or service within a wider contract.

Framework agreements can be split into lots. These lots typically refer to specific goods, services or locations. A supplier need only apply to the specific lot they can deliver. This allows them to be a part of a wider contract, without needing to fulfil all aspects. A framework agreement for school maintenance contracts could look something like this:

  • Lot 1 – The Provision and Installation of Electrical Equipment
  • Lot 2 – Painting and Decorating Works
  • Lot 3 – Grounds Maintenance Services
  • Lot 4 – Manned Security
  • Lot 5 – Janitorial Cleaning

So, if your business specialises in janitorial cleaning, you need only apply to lot 5. Some framework agreements may allow suppliers to apply for multiple lots, although this is often capped at three. When applying to multiple lots, you will need to supply the buyer with evidential proof of your capability. You will need to demonstrate that you have the necessary resources, money, experience and ability to deliver all three.

Methods of measurement  

There are often multiple methods of measurement for school maintenance contracts. These could include, but aren’t limited to the following:

Each aspect can be assessed either individually or as a mix. A buyer is looking for those tenders that score highly across the board. The weightings for the evaluation of school maintenance contracts vary depending on the buyer’s needs.

A private buyer is not restricted by the same policies and processes as a public buyer is. They are able to choose the cheapest bid if they want. However, a public buyer must award the bid to the most economically advantageous tender. This is because a public buyer must demonstrate the most value for money when spending taxpayer’s money.

Social value and sustainability

Schools routinely purchase products and services and it’s up to them if they purchase sustainable consumer goods. With many wanting to head towards more sustainable procurement of products and services, they may wish to purchase:

  • Cleaning products with reduced environmental impacts
  • Recycled paper and stationery products
  • Kitchen equipment that’s energy efficient
  • Vehicles that are fuel efficient
  • Water efficiency equipment
  • Office machinery that’s energy efficient.

When tendering in the public sector, there’s now a mandatory minimum weighting on 10% on social value. A supplier will need to assess the relevant economic, environmental and social aspects while carrying out the contract. These could include the following examples:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • The environmental considerations taken
  • Creation of new jobs to tackle unemployment
  • Equal opportunities and diversity policies implemented
  • Paying employees the National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality.

Need help with tenders for school maintenance contracts?

Writing a tender response for school maintenance contracts can turn into quite the headache. You may have multiple deadlines on the horizon or lack the resources to write a winning response in-house. Luckily for you, we have the solution.

Our sister company Hudson Succeed, have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win school maintenance contracts.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect school maintenance contract for your business, why not send it to Hudson Succeed? Our Bid Writers can take care of it all for you. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Team will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing the results you want, our Tender Improvement package can help. The Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders and additional tendering development services.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is perfect for those who have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything you need in place to tender successfully. The 4-week programme offers your business:

  • A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding professionals
  • An organisation-wide Bid Library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

Where can I find school maintenance contracts?

So now you know what to expect from tenders for school maintenance contracts. The wide variety spreads into multiple sectors. Finding the right one for your business can take time. Wading through hundreds of tender sites trying to find a suitable opportunity isn’t for everyone. We have a time-saving tool that can help optimise your search.

Facilities Tenders is a portal that hosts all the live tendering opportunities within the facilities management industry. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes! Our Opportunity Trackers source and upload exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK. You’re able to filter and search the results by keyword, budget, location and more. This streamlines the process, allowing you to find the perfect school maintenance contracts for your business.

Below are previous school maintenance contracts sourced on our portal:

Multi-Party Framework Agreement for Building Maintenance Services at Maynooth University

Maynooth University- International- Budget: £8,000,000

Planned and Responsive Repairs and Maintenance Contractor Framework

PROSPER- North East- Budget: Undisclosed

Panel of Approved Works Contractors for General Works

Athlone Institute of Technology- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Automatic and roller shutter doors maintenance and service contract

Lancaster University- North West- Budget: £268,000

Quantum Technology Centre Cleanroom Service and Maintenance

University of Lancaster- North West- Budget: £25,000

What makes Facilities Tenders different?

With a subscription to Facilities Tenders, your business will have access to all exclusive, private and public sector opportunities. An on-hand Account Manager will be able to answer any questions you have about finding school maintenance contracts. They’ll also be able to answer any queries you may have about the procurement and tendering process in general.

A daily email bulletin is sent straight to your inbox when new tenders are uploaded. The 12-month subscription also includes discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division. Moreover, you will be entitled to 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants each month.

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for school maintenance contract tenders.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable facilities tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Solar Energy Contracts: 3 Things to Expect When Tendering

The benefits of tendering for solar energy contracts in the public sector

Solar energy contracts can be confusing if you don’t know what to expect. You can expect to find opportunities in both the private and public sector. Solar energy contracts are more abundant in the public sector. There are many advantages to winning a contract and they can be lucrative opportunities for your business. Typically, solar energy contracts are used for the provision and installation of solar panels.

Solar energy contracts can range from thousands to multi-millions. Most recently, Aberystwyth University unveiled plans for a £2.5 million investment in ground-mount solar PV. Many businesses and universities are taking greater steps into becoming carbon neutral, turning to renewable and sustainable energy.

Both the public and private sectors are looking to invest more in green and innovative solutions. They coincide with the Prime Ministers Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. It’s expected that there are soon to be many more solar energy contracts in order to meet these sustainability targets.

Why tender for work?

If you are on the fence about tendering for work, you may be wondering if the hassle is worth it. Well, there are multiple benefits and advantages when tendering for work. These include: 

  1. The Government’s SME spending target

If you’re an SME, you may be wondering if you even have a chance tendering for work against bigger multi-nationals. Well, all is not lost. The government has an aim to spend £1 in £3 with SMEs by 2022. This means that the government is actively looking to award contracts to smaller businesses. There has never been a better time to consider tendering as a viable route for business expansion.

  1. Guaranteed pay in the public sector

One of the biggest advantages of tendering for work is that you are guaranteed payment. This is applicable if applying for solar energy contracts in the public sector. Successful suppliers are guaranteed pay upon winning a contract. The Crown Commissioning Service (CCS) must comply with the Prompt Payment Code. This means that they must pay within 60-days on invoicing which is reassuring to any business.

  1. Securing a pipeline of work

Winning a position on a framework or Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) can secure a pipeline of work for your business. Contracts on these systems can range in duration from a few months to multiple years, with the possibility of extension. This can help drive sustainability for your business when applying for solar energy contracts.

Hopefully, the above points have persuaded you that tendering is a viable route that can help grow your business. Next, you may be wondering what you can expect when tendering for solar energy contracts.

3 things to expect when bidding for solar energy contracts

  1. You may need to join a framework agreement

Solar energy contracts can often be found as part of a framework agreement. Framework agreements are multi-supplier agreements that are used by the public sector to procure goods or services. The length of framework agreements can last years and occasionally offer the possibility of an extension.

Framework agreements are often split up into lots. These lots are used for a specific good, service or location. They allow suppliers to tender for work, applying for the lot(s) that they can deliver. This means they don’t have to be able to provide all aspects of the contract. Depending on the framework agreement, suppliers can apply for multiple lots with the maximum typically being three. If this is an option, buyer’s will likely require evidential proof that if successful you can fulfil their needs.

  1. The most economically advantageous tender wins

A public sector contract will usually be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender, known as the MEAT. This means that buyers are looking at more than just price. It’s worth noting that the cheapest bid does not always win. They are often looking at a range of factors within your bid for solar energy contracts.

The public sector must deliver the most value for money when it comes to public spending of the taxpayer’s money. The buyer will look at a combination of factors that could include the following:

  • Innovation
  • Sustainability
  • Quality
  • Accessibility
  • Technical ability
  • Ability to deliver on time.
  1. Be prepared to demonstrate social value

Social value has a mandatory minimum weighting of 10% in public sector contracts. In some tenders, it may be as much as 30%, so it’s not something you should gloss over. Social value in solar energy contracts should focus on the environmental, economic and social aspects when carrying out the contract. Although the nature of solar energy contracts is green and sustainable in nature, social value is still important. Your business could include the following aspects:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • Supporting the local community
  • Creating new jobs and skills tackling unemployment
  • Environmental considerations such as tackling climate change
  • Equality and diversity policies
  • Reducing waste and encouraging recycling
  • Paying National Living Wage to employees to tackle economic inequality.

Need assistance with writing a tender for solar energy contracts?

Sometimes you might not have the experience, resources or time in-house to write a winning bid response. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win your next bid for solar energy contracts.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect solar energy contract for your business, why not send it to Hudson Succeed? Our Bid Writers can take care of it all for you. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is perfect for those who have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything you need in place to tender successfully. The 4-week programme offers your business:

  • A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding professionals
  • An organisation-wide Bid Library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing the results you want, our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. The Bid Team will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit it.

How to source solar energy contracts

Sourcing the right solar energy contracts for your business can create quite a headache. Searching for opportunities can turn into a full-time job. Thousands of websites across the UK post multi-industry tenders daily. Keeping track of the right opportunities for your business can take hours. Hours you could be spending on running your business. Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Our Facilities Tenders portal hosts all the live tendering opportunities within the facilities management and energy industry. Our Opportunity Trackers source and upload exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK.

You are able to filter and search for the results by keyword, budget, location and more. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes! Our tender portal is the perfect time-saving tool, helping you find the right tender opportunities for your business.

Below are previous solar energy contracts sourced on our portal:

1.2MWp Solar Farm, Solar PV, Battery Storage and Private Wire E.P.C and Maintenance Services

Exeter City Council- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

Daventry District Council- DC Isolation of Solar Arrays Industrial Buildings and Daventry Leisure Centre

LGSS- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

Electrical Balance of Plant Services for Timahoe Solar Farm

Bord Na Mona- International- Budget: £5,000,000

Installation of Solar Panels at the Depot

Harrow Council- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

Installation of Solar Photovoltaic Panels for Powis Hall Market

Oswestry Town Council- West Midlands- Budget: £80,000

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

What’s included in a subscription to Facilities Tenders? 

A subscription to our Facilities Tenders portal offers your business:

  • Access to all unique, private and public sector opportunities across the facilities management and energy industry.
  • A dedicated Account Manager to answer any questions you may have about finding solar energy contacts.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new tenders are uploaded that day.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants.

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tendering opportunities – even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for solar energy contracts for your business.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid strategy.
  • Weekly phone calls with your Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package offers your business:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

10 Things You Can Expect from Electrical Testing Contracts

Electrical Testing Contracts: The Fundamentals

Electrical testing contracts are highly competitive, so you want to make sure that you stand out from the crowd. Tendering for work can be a great way to grow your business. Electrical testing contracts are often required for the testing and installation of smoke and heat alarms and more. They’re used for other necessary electrical testing to ensure safety within a range of buildings such as commercial and residential.

Weighting of contracts

The weighting of electrical testing contracts can vary depending on each buyer’s needs. The weighting is always split between two sections which are cost and quality. A buyer will be looking for the response that scores highly on both sections.

10 things you can expect from electrical testing contracts

  1. Quality

Buyer’s care about the quality of your written response, no matter the industry you’re in. Even if the quality weighting is lower than the price, you want to ensure you score as high as possible.

  1. Mobilisation Plan

A mobilisation plan will likely be required within an invitation to tender (ITT) response for electrical testing contracts. A typical question that may be asked for mobilisation is:

“Please detail how your organisation would achieve mobilisation in time for the anticipated commencement date and also how your organisation will ensure the resources required are in place.”

You may find this question within the method statement section of your tender documents.

  1. Technical Ability

The technical ability section of electrical testing contracts may require you to provide evidence. This could be in the form CVs of the staff who will be delivering the contract. Buyer’s want to be reassured that your business and staff have the professional capabilities to deliver the requirements. CVs should include:

  • Title of the employee’s role
  • Key responsibilities
  • Any relevant qualifications and accreditations
  • A friendly and professional-looking image so they can put a face to a name.

Electrical testing contracts must ensure that suppliers meet the necessary regulations and standards. They should be up to date. These could include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

  • The Electricity At Work Regulations 1989
  • The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
  • BS 7671: Requirements for Electrical Installations
  • IET Guidance
  • HSE leaflets – Safety in Electrical Testing at Work
  • CDM Regulations 2015.
  1. Contract Monitoring

For contract monitoring, often the service provider will be required to report to the contractor. These could be standard reports and may need to cover Key Performance Indicators, health and safety incidents and service delivery.

  1. Service Levels

Service levels and performance within electrical testing contracts may require you to cover a number of different things. It depends on the buyer’s needs and should be stated within the specification. Tenderers may be required to demonstrate an effective and fully auditable process. Samples of the following documents may be required depending on the contract:

  • Work order
  • Quotations
  • Call outs
  • Property Appliance Test Results Report
  • Defective Appliance Report
  • Property Appliance Test Certificate.
  1. Health and Safety

You can always expect to include a health and safety response within electrical testing contracts. You will need to demonstrate to the buyer that you meet health and safety standards. These could include the following:

  • OSHAS 18001
  • RIDDOR
  • Safe Contractor.

Electrical testing contracts may also include relevant risk assessments ensuring best practice. Most recently, this could include social distancing measures, inspection photographs and testing of replacement alarms if necessary.

  1. Added Value

Electrical testing contracts will include a section on added value. This is because a buyer wants you to not only supply the contract but bring added value to it. This could be in the form of social values and ensuring value for money. This section would also be where you would include your ISO 14001 or equivalent.

Public sector contracts require a mandatory minimum weighting of 10% on social value. Your business should take into consideration the environmental, social and economic aspects while fulfilling the contract. These could include:

  • How your organisation supports COVID-19 recovery.
  • Innovation or integration of new technology.
  • Equality and diversity policies.
  • The environmental considerations you have.
  • How your organisation is tackling economic inequality.
  • Tackling unemployment rates.
  • Use of local labour force or apprenticeships.
  1. Financial Standing

An organisation’s economic and financial standing will be assessed. This is because a contractor wants to know that the business they award the contract to is financially stable. It is a pass or fail area of any tender response. A buyer will assess your:

  • Annual turnover
  • Financial ratios
  • Insurance.
  1. References

A buyer will require evidential proof of the completion of past successful contracts. These are often called case studies and depending on the buyer, you may be asked to provide up to three. These should be tailored to demonstrate past contracts you have completed that’s similar in scope and complexity. They should highlight the benefits you have provided to a client.

Often, they will need to be previous electrical testing contracts you have delivered within the last three or five years. Depending on the word count for the response, you could include testimonials from previous happy clients. You could also include how you overcame any unexpected challenges, allowing you to exhibit your problem-solving skills.

  1. Cost

As mentioned above, there are two main areas a bid is assessed on – quality and cost. The pricing of your services matters in your electrical testing contracts response. You want to make sure you price your services right. You don’t want to undercut your competitors too much, it may lead the contractor to question your legitimacy. Plus, a buyer may expect your costs to be fixed and final. If you then end up going over budget, a contractor won’t be best pleased, so be realistic. Remember to include:

  • Subcontractor fees
  • Material costs
  • Labour costs.
  1. Site Visits

A good way to make sure you price your bid response right is by going on a site visit, if possible. Electrical testing contracts may offer the opportunity for you to partake in a site visit. It gives your business an opportunity to see the proposed working environment with your own eyes. They can help gain an insight into the buyer, allowing you to access information you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

Need help winning your next electrical testing contracts?

It can be tricky to write a winning tender for electrical testing contracts, particularly if you’ve never done it before. You may not have the time or resources in-house and outsourcing to a bid writing company can help.

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, boast an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of bid writing experience. They have secured direct contract wins totalling over £300million for their clients. They offer four bid writing support services.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect electrical testing contract for your business, why not send it to Hudson Succeed? Our Bid Writers can take care of it all for you. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. The Bid Team will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit it.

Tender Ready

The Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for businesses that have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything in place to tender successfully.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing the results you want, our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions. 

Where can I find electrical testing contracts?

Finding the right electrical testing contracts for your business can turn into quite a headache. Trawling multiple websites on the off chance you come across an opportunity that’s right for you. It can turn into a full-time job, but luckily for you we have a solution.

Our Facilities Tenders portal hosts all the live tendering opportunities within the facilities management industry. Our Opportunity Trackers source and upload unique, public and private sector opportunities from thousands of websites across the UK.

Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes! You’re able to filter the results by keyword, location, budget and more. This helps streamline the process so you can find the perfect tender that meets your criteria.

Below are previous electrical testing contracts sourced on our portal:

Fabrication & Installation of New Fire Escape at Dolgellau & Barmouth Hospital and Lla

NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust)- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

CTO83 Electrical Testing and Inspections Contract

Northern Ireland Housing Executive- Northern Ireland- Budget: £7,155,000

Design, Manufacture, Delivery, Installation & Commissioning of Excitation System, Generator Rotor Removal, Electrical Testing & Generator/Turbine Realignment at Electricity Supply Board (ESB) Ard

Electricity Supply Board (ESB)- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Electrical Testing

Peabody Trust- London- Budget: £36,500,000

Electrical Testing Programme & Other Specialist Electrical Works

Town & Country Housing- South East- Budget: £8,000,000

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

What’s included in a subscription to Facilities Tenders? 

A subscription to our Facilities Tenders portal offers your business:

  • Access to all unique, private and public sector opportunities across the Facilities Industry.
  • An on-hand Account Manager to answer any questions you may have about finding electrical testing contracts.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new facilities tenders are uploaded that day.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants.

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for electrical testing contracts for your business.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid strategy.
  • Weekly phone calls with your Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Property maintenance contract tenders: answering your FAQs

A guide to property maintenance contract tenders

Could your business benefit from winning property maintenance contract tenders? If you’re new to the tendering process, you may have some questions. We’d be more surprised if you didn’t, as the procurement world can be rather puzzling. This blog aims to answer some of your FAQs.

Who commissions property maintenance contract tenders?

Property maintenance contract tenders are offered in both the private and public sector. However, they are often more abundant in the public sector, specifically with Local Councils.

What’s the typical format of property maintenance contract tenders?

The typical format of property maintenance contract tenders is that initially, you will need to answer a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ). Selection questionnaires (SQs) are also used and are basically the same as a PQQ. They’re both initial stages and questionnaires used by buyers to establish if a potential supplier meets the minimum eligibility criteria.

They are both essentially box-ticking exercises that usually require you to include company information. You’ll also need to disclose any grounds for mandatory exclusion, company equality and diversity policies and financial thresholds. Once a business has passed this stage, they will then be given an invitation to tender (ITT). Successful suppliers will then go on to win the contract and perform the work.

What are property maintenance contract tender framework agreements?

Framework agreements are multi-supplier agreements that are often used within the public sector. The length of framework agreements can range from months to multiple years, with a possibility of extension.

Property maintenance contracts for tender will often have multiple services required for the job. Framework agreements split up specific goods, works or locations into Lots. This allows a potential supplier to still be involved in the contract, even if they can only supply one aspect of it. They do not need to be able to fulfil all areas of the contract. In some cases, suppliers can apply for multiple Lots, with the maximum often being capped at three. If this is an option, a buyer will expect proof that you have the resources to deliver all Lots.

How is a contract awarded?

A property maintenance contract tender is often awarded to the most economically advantageous tender, known as the MEAT. The MEAT is used in the public sector. It’s worth noting that the MEAT does not mean that the cheapest bid wins. Buyers are looking for the tender that presents the most value for money.

Often a buyer will look at a combination of factors both individually and as a whole. These can include, but aren’t limited to the following:

  • Innovation
  • Sustainability
  • Technical Ability
  • Accessibility
  • Environmental benefits
  • Quality
  • Social Characteristics.

How do I know if a property maintenance contract is right for my business?

You should read the tender documents and specification carefully – in full. Even if there are 70+ pages. You must fully digest them in order to make a logical decision on whether to bid or not to bid. Once you have done this, you should ask yourself:

  • Do I have the resources to carry out this contract?
  • Does my business meet the minimum eligibility and financial thresholds?
  • Do I have the required experience?
  • Do I have enough time to write a high-quality, winning response?

If the answer to any of the above is no, then it probably isn’t a good idea to take it any further. Asking yourself these questions before you jump in with writing your response can save you time and resources.

Does the quality of my written response to property maintenance tenders matter?

In short, yes. No matter the split on weightings for price and quality, the quality of your written response always matters. Buyers want to be confident that they are choosing the right business for the job at hand. Your tender response must persuade them that you are the best business and be convincing. You should use substantial evidence to back up any claims you are making.

Your written response for a property maintenance contract tender should be clear, concise and persuasive. Successful responses will pay attention to the word and page counts, getting their response as close as possible to them. If a buyer thinks a question should have a 700-word response, simply writing two sentences won’t suffice.

Where can I get support with my property maintenance contracts tenders?

It’s understandable that you may need a little extra help when it comes to writing your property maintenance contract tenders. Not every business has the time or resources in-house to write a winning response. Outsourcing is a great option that can help you win a pipeline of work for your business.

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, has over 60 years of collective bid writing experience, boasting an 87% success rate. They can help you stand out from your competitors by writing a winning, quality response. There are four bid writing support packages that can help you win your next property maintenance contract tenders.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for businesses that have never tendered before. Our Bid Writers will work with you to make sure you have everything in place to tender successfully. Tender Ready offers your business:

  • A 12-month subscription to Construction Tenders.
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding Professionals.
  • An Organisation-wide Bid library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies.
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing the result you want our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect property maintenance contract tender for your business – send it our way. Our Bid Writers will take care of it all for you, letting you know what they need from you. They’ll provide you with a full Tender Writing breakdown, and even submit the bid on your behalf.

Tender Mentor

If your property maintenance contract tender response needs proofreading before submission – send it over. Our Tender Mentor service can make sure your response is free of grammar and spelling mistakes before you submit. Our Bid Writers will proof it, checking it’s in line with the specification.

Where can I find property maintenance contract tenders?

Finding the right property maintenance contract tenders can take hours out of your day. Hours that you could otherwise be spending on running your business.

Enter…Facilities Tenders!

Facilities Tenders is a portal that hosts all the live tendering opportunities within the facilities management industry. Our Opportunity Trackers manually search and upload facility tender opportunities from thousands of sources across the UK.

By manually uploading each tender opportunity, you’ll never miss a tender again due to unreliable CPV codes. You’re able to filter and search the results by keyword, location, budget and more. This can be a great time-saving tool, allowing you to find the perfect property maintenance contract tenders for your business.

Below are previous property maintenance contract tenders sourced on our portal:

BOCSI-MNT2-CL – Property Maintenance Services for BOCSI Clare Region – Framework Agreement v2

BCM Business Cost Management Limited- International- Budget: Undisclosed

GB-Boston: Property Maintenance

Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk- Eastern- Budget: £500,000

I-Flair Property Maintenance Framework Agreement 2020-2024

Ferguslie Park Housing Association Ltd- Scotland- Budget: £68,383,879

LAB1 – Provide a Comprehensive Range of Property Maintenance Services and General Building Assistance

Legal Aid Board- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Property Maintenance – Locksmiths

East Dunbartonshire Council- Scotland- Budget: £150,000

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

What’s included in a subscription to Facilities Tenders? 

A subscription to our Facilities Tenders portal offers your business:

  • Access to all unique, private and public sector opportunities across the Facilities Industry.
  • An on-hand Account Manager to answer any questions you may have about finding property maintenance contract tenders.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new facilities tenders are uploaded that day.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy with one of our Bid Consultants.

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to optimise your tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for property maintenance contract tenders for your business.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable facilities tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Cleaning Contracts: A Complete Guide to Finding and Securing Cleaning Contracts

Everything you need to know to find & win cleaning contracts

Finding cleaning contracts can turn into a bit of a minefield if you don’t know where to look. There are thousands of websites posting new cleaning contracts, in the form of tendering opportunities, daily across the UK.

Buyers procuring cleaning contracts can in sectors from education, local authorities, SMEs, public spaces, leisure centres, supermarkets and more. They can have varied budgets ranging from £5,000 to multi-million-pound frameworks.

If you’ve never tendered before, you may have some questions. This blog will provide answers to your cleaning contract FAQs as well as some top tips on winning the bids.

So, let’s start off with an easy one…

Can I buy cleaning contracts?

You may be wondering if you can just buy cleaning contracts, and you are not alone. However, the answer to your question is short and simple – no.

The cleaning business has always been a highly competitive marketplace. This is true now more than ever. COVID-19 has led to a steep increase in both the public and private sectors putting out increased cleaning contracts. Unfortunately, you can’t just go out and buy cleaning contracts. So, here’s how to go about it instead.

What is tendering?

Let’s start off with a simple question – what is tendering? Cleaning contracts are primarily procured through tendering. This is when a business requires a good or a service that they can’t do themselves. Or, if the business contract exceeds the public sector threshold, they will then be put out to tender. Then, any potential suppliers can respond to this call with their tender response.

A number of businesses may want to procure cleaning services, and the cleaning sector itself is vast. It covers areas such as:

  • Residential
  • Educational Institutions
  • Commercial
  • Corporate
  • Industrial
  • Local government
  • Culture and Heritage Sites

However, don’t despair. This blog will tell you how to secure a cleaning tender instead as you’re unable to buy cleaning contracts.

A 10-step guide to how to secure a cleaning contract:

  1. Tracking the opportunity

Making sure you are tendering for the right opportunities for your businesses is vital. This ensures consistent growth and development which could lead to expansion. In order to do this, you need to know where to find the right opportunities for your business.

This can be done via tendering portals. We host live cleaning contract opportunities on our Facilities Tenders portal. You can filter the live results via keyword, budget, location and more on one site. This saves you countless hours that would otherwise be spent trawling hundreds of websites daily.

Here are some past cleaning contracts that were sourced on our portal:

ATD Specialist Cleaning 2021

Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency- Eastern- Budget: £60,000

Cleaning – Dynamic Purchasing System

Advantage South West- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

Hall Green School – Cleaning Tender

Hall Green School- West Midlands- Budget: £435,000

Mobile Cleaning Operative

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council- West Midlands- Budget: £5,000

Provision of Cleaning Services

Leicester City Council- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

Join Facilities Tenders

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Once you have sourced what you think is the right opportunity for your business, you should ask yourself:

  • Do I have the experience?
  • Can I fulfil this contract?
  • Are there any turnover requirements?
  • Do I have the specified qualifications and accreditations?

If you can answer yes to all of the above, then you should proceed onto the PQQ or SQ stage.

  1. PQQ

pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) or a selection questionnaire (SQ) are used to establish the minimum eligibility criteria of a business. You may be asked to submit evidence of past contracts your business has carried out, or your businesses financial standing.

  1. ITT

An ITT stands for an invitation to tender. This is the next step of the tendering process if your company is shortlisted from the PQQ or SQ stage. An ITT is a formal document that’s issued by the buyer outlining the scope of the project. This invites a business to submit a formal tender for work.

An ITT is different from a PQQ or SQ because it outlines how you will commit to the project delivery. It often includes quality questions. They’ll ask how you carry out certain processes, what equipment you use, or what policies you have in place.

An ITT is often evaluated using the MEAT.

  1. MEAT

The most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) method means that the buyer is looking at more than just the price. They are putting a certain percentage on price but are also looking at the quality of your response, too. A combined score from these two weightings will establish a final score. The organisation with the best overall score is then awarded the contract.

  1. Social Value

You want to ensure when applying for opportunities in the public sector that you have thought about social value. There is now a mandatory 10% weighting on social value within a quality response. In some cases, it can hold a weight of up to 30%. You should take into consideration the social, economic and environmental aspects of the contract.

The buyer wants to know the commitments you’re making and ones you can keep. This new social value model came into use within the UK in January 2021. Perhaps you use eco-friendly products and are passionate about waste reduction.

Within your response, you could note:

  • How your organisation supports COVID-19 recovery.
  • The environmental considerations you have in place.
  • What equal opportunities you’ve implemented.
  • How you’re creating new jobs and developing new skills within the local community.
  • That you pay all employees the UK Living Wage.
  1. Provide Evidence

Up to three case studies may be required when submitting a tender response. It’s standard across public sector tendering for the buyer to ask for at least three past contracts of work. The case studies typically need to have been completed within the last five years.

It’s best to match your case studies to work of a similar scope that you have carried out. Testimonials from happy clients are always a plus. This demonstrates to the buyer that you are able to carry out the contract.

You need to make sure your cases studies are:

  • Detailed
  • Thorough
  • Well-developed
  • Showcase your company’s abilities.
  • Back up what you’re saying with evidence.

For example, imagine there is a contract that is looking to procure cleaning services of a primary school in Cheshire. You could include case studies of cleaning services you’ve carried out in a primary school of a similar location. Or, you could showcase the work you have carried out in other educational institutions.

  1. Relate to the specification

It is vital that you showcase your understanding of the specification in your response. Your response should demonstrate that you can provide the service that the buyer is looking for. The tender documentation for cleaning contracts will often include a specification of the exact requirements for the cleaning task needed. It’s imperative that you reference this in your method statement. This proves that you are aware of the buyer’s requirements and you are capable of delivering them.

For example, a buyer requires a certain room cleaning within an office using a specific piece of equipment. Make sure you replicate this scenario in your response. If you ignore it, you imply that you haven’t read the documentation properly. This will be greatly off-putting to buyers.

  1. Framework agreements

If you’re new to tendering, a framework agreement may be a good place to start. They can help you build up experience if you don’t already have it.

Frameworks are multi-supplier agreements, meaning there are often more places available. They typically run over longer terms ranging from 2 – 10 years. If you secure a place on a public sector framework, it can be a very lucrative opportunity for your business. This is because it is a guaranteed form of income, which can bring you peace of mind.

As you cannot buy cleaning contracts, applying for a framework agreement is a great opportunity that’s not to be missed. Buyers release a framework opportunity and then places are awarded to the best suppliers. Goods and services on frameworks are often divided into ‘Lots’. This means your business doesn’t have to fulfil the whole contract – only the chosen section.

You may find it useful to contact your local council to request to be considered for framework agreements. You should ask if they have any open as a subcontractor. This will allow you to build your company’s experience and is a great place to start if you’re an SME.  

  1. Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS)

DPS’ are similar to framework agreements in that there are multiple suppliers on one system. They can run for years at a time and your business is able to join at any point while it’s open.

  1. Bid Writing Services

If you still need help with writing a cleaning contract response – we can help. Here at Hudson, we are experts in Bid Writing. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have an 87% success rate and over 40-years bidding experience across multiple industries.

We offer four Bid Writing services to help you secure your next contract:

  1. The Tender Readyprogramme
  2. Tender Improvementpackage
  3. Tender Mentorservice
  4. Tender Writing

So, instead of wondering if you can buy cleaning contracts, you now know how to apply through the tendering process.

Now you know that you can’t buy cleaning contracts, you may be wondering what is required from them. Cleaning contracts can cover a multitude of services. For example, janitorial, commercial, school cleaning, window cleaning, toilet blocks, specialist cleans and more.

Commercial cleaning contracts are often used to procure cleaning services for commercial buildings. Buyers can be in either the public or private sector. If you are unsure on whether you should be tendering for commercial cleaning contracts, the following advantages may help.

The advantages of tendering for commercial cleaning contracts

Tendering for work can have many advantages, particularly when tendering in the public sector. The procurement process has been updated by the government in order to level the playing field for SMEs. The government are actively looking to spend £1 in £3 with SMEs. This means there has never been a better time to tender for work as a smaller business. Other advantages for commercial cleaning contracts include:

Guaranteed pay

When doing business with public sector organisation, they are legally obligated to pay you upon winning a contract. The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) goes one step further and must pay its suppliers within 60-days of invoicing. This is to comply with the Prompt Payment Code. This creates a great piece of mind when tendering for work, particularly if you’re a first-time supplier.

Gain experience

Commercial cleaning contracts can enable you to gain experience. Such experience is crucial when tendering for work, as mentioned above. Buyers will require case studies and the more contracts you fulfil, the more experience you will have. This can then lead your business to apply for bigger contracts, helping your business grow.

Sustainability

Tendering for commercial cleaning contracts can help secure a pipeline of work for your business. Winning a place on a long-term contract, DPS or framework can create a sustainable future for your business. Our Bid Writers have helped our clients to secure upwards of four years of income from one win. This is no doubt one of the biggest advantages of tendering, and an attractive prospect to any business.

Make contacts

When carrying out a commercial cleaning contract, you will be forming new business relationships. This will help you work with more buyers as you will be making contracts. When tendering for future commercial cleaning contracts, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you’ve had previous happy clients.

Every business owner knows that without contacts, you’re in danger of your business plateauing. Building a base of contacts and connections can present your business with new opportunities. These opportunities may then lead to collaborations and inter-trading.

These advantages should convince you that there has never been a better time to tender. Your cleaning business should seriously consider tendering as a viable strategy for business growth.

Top Tips for Winning Janitorial Cleaning Bids

Janitorial cleaning bids can cover a range of services across a range of buildings, homes, and public facilities. At Facilities Tenders we source tenders for public and private sector janitorial work, including:

  • Government and public service bids, i.e. cleaning public sector care homes.
  • Commercial bids, i.e. cleaning museums.
  • Outdoor bids, i.e. gutter cleaning.
  • Transport bids, i.e. bus washing services.
  • Education bids, i.e. school cleaning.
  • Energy and utility bids, i.e. supplying gas and power.
  • Construction bids, i.e. deep cleaning of a company’s units/vans.
  • Industrial bids, i.e. cleaning power station facilities.

See a service your company provides? Great. If not, this is just a small selection of available opportunities for cleaning services – we source hundreds! Book a free live demo to view which live tenders are currently available near you.

Below are some previous janitorial cleaning tenders sourced on our portal:

Cleaning & Janitorial Services 2020

ITSLIGO- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Cleaning and Janitorial Materials and Washroom Services

National Procurement Service (Welsh Government)- Wales- Budget: £12,000,000

Cleaning and Janitorial Supplies

North Western Universities Purchasing Consortium Limited- North West- Budget: £12,000,000

GB-Leicester: COVID 19 Related PPE and Janitorial

University of Leicester- East Midlands- Budget: £100,000

Provision of Cleaning and Janitorial Services at the British High Commission Islamabad & British Deputy High Commissions at Karachi and Lahore

Foreign & Commonwealth Office- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Why should you tender for janitorial cleaning work?

Tendering isn’t just for large companies – solo service providers and small to medium enterprise (SMEs) can benefit too! Our bid writing division, Hudson Succeed, have worked closely with a range of cleaning businesses to win janitorial cleaning bids. There’s potential for huge business growth through tendering, and there are always contracts out there to bid for. The Opportunity Trackers at our tender tracking branch, Facilities Tenders, source new public sector janitorial opportunities every day!

Here are 7 things to consider before – and during – a janitorial cleaning bid!

1. Research the industry

What are the implications for the cleaning industry after a year like 2020? Firstly – cleaning service providers deserve national praise for the exceptionally important role they’ve played throughout the pandemic in 2020! Many cleaning and hygiene key workers have been on the frontline, fighting the virus, throughout the year. In 2020, cleanliness is more crucial than ever. Delia Cannings, representative of the Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals (AHCP) said:

Cleaning operatives in the healthcare sector played a key role during the pandemic and have done an incredible job. Many have gone above and beyond, working longer hours, taking on extra responsibilities and adopting new standards and practices to prevent COVID-19 contamination.

Has demand changed in the industry?

There’s no doubt it’s been a trying time for the industry. Service providers have been forced to react and adapt. Lauren Kyle, representing the Business Services Association (BSA), discussed the shift in demand for cleaning bids in the cleaning industry:

Our members operate in a wide range of sectors, some of which – such as sports and leisure, transport, and retail – have seen a downturn, while others – such as schools, and hospitals – have seen heightened demand for cleaning and disinfection. 

In light of shifting trends, can your cleaning service adapt to meet new demands? For instance, can you seek experience in a healthcare setting to strengthen your case studies when tendering for in-demand services? Are you qualified to provide janitorial cleaning work in schools?

Using a sector-specific tendering portal which allows for keyword filtering will help you find relevant work, quickly and easily. We’ve seen a surge in public sector work on our Facilities Tender portal recently. There is always a steady stream of janitorial cleaning opportunities, particularly for schools and healthcare. Get in touch for more information on our portal and start finding live tenders available near you!

2. Prepare your documentation

Janitorial cleaning bids can be tricky. There are some things you should consider in advance to make sure you’re not wasting your time. Ensure your company is prepared to tender. For instance, a few areas of documentation worth considering before you even begin tendering are:

  • Accreditations

Do you have the relevant accreditations for janitorial cleaning bids? Tender specifications will often require that your company has a specific set of accreditations. There are also government requirements you must comply with for trading, including relevant insurance. You should prepare your company for tendering by ensuring you comply with all the requirements for your sector. This may include:

    • A detailed health and safety manual
    • Public liability insurance
    • Professional indemnity insurance
    • Employers’ liability insurance.
  • Turnover

Is your turnover good enough for the job? Buyers may set a turnover threshold in the specification to ensure your company is capable of taking on a job. This is particularly likely for large contracts. As a general rule, we never advise bidding for a contract that is more than half your annual turnover. For example, if you turn over £100k, we advise bidding for tenders with a maximum budget of £50k.

You may need to attach your most recent audited/unaudited accounts as proof of turnover. This is usually required early on in the process of a tender, i.e. the PQQor SQ. It should therefore be made clear whether your company’s turnover meets the threshold early on. This is always worth double-checking before going any further and wasting time with a tender.

  • Corporate literature

Does your business have the relevant corporate literature, ready to submit in a tender response? Is it well-designed and easy to read?

At Hudson, we can fully prepare you for tendering. We’ll create high-quality and company-branded content for you through our Tender Ready service. We’ll first create a checklist to determine what is needed to succeed with any janitorial cleaning bids. Then, we’ll work in collaboration with your team to produce detailed, precise, and concise documents, ready to tender!

3. Showcase your past experience

Another area you should ensure you’re prepared for when tendering for janitorial cleaning bids is demonstrable past experience. Do you have past experience in similar jobs that will prove you’re the best candidate? Are you certain this experience is relevant? How many previous contract examples does the specification request? Make sure you fit the bill here.

If you do have the credentials, you’ll need to provide evidence to back-up each claim. This will often be done through case studies. Our free Tender VLE masterclass walks you through how to set out your case studies effectively in a tender response.

Usually, it can be expected that you’ll to be asked to provide at least three relevant case studies. This applies to each service you provide. Make sure you describe and evaluate your experience in a way that that demonstrates why you’re the most qualified provider. Keep the information as relevant and fitted to the bid as you can! There’s no room for any irrelevant information on a past job, even if the overall experience itself is relevant. Every word counts!

4. Consider the scope of work – fully!

The scope of work is an important element of any bid. Janitorial cleaning bids, especially, have a lot of elements to consider. You will need to consider every aspect of the job to accurately generate a price and timescale. You should read and digest the full tender specification and supporting documents before you begin your tender response. To ensure the job is worth tendering for, you must be confident you’re the best service provider for the job!

Read carefully. You don’t want to miss an important element of the tender that disqualifies you. Neither should you ignore any aspects of the tender that may be out of reach for your services.

For example, the buyer might require cleaning services for 100+ schools across multiple counties. Are you certain you have the workforce and resources to deliver a job of this scope? And if so, do you have the experience to back this up and prove yourself on paper? Always be realistic and responsible in your tender responses. Only bid for work you know you have a solid chance of winning.

Some things you may need to query for a janitorial cleaning bid, for instance, include:

  • What equipment and supplies are required?
  • The number of staff members required to complete the work.
  • How large is the facility in square feet?
  • How many separate rooms require cleaning?
  • What kind of flooring is in each room?

Ask for as much information as possible on the building or facilities which are to be cleaned. Is something not specified in the tender, such as floor type? If you feel this would be helpful in judging the scope of work, ask for clarification!

5. Visit the site, whenever possible

Can you arrange a site visit with the buyer where you can visit the facility and assess it first-hand? If so – great! You’ll be in a much better bidding position. Site visits can be a very useful tool while tendering for janitorial cleaning bids.

As we’ve just mentioned, the more information you have before bidding, the better. Physically seeing the floor types, for instance, gives you a clearer view of the scope of the work. There’s only so much you can envisage from the black and white words of a tender specification. In a site visit, you can physically assess all parts of the building(s) where the job will take place. In doing so, you may want to consider:

  • Size of the rooms
  • Fixtures
  • Surface materials
  • Item counts, i.e. How many dining tables? How many toilet facilities?

A first-hand assessment of the site allows you to create a much more meaningful proposal. You can note the difficulty levels of different areas and better prepare for how the job will unfold, for instance. This helps you to finetune your timescale and workforce, to be as accurate as possible.

Remember to follow all necessary safety precautions during site visits, such as wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing.

6. Price your bid accurately

At its heart, the tendering process is designed to help buyers find the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT). While the process offers suppliers a fair chance of winning, your pricing will always be compared to your competitors. Pricing is always an important aspect of a bid.

Check the weighting of how your bid will be evaluated in the award criteria of the tender specification. The bulk of the weighting will often be split between cost and quality. For example, janitorial cleaning may be assessed by 60% price and 40% quality, or vice versa. Some bids may even be based 100% on price.

Regardless of its weighting, you should always calculate your price accurately and competitively.

Consider the direct costs of the work (i.e. wages, supplies, equipment) and quote a price that allows you to make a profit. There are two don’ts to remember here:

  • Don’t overcharge to boost your profits, or you’ll end up wasting time on a tender that you’ll inevitably lose. The tendering process can be very time-consuming. Always aim for the lowest price you can, whilst still making a profit.
  • Don’t undercharge either. Slashing your prices dramatically may seem like a good way to become the MEAT, if you’re bidding for experience. However, this will likely scupper your chances. If your price is dramatically lower than the other bidders (who have all quoted similar prices), this will look odd. Buyers will become suspicious of particularly low prices and assume foul play, or incurred costs later down the line.

7. Ensure your writing is precise, concise and high quality

There’s a lot to consider in janitorial cleaning bids. However, you should never skimp on the quality of the writing and presentation of a bid. The proof is in the prose! A well-written, precise and easy to read proposal can be essential to the success of a bid.

Don’t worry if you don’t have natural writing prowess. Our bid writers at Hudson Succeed can provide you with a range of tender support. Our experts have an 87% success rate and are experienced with janitorial cleaning bids. Through our Tender Writing service, our Bid Writers will:

  • Write your tender response;
  • Answer any clarification questions you may have;
  • Advise on supporting documents and attach them;
  • Submit the final bid on your behalf.

School maintenance contracts

School maintenance contracts often involve maintaining and updating an inventory of equipment and building fixtures within a school premises. These duties require service contracts as educational institutions often look to outsourcing the works or services.

School maintenance contracts can cover a wide range of services. These could include:

The tendering process

Tendering for school maintenance contracts generally follows a standard process. You will often need to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) or a selection questionnaire (SQ). This is a preliminary stage that establishes if you meet the necessary minimum eligibility criteria. It’s usually a box-ticking exercise that generally asks for the following information:

  • Company information
  • Subcontractor information
  • Economic and financial standing
  • Health and safety policy and risk assessment
  • Grounds for mandatory exclusion
  • Non-collusion statement
  • Equality and diversity policy
  • Environmental policy
  • Modern Slavery policy.

Once you have passed this initial stage, you’ll be shortlisted and sent an invitation to tender (ITT). This is called a closed tender. This stage requires you to write your tender responses to the buyer’s questions. The tender documents will contain information such as:

  • A buyer profile – detailing the buyer’s overall missions and objectives.
  • The award criteria – detailing how the tender is awarded and evaluated.
  • Specification – an in-depth document detailing what’s required.
  • Separate appendices – these vary depending on what’s being procured, it can include pricing schedules or key performance indicators for example.

Framework agreements

Framework agreements are often used as a tendering procedure for school maintenance contracts within the public sector. A framework agreement is a multi-supplier agreement that can run for months or several years. A framework agreement for school maintenance contracts could look something like this:

  • Lot 1 – The Provision and Installation of Electrical Equipment
  • Lot 2 – Painting and Decorating Works
  • Lot 3 – Grounds Maintenance Services
  • Lot 4 – Manned Security
  • Lot 5 – Janitorial Cleaning

So, if your business specialises in janitorial cleaning, you need only apply to lot 5. Some framework agreements may allow suppliers to apply for multiple lots, although this is often capped at three. When applying to multiple lots, you will need to supply the buyer with evidential proof of your capability. You will need to demonstrate that you have the necessary resources, money, experience and ability to deliver all three.

Methods of measurement  

There are often multiple methods of measurement for school maintenance contracts. These could include, but aren’t limited to the following:

Each aspect can be assessed either individually or as a mix. A buyer is looking for those tenders that score highly across the board. The weightings for the evaluation of school maintenance contracts vary depending on the buyer’s needs.

private buyer is not restricted by the same policies and processes as a public buyer is. They are able to choose the cheapest bid if they want. However, a public buyer must award the bid to the most economically advantageous tender. This is because a public buyer must demonstrate the most value for money when spending taxpayer’s money.

Social value and sustainability

Schools routinely purchase products and services and it’s up to them if they purchase sustainable consumer goods. With many wanting to head towards more sustainable procurement of products and services, they may wish to purchase:

  • Cleaning products with reduced environmental impacts
  • Recycled paper and stationery products
  • Kitchen equipment that’s energy efficient
  • Vehicles that are fuel efficient
  • Water efficiency equipment
  • Office machinery that’s energy efficient.

When tendering in the public sector, there’s now a mandatory minimum weighting on 10% on social value. A supplier will need to assess the relevant economic, environmental and social aspects while carrying out the contract. These could include the following examples:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • The environmental considerations taken
  • Creation of new jobs to tackle unemployment
  • Equal opportunities and diversity policies implemented
  • Paying employees the National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality.

Now you have read the complete guide to cleaning contracts. You should have a better idea of what to expect when tendering for contracts. However, if you’re still struggling with your response we can help.

Our success

One cleaning service provider we saw success with is APM Cleaning. We worked closely with them to secure work on multiple lots on a framework agreement. They provided the following feedback on our services:

The Hudson Team were very reactive in their ways of working and handled all communications very effectively and efficiently. This partnership is credit to the recent win for the Prosper DPS for Facilities Management, which we were successful on all LOTs applied. We would recommend Hudson to any company who require bid support of any kind!”

– Samantha Reid, Director, APM Cleaning.

Our bid writers also produce successful bids across a range of sectors, helping clients see results such as:

  • Securing £200million over a 5year period
  • Increasing the organisation’s turnover by 20% from one bid submission
  • Securing 4-years of sustainable income
  • Winning a contract for £350k on their first bid
  • A guaranteed £6million of income, over four years.

Find more results on our testimonials pageCall or email us for a free quote.

Conclusion

Tendering for cleaning contracts is an excellent way to grow your business. The best way to see success is to ensure you are well-prepared and well-supported for the tendering process! We offer a range of support to carry you through, from finding the tender to becoming the successful bidder.

If you follow our tips and considerations, you’ll be well on your way to securing future cleaning contracts.

Get in touch to find out how we can help your cleaning business grow.

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two upgraded packages can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each can help save you even more time when searching for school maintenance contract tenders.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Facilities and Logistics, for example.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable facilities tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Where to Find Security Contracts up for Bid

Security contracts up for bid: 3 things to remember

You may be wondering where you can find security contracts up for bid if you’re thinking about tendering for work. It’s no secret that searching for the right tender for your business can turn into a bit of a headache. Procurement can be confusing, particularly if you’ve never ventured into it before.

However, more and more organisations are tendering for work as they look to grow their business via alternative routes. The COVID-19 pandemic led to more businesses going down the procurement avenue. At the moment, companies can’t do business like they used to. No more networking lunches or face to face meetings.

There are a number of advantages to tendering for work. Winning tenders in the public sector can ensure guaranteed income and help you gain experience. The more experience you have, the bigger the contracts you are able to go for.

Where can I find security contracts up for bid?

You can find security contracts up for bid on thousands of sites across the UK. Searching for the right one for your business can turn into a full-time job. Often these websites will post other industry opportunities that aren’t even close to yours. They can be updated daily and it’s easy to get overwhelmed when searching for the right tender for your business.

5 things to bear in mind when searching for security contracts up for bid:

  1. Industry-specific portals

When searching for security contracts up for bid, you should be looking for a site that hosts industry-specific opportunities. This will save you a great deal of time. You don’t have to sift through all the irrelevant posts, trying to look for the right one.

  1. No reliance on CPV codes

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes are often used to track opportunities. However, they are often mislabelled, resulting in missed opportunities. You will be able to find security contracts up for bid a lot more easily if you can search by keyword.

  1. Results you can filter

Wouldn’t life be easier if you could just filter relevant tenders by location, keyword and budget. This way, you will be able to find relevant security contracts up for bid in an instant. Customising and filtering the results enables you to find the perfect opportunity for your business. The best tender websites will have this as an option – streamlining the process.

  1. Email alerts to new opportunities

A good tendering website and portal will allow you to choose what areas you would like to tender. Daily emails can alert you to new security contracts up for bid posted that day. This can make things even easier, saving you more time to focus on your business.

  1. Access to an Account Manager

Using a site that includes access to an Account Manager can help you find security contracts up for bid. It’s nice to have someone who can talk you through the tendering process if you’re new to it. An Account Manager can advise you on the right security contracts for your business.

You’re able to find all of this on Facilities Tenders. Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business.

3 things to remember when applying for security contracts up for bid 

  1. Changes to the training you need for an SIA licence 

The UK government has announced that there will be four changes to the training you need for an SIA licence. These changes are applicable for front line SIA licences:

  • On the 1st April 2021, they will introduce updated qualifications for all sectors except close protection and vehicle immobilisation.
  • From 1st April 2021, you must have a first aid qualification. Only then can you train for door supervision or security guard licences.
  • On the 1st October 2021, they will introduce updated close protection qualifications.
  • From 1st October 2021, you must have one of the new qualifications or take top-up training. This is applicable before you can apply for door supervisor and security guard licences, including renewals.
  1. Evidence

After identifying security contracts up for bid, you need to be sure that you’re eligible. Do you have enough evidence to demonstrate your experience? Having a bank of evidence can save you time when writing your response. You may be required to produce up to three case studies from within the last five years. These case studies should be examples of past contracts of work that are similar in scope and complexity.

Including testimonials from previous satisfied clients can strengthen your response. If the word count allows you could also include how you overcame any unexpected challenges. This allows you to demonstrate your problem-solving skills and that you are able to work under pressure.

Your case studies should be:

  • Thorough
  • Detailed
  • Demonstrating your businesses abilities
  • Well-developed
  • Include concrete evidence.
  1. Social value

It’s important to remember when tendering for public sector organisations that there’s a mandatory weighting on social value. The minimum weighting is 10%, but depending on the buyer, it can be as large as 30%. The government is focused on sustainable development and procurement. When completing your security tenders, you must consider the social, economic and environmental aspects.

Buyers want to see you making pledges that you can keep, so it isn’t something to be glossed over. Consider including the following in your next social value response:

  • Supporting COVID-19 recovery.
  • Reducing waste.
  • Encouraging recycling.
  • Creating new jobs or skills to tackle economic inequality.
  • Supporting equality and diversity.
  • The environmental considerations you have in place.

Need assistance?

Our Bid Writers at our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have over 60 years of collective bid writing experience. They are tender writing experts and boast an 87% bid success rate. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or aren’t seeing any success from your own tendering efforts – we can help!

We offer four bid writing services that can help you see success with your next tender.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written previous security contracts up for bid, but aren’t seeing any success, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Writers will assess and proofread your response in line with the specification. They’ll notify you of any grammar or spelling mistakes before you submit.

Tender Writing

Have you found security contracts up for bid but don’t know where to start? You can send the specification over to our Bid Writers and they’ll take care of it all for you providing you will a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll write the response and even submit it on your behalf!

Tender Improvement

Have you been tendering for security contracts up for bid, but aren’t seeing any success? Our Tender Improvement package can help. During the course of the programme, our Bid Writing Team will assess your previous tender responses and supporting documents. They’ll provide you with feedback and guidance on how to improve for future tenders.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is designed for businesses who have never tendered for work before. This programme works with you, ensuring you have everything in place to tender successfully. You’ll have access to an expert Bid Consultant who can help your business grow.

Below are previous security contracts up for bid that were sourced on our portal:

Homes England – Framework ESPO Call off Information Security Specialist

Homes England (the name adopted by the Homes and Communities Agency)- West Midlands- Budget: £144,000

25-02-2021

Invitation to Tender – Site Security Services

Eden Geothermal Limited- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

23-02-2021

Luton Council Security Patrol and Unlocking / Locking Services – QQ ‘ By Invitation Only’ under the Light Touch Regime (LTR) Schedule 3 of the PCR15 Regulations

Luton Council- Eastern- Budget: £500,000

18-02-2021

Provision of Security Guarding Services in Iraq

Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office- International- Budget: Undisclosed

25-02-2021

Mid Sussex DC & Horsham DC – Manned Security Services

Mid Sussex District Council- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

15-02-2021

Join Facilities Tenders

At Facilities Tenders, we source sector-specific tenders on a daily basis from thousands of buyers, across the UK.

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite can help optimise your tendering opportunities – even when you’re busy! Our two upgraded packages can improve your bidding success rate and competitor awareness. Each package is a time-saving tool that can help your business when searching for security contracts up for bid.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option best suits a business that overlaps two industries such as Facilities and Logistics.
  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid
  • Weekly phone calls with your on-hand Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Can I Buy Cleaning Contracts?

You can’t simply buy cleaning contracts, so here’s what to do instead

You may be wondering if you can just buy cleaning contracts, and you are not alone. However, the answer to your question is short and simple – no.

The cleaning business has always been a highly competitive marketplace. This is true now more than ever. The rise of COVID-19 has led to a steep increase in both the public and private sectors putting cleaning contracts. Unfortunately, you can’t just go out and buy cleaning contracts. So, here’s how to go about it instead.

What is tendering?

Let’s start off with a simple question – what is tendering? Cleaning contracts are primarily procured through tendering. This is when a business requires a good or a service that they can’t do themselves. Or, if the business contract exceeds the public sector threshold, they will then be put out to tender. Then, any potential suppliers can respond to this call with their tender response.

A number of businesses may want to procure cleaning services, and the cleaning sector itself is vast. It covers areas such as:

  • Residential
  • Educational Institutions
  • Commercial
  • Corporate
  • Industrial
  • Local government
  • Culture and Heritage Sites

However, don’t despair. This blog will tell you how to secure a cleaning tender instead since you can’t buy cleaning contracts.

A 10-step guide to how to secure a cleaning contract:

  1. Tracking the opportunity

Making sure you are tendering for the right opportunities for your businesses is vital. This ensures consistent growth and development which could lead to expansion. In order to do this, you need to know where to find the right opportunities for your business.

This can be done via tendering portals. We host live cleaning contract opportunities on our Facilities Tenders portal. You can filter the live results via keyword, budget, location and more on one site. This saves you countless hours that would otherwise be spent trawling hundreds of websites daily.

Here are some past cleaning contracts that were sourced on our portal:

ATD Specialist Cleaning 2021

Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency- Eastern- Budget: £60,000

31-01-2021

Cleaning – Dynamic Purchasing System

Advantage South West- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

22-01-2021

Hall Green School – Cleaning Tender

Hall Green School- West Midlands- Budget: £435,000

26-01-2021

Mobile Cleaning Operative

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council- West Midlands- Budget: £5,000

20-01-2021

Provision of Cleaning Services

Leicester City Council- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

18-01-2021

Join Facilities Tenders

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Once you have sourced what you think is the right opportunity for your business, you should ask yourself:

  • Do I have the experience?
  • Can I fulfil this contract?
  • Are there any turnover requirements?
  • Do I have the specified qualifications and accreditations?

If you can answer yes to all of the above, then you should proceed onto the PQQ or SQ stage.

  1. PQQ

A pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) or a selection questionnaire (SQ) are used to establish the minimum eligibility criteria of a business. You may be asked to submit evidence of past contracts your business has carried out, or your businesses financial standing.

  1. ITT

An ITT stands for an invitation to tender. This is the next step of the tendering process if your company is shortlisted from the PQQ or SQ stage. An ITT is a formal document that’s issued by the buyer outlining the scope of the project. This invites a business to submit a formal tender for work.

An ITT is different from a PQQ or SQ because it outlines how you will commit to the project delivery. It often includes quality questions. They’ll ask how you carry out certain processes, what equipment you use, or what policies you have in place.

An ITT is often evaluated using the MEAT.

  1. MEAT

The most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) method means that the buyer is looking at more than just the price. They are putting a certain percentage on price but are also looking at the quality of your response, too. A combined score from these two weightings will establish a final score. The organisation with the best overall score is then awarded the contract.

  1. Social Value

You want to ensure when applying for opportunities in the public sector that you have thought about social value. There is now a mandatory 10% weighting on social value within a quality response. In some cases, it can hold a weight of up to 30%. You should take into consideration the social, economic and environmental aspects of the contract.

The buyer wants to know the commitments you’re making and ones you can keep. This new social value model came into use within the UK in January 2021. Perhaps you use eco-friendly products and are passionate about waste reduction.

Within your response, you could note:

  • How your organisation supports COVID-19 recovery.
  • The environmental considerations you have in place.
  • What equal opportunities you’ve implemented.
  • How you’re creating new jobs and developing new skills within the local community.
  • That you pay all employees the UK Living Wage.
  1. Provide Evidence

Up to three case studies may be required when submitting a tender response. It’s standard across public sector tendering for the buyer to ask for at least three past contracts of work. The case studies typically need to have been completed within the last five years.

It’s best to match your case studies to work of a similar scope that you have carried out. Testimonials from happy clients are always a plus. This demonstrates to the buyer that you are able to carry out the contract.

You need to make sure your cases studies are:

  • Detailed
  • Thorough
  • Well-developed
  • Showcase your company’s abilities.
  • Back up what you’re saying with evidence.

For example, imagine there is a contract that is looking to procure cleaning services of a primary school in Cheshire. You could include case studies of cleaning services you’ve carried out in a primary school of a similar location. Or, you could showcase the work you have carried out in other educational institutions.

  1. Relate to the specification

It is vital that you showcase your understanding of the specification in your response. Your response should demonstrate that you can provide the service that the buyer is looking for. The tender documentation for cleaning contracts will often include a specification of the exact requirements for the cleaning task needed. It’s imperative that you reference this in your method statement. This proves that you are aware of the buyer’s requirements and you are capable of delivering them.

For example, a buyer requires a certain room cleaning within an office using a specific piece of equipment. Make sure you replicate this scenario in your response. If you ignore it, you imply that you haven’t read the documentation properly. This will be greatly off-putting to buyers.

  1. Framework agreements

If you’re new to tendering, a framework agreement may be a good place to start. They can help you build up experience if you don’t already have it.

Frameworks are multi-supplier agreements, meaning there are often more places available. They typically run over longer terms ranging from 2 – 10 years. If you secure a place on a public sector framework, it can be a very lucrative opportunity for your business. This is because it is a guaranteed form of income, which can bring you peace of mind.

As you cannot buy cleaning contracts, applying for a framework agreement is a great opportunity that’s not to be missed. Buyers release a framework opportunity and then places are awarded to the best suppliers. Goods and services on frameworks are often divided into ‘Lots’. This means your business doesn’t have to fulfil the whole contract – only the chosen section.

You may find it useful to contact your local council to request to be considered for framework agreements. You should ask if they have any open as a subcontractor. This will allow you to build your company’s experience and is a great place to start if you’re an SME.  

  1. Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS)

DPS’ are similar to framework agreements in that there are multiple suppliers on one system. They can run for years at a time and your business is able to join at any point while it’s open.

  1. Bid Writing Services

If you still need help with writing a cleaning contract response – we can help. Here at Hudson, we are experts in Bid Writing. Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have an 87% success rate and over 40-years bidding experience across multiple industries.

We offer four Bid Writing services to help you secure your next contract:

  1. The Tender Ready programme
  2. A Tender Improvement package
  3. Tender Mentor service
  4. Tender Writing

So, instead of wondering if you can buy cleaning contracts, you now know how to apply through the tendering process.

Get in touch today to find out how we can help your cleaning business grow.

A Beginner’s Guide to Securing Cemetery Contracts

Answers to your frequently asked questions about cemetery contracts

You might not think it, but cemetery contracts can be lucrative opportunities for a groundwork or construction business. Councils and the government are in constant need of cemetery maintenance, resulting in opportunities for cemetery contracts.

Cemetery contracts might cover a broad range of sub-sectors. These could include:

  • Landscaping services
  • Maintenance of graveyards
  • Restoration and renovation work
  • Grave digging
  • Civil engineering
  • Cemetery expansion
  • Fixing of memorial headstones

If you’re new to cemetery contracts, you might be wondering about the process. This blog will aim to answer some of your frequently asked questions.

What’s the difference between an open and closed tender?

The majority of cemetery contracts are open tenders. If a tender is open, it often means that it’s open to all qualified and interested bidders. If there is an open cemetery tender, then anyone can submit a response to the invitation to tender (ITT).

A closed tender is not open to everyone. Only specific parties will be invited to submit a final bid response. A closed tender gives buyers greater confidence that their requirements will be met. A closed tender may be an ITT that’s only accessible to those who have passed the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) stage. Closed tenders are more likely to be put out for contracts that have specialist or complex requirements.

What does an ITT involve?

An ITT is a formal document that is issued by a buyer that’s looking to procure works, goods, or services. It outlines the scope of the work that’s needed for the project. An ITT invites the potential supplier to submit a formal tender for work. It should outline how your organisation will deliver the project if successful and other things such as:

  • Your organisation’s general information
  • Insurance
  • Financial standing
  • Risk assessments
  • Method statements
  • Technical capacity
  • Health & safety procedures
  • Environmental and equality statements
  • Subcontractors

How are tenders for cemetery contracts evaluated?

An ITT is usually evaluated on two things: quality and price. The weightings for these can vary and you would need to adjust your response accordingly. Weightings can range from 50 – 50 to 80% quality and 20% price depending on the buyer’s needs.

It’s worth noting that for all central government contracts, there is now a mandatory 10% weighting on social value. Social value is included within your quality response and should take into account the social, environmental and economic aspects. For example:

  • The equal opportunity policies you implement.
  • How your organisation supports COVID-19 recovery.
  • Environmental considerations such as reducing and recycling waste.
  • How you are creating new skills or jobs to the local community.

The award criteria for cemetery contracts can vary. Some may be awarded to the lowest price, others to the most economically advantageous tender.

What is MEAT?

Often public sector tenders will award the contract to the MEAT. It’s worth noting, however, that the MEAT does not mean the cheapest bid wins. The MEAT allows the buyer to award the contract based on various aspects of the tender submission. These can include, but are not limited to:

  • Customer service
  • Innovation
  • Accessibility
  • Technical ability
  • Quality
  • Environmental benefits

Each of these aspects can be looked at by the procurer in a mix with other considerations, or independently.

What is my company’s economic and financial standing?

You may be asked for your company’s economical and financial standing when writing your tender response. Buyers need this information to see if your business can afford to fulfil the contract. If you’re wondering what that means, it is usually comprised of three things:

  1. Annual turnover – You may need to attach your most recent audited accounts.
  2. Financial ratios – You can find these in your account. They may include the ratio of your assets to liabilities. For example, acid tests and quick ratios.
  3. Insurance – You will need to attach your insurance documents.

How can I work out if my turnover is good enough to apply for cemetery contracts?

While searching for the cemetery contract that’s right for your business, you might be wondering if your turnover is high enough. If the turnover threshold isn’t stated in the specification, don’t panic, there’s an easy way to estimate your eligibility. Generally, you should not tender for contracts with a value that is more than half your annual turnover.

For example, if you annually turn over £200k, we advise bidding for tenders with a maximum budget of £100k. This is because it’s generally ill-advised to bid for work that’s more than half your annual turnover. This is because they might not be able to deliver the contract’s requirements. For example, working across different geographical areas or they might not possess the number of staff required.

Do I need any specific accreditations and qualifications?

Specific qualification and accreditations that are needed should be mentioned in the specification. They vary from industry to industry, it depends on the works, goods or services that are being procured. Some of the basic qualifications and accreditations that are generally needed are:

  • ISO 9001; 14001; 18001; 27000
  • CHAS
  • RICS
  • RIDDOR
  • Constructionline

How long can cemetery contracts run for?

If your business secures a cemetery contract, it could place it in good stead for years. Some even offer the possibility of extension if the buyer is satisfied with your performance.

Contracts could be offered via framework agreements or Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS). These are a type of tendering contract. Tenders often focus on a single supplier delivering the service or goods. Frameworks aim to establish a multi-supplier agreement. These agreements often run over longer-terms – usually between 2 – 10 years.

Buyers release a framework opportunity and award places to the best suppliers. Goods and services that are on frameworks or DPSs are often divided into Lots. So, instead of delivering the whole contract, you only deliver your specific ‘lot’ or section.

Where can I find cemetery contracts?

Searching for cemetery contracts can take a large chunk out of your day. Especially when new opportunities are uploaded every day on multiple portals across the UK.

What makes the Facilities Tenders portal different?

We don’t rely on CPV codes. CPV codes can often be unreliable and mislabelled leading to missed opportunities if relying on them alone. Our Opportunity Trackers manually search through thousands of sources every day to bring you the most relevant contracts.

We then upload them to once, central, easy-to-navigate portal. You need not search for hours every day to find the perfect cemetery contracts for your business. You can search for opportunities and filter via keyword, budget or industry and more. We also uniquely offer account management and industry-specific portals that you don’t get anywhere else. Our portal is fully streamlined, allowing you time to focus on running your business.

Here are some past examples of cemetery contracts that were sourced on our Facilities Tenders portal:

Countesthorpe Cemetery – Re-instatement of Laid Down Memorials

Countesthorpe Parish Council- East Midlands- Budget: £26,000

28-01-2021

Oakwood Cemetery Paths

Maidstone Borough Council- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

12-11-2020

Glasnevin Cemetery Museum New Installation

Dublin Cemeteries Committee Glasnevin Trust- International- Budget: Undisclosed

01-12-2020

Highgate Cemetery Architectural Projects Competition – Stage 1

Highgate Cemetery- London- Budget: Undisclosed

20-01-2021

Highgate Cemetery Landscape Competition – Stage 1

Highgate Cemetery- London- Budget: Undisclosed

13-01-2021

Leek Old Cemetery – Boundary Wall Repair

High Peak BC & Staffordshire Moorlands DC- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

14-01-2021

Join Facilities Tenders

At Facilities Tenders, we source sector-specific tenders on a daily basis from thousands of buyers, across the UK.

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

What does a subscription to Facilities Tenders portal include? 

  • A free, 20-minute phone consultation with a Bid Writer. Our expert consultants will answer any questions or queries you may have about the tendering process. This could be about a certain requirement needed for cemetery contracts or any other question about the general process.
  • A dedicated Account Manager. They’ll answer any questions you may have about the portal or tendering.
  • Unlimited portal access. You can browse the Facilities Tenders portal to your heart’s content 24-hours a day if you wish. See the opportunities posted daily. They’re intuitively categorised and easily accessible.
  • A daily email bulletin sent directly to your inbox. When you sign up, you can choose the specific areas in which you would like to tender. Then, a daily bulletin is created with all the relevant opportunities that have been posted that day. This makes things even easier, saving you more time so you can focus on the important things.

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

How can I write winning tenders for cemetery contracts?

If you’re at a loss about how to write tenders for cemetery contracts – we can help!

Bid writing services

Our Bid Writers at Hudson Succeed have over 50 years of experience across multiple industries and an 87% success rate. They offer four bid writing packages that cater to all your tendering needs. These are:

  1. Tender Mentor

Our Bid Writers will look at a cemetery tender you’ve already written as part of the Tender Mentor service. They will notify you of any errors before you submit and provide you with some feedback.

  1. Tender Writing

Have you found the perfect cemetery tender for your business, but are unsure of where to start? Tender Writing can help. If you send it over to them, they can take care of everything for you. They’ll even submit it on your behalf!

  1. Tender Improvement

The Tender Improvement programme is for those who are tendering but aren’t seeing winning results. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous cemetery tender responses and supporting documents. They’ll then provide you with guidance and recommendations on how to improve.

  1. Tender Ready

The Tender Ready package is for those who have never tendered before. You’ll have access to an expert Bid Consultant to answer any questions that you may have. You’ll also get a year’s subscription to our Facilities Tenders portal.

Get in touch with one of our team today to find out how we can help your business grow!

5 Things to Think About When Applying for Grass Cutting Contracts

5 things to consider when looking for grass cutting contracts

The most common type of grass cutting contracts are within the public sector. You can often find hedge trimming and grass cutting contracts together as a subsection of grounds maintenance procurement. Councils are frequently looking for grounds maintenance suppliers, along with educational institutions and more.

Grass cutting contracts could be put out to tender for a number of works such as:

  • Road verges
  • Burial grounds
  • Parks
  • Sporting areas
  • Amenity spaces
  • Roadside sections of grass
  • Roundabouts

Typically, for grass cutting contracts, you will need to fill out a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ). This is also known as a selection questionnaire (SQ). They will be the first hurdle when it comes to trying to secure a contract. In this stage, prospective suppliers will need to answer and fill out a standardised list of pass or fail questions. Once applicants have passed this stage, they’re then invited to tender (ITT).

An ITT can involve various different forms and questions on various subjects relating to the proposed project. Grass cutting contracts will likely include health and safety, contract management, business continuity and so on.

When applying for grass cutting contracts, there are five things to think about.

  1. Remember the basics

When writing your grass cutting contracts, try to remember the basics for tendering:

  • Answer the question.
  • Be clear and concise.
  • Review your response.
  • Proofread and double-check your answers.
  • Submit in plenty of time.

These five bullet points are the fundamentals of writing a bid. Before you even begin, however, you should ask yourself the following:

  • Can I fulfil the work?
  • Do I have the necessary requirements?
  • Do I have enough experience?
  • Does my business meet the economic and financial thresholds?

These four questions are a good place to start before completing any tender. They’ll help you establish if it is the right opportunity for your business and make your bid or no-bid decision.

  1. Health and Safety

Health and Safety are important aspects to consider with any tender, but particularly grass cutting contracts. Buyers want to be confident that the work carried out on their sites is to the highest standards.

You may be asked what risk assessment practices and health and safety measure you have in place. These could be:

  • RIDDOR
  • CHAS
  1. Pricing

Grass cutting contracts have been known to have a greater weighting on pricing than quality. You’ll want to make sure to price your services competitively. Although, bear in mind that the cheapest bid doesn’t necessarily win. Particularly in public procurement, where the contract will be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT).

Public organisations want suppliers to detail their policies, internal procedures and accreditations to allow them to make an informed decision. They want to know which supplier offers the best value of money. MEAT means the buyer is looking at more than just the price. The contractor could be looking for accessibility, ability to deliver on time, innovation and more.

It’s best to read the buyers requirements in detail and carefully construct answers accordingly. The tendering documents will note the requirements you need to fulfil the contract. As a prospective supplier, you should read the requirements and answer accordingly.

  1. Case studies

When you’re competing for grass cutting contracts, a buyer will likely ask you for up to three case studies. These need to be past examples of work that you have completed to a similar scope. Typically, they will be to have been within the last five years.

You should get in touch with your previous clients and ask for testimonials that support the work you carried out. This will strengthen your proposal and reassure the buyer of your quality and that you can be trusted.

A pro tip is to use the STAR format when detailing your case studies for grass cutting contracts. Clearly outline the:

  • Situation – brief context
  • Task – the work you faced
  • Action – what you’ve done
  • Results – what the result were 
  1. Social value

Social value now has a 10% minimum weighting on all public sector tenders. It’s a new procurement model that is used by government bodies to assess the social impact of suppliers. Its new compulsory weighting came in to place in January 2021. It assesses the economic, social and environmental benefits that a company can do if successful with the tender.

Government departments will use the new model to score potential suppliers when evaluating their tender responses. This scoring focuses on the wider, positive impact that businesses provide when delivering the contract. This means more value for money for the UK taxpayer. Below are some examples of social value promises a business could bring to the local community.

  • How your company supports COVID-19 recovery.
  • Charitable donations.
  • Encouraging older people to remain active within their communities or employment.
  • Creating opportunities to develop volunteering groups.
  • Creating skills and training opportunities.
  • Recruiting locally.
  • Promoting and supporting local businesses.
  • Paying the UK Living Wage.
  • Improving market diversity.
  • Creating training and employment opportunities for school children, young adults and the long-term unemployed.
  • Equal opportunity policies your business implements and adheres to.
  • The environmental considerations you take place to help fight climate change.
  • Reducing waste and increase waste recovery and recycling.
  • Protecting the environment for future generations.

Consistency is key to ensuring equal opportunities for suppliers. Therefore, a focus will be on the implementation of the new model to derive the maximum social value from contracts.

It’s worth putting the time and effort into figuring out the social value promises that your company can deliver. To further stand out from the crowd, you could research the buyer’s social value promises. You could then demonstrate how you are able to help fulfil their promises.

Where to find grass cutting contracts

At Hudson, we’re experts in the tendering process. Facilities Tenders is one of Hudson Discover’s 11 tendering portals. They can save you time when sourcing relevant grass cutting contracts for your business. This allows you to spend more time on the important things, such as running your business.

Use a sector-specific portal with a variety of opportunities

We understand how tricky the procurement world can be if you’re new. By using one portal that sources unique, public and private sector opportunities, you can save precious hours of your day. It can be very time-consuming trawling hundreds of sites a day to find a contract that’s perfect for your business. Especially if they’re registered with CPV codes which are known for being unreliable.

Our Opportunity Trackers manually upload and source contracts for our clients. They search thousands of sources a day, uploading them to our portals. You can then filter these opportunities via keyword, location, budget and more.

Join Facilities Tenders

If you’re looking for grass cutting contracts, Facilities Tenders will save you time and get you results.

When you sign up, you’ll receive an email bulletin when new grass cutting contracts are published, plus 24-hour portal access. You can browse all the available tenders, large and small, as often as you like! You’ll even get a dedicated Account Manager on hand to help answer any questions you may have.

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Below are some past grass cutting contracts we’ve sourced on the Facilities Tenders portal:

Amenity Grass Cutting at selected sites throughout Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire County Council- Wales- Budget: £1,000,000

08-01-2021

BTC Invitation to Tender Grass Cutting

Barton Town Council- East Midlands- Budget: £30,000

15-01-2021

Bar Hill Village Grass Cutting Contract 2021 – 2023

Bar Hill Parish Council- Eastern- Budget: £57,000

20-01-2021

Grass Cutting – North West England

Forestry Commission- North West- Budget: £315,000

11-01-2021

Grass Cutting and Landscape Maintenance Contract

Hjaltland Housing Association Ltd- Scotland- Budget: £105,000

15-01-2021

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Bid writing support

Once you’ve found a grass cutting contract that you want to go for, but don’t know where to start – we can help! Here at Hudson, we know how to make your business stand out from the over-saturated marketplace.

We offer bid writing services that can help you with your next grass cutting contract. Our team of Bid Writers have over 50 years of bidding experience and an 87% success rate. We have four bid writing support packages to help you gain success in your tendering efforts:

  1. Tender Mentor

Our Tender Mentor service can help make sure your bid is the best it can possibly be. Our Bid Writers can provide feedback on a grass cutting tender you’ve already written. They’ll point out any errors before you submit.

  1. Tender Writing

Simply send us the bid specification you want to go for and our Bid Writers will write the whole thing for you. They’ll let you know how long it’ll take and if they need anything further from you. They’ll even submit it on your behalf! This service is priced per bid, and we’ll provide you with a full tender writing breakdown.

  1. Tender Improvement

Tender Improvement is perfect for those who are already tendering but aren’t seeing success from their efforts. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous bid responses and work with you to develop winning content. If you select this service, you’ll receive the following and more:

  • A 12-month subscription to our Facilities Tenders portal.
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding Professionals.
  • A dedicated Bid Consultant with the programme lasting up to three months.
  1. Tender Ready

The Tender Ready package if for those businesses who are completely new to the tendering process. We can help you every step of the way. We offer a three-stage process over four weeks. We’ll help you develop a bid library and give guidance on how to increase your quality and tender competitiveness. You’ll also receive:

  • Three days Bid Consultancy support towards one tender, private sector proposal or public sector framework.
  • A bespoke proposal covering 5,000 words of responses accustomed to your company.
  • Three days Bid Consultancy support, coaching and training with Hudson’s senior team.
  • And more!

Get in touch today to find out how we can help your business grow!

The Ultimate Guide to Lift Tenders

How to succeed when writing lift tenders

Lift tenders are published in both the public and private sectors. The lift installations and maintenance industry is a competitive one. Lift tendering opportunities can range in scale from universities, apartment complexes to shopping centres.

The lift industry can have many lucrative opportunities. A recent example is that of an HS2 lift and escalator contract last year (2020). Five bidders were invited to tender for the design, delivery and maintenance of almost 300 lifts and escalators. The work is to be carried out in four major new stations. The lift contract was worth up to £267 million and the winners placed onto a framework.

What type of lift services are buyers looking to procure?

Examples of the type of lift tenders that are put out are for the procurement of lift:

  • Repair
  • Maintenance
  • Servicing
  • Installation

You may have already been tendering or might be completely new to the process. Either way, there are some things you need to consider in order to succeed when writing lift tenders.

Case Studies

Having a bank of reliable past examples of contracts, you’ve fulfilled is key. A buyer may require 2 – 3 past case studies from previous work your company has carried out. You will likely be asked to provide works contracts examples from within the last three to five years. Your examples may need to include the following details:

  • A description of the goods, service or works delivered.
  • Contract value and dates.
  • Previous customer details.
  • Methodology and timescale.
  • Approach to the project.
  • Details of where you have been able to demonstrate added value through the adoption of innovative solutions. 

Applicable British Standard and Qualifications 

When completing an ITT for lift tenders, the buyer will likely require you to state any applicable accreditations and qualifications. This, understandably, is because they want to be reassured that you’re adequately qualified for the job and have enough experience. Some examples of relevant British Standard qualifications, accreditations and policies you may need are:

  • BS EN 13015:2001 + A1:2008 – Maintenance for lifts and escalators – rules for maintenance.
  • BS 5656-1:2013 – Safety rules for the Construction and Installation of Escalators and Passenger Conveyors.
  • BS EN8120 – requirements relating to general access and safety.
  • BS EN8128 – requirements for installing, testing and designing alarm and communication systems.
  • BS EN8150 – requirements for test and examination of certain lift components.
  • BS EN8158 – requirements for door and car fire resistance.
  • BS EN8170 – requirements access for people with disabilities.
  • BS EN8173 – requirements for the behaviour of lifts in the event of fire.
  • SAFed Lift Guidelines
  • ISO 9001
  • CHAS
  • RIDDOR

Buyers will want to be confident that the work you’re providing is to the highest health and safety standards. Specific health and safety questions could ask how you handle risk and keep up to date with the new guidance. You need to convey that everything you do regarding health and safety is aligned with best practice.

Economic and financial standing

Your economic financial standing is typically assessed at the PQQ stage. It’s one of two ways the contractor assesses the suitability of the supplier. The other is via the technical and professional capability of your business.  Your economic financial standing is assessed on three factors:

  1. Annual turnover

For this, you usually need to attach your most recent audited accounts.

  1. Financial ratios

Your financial ratios are usually found in your accounts. They may include the ratio of your assets to liabilities for example, quick ratios and acid tests.

  1. Insurance

You usually need to attach your insurance documents.

When looking through multiple lift tenders, you may be wondering if your turnover is good enough. If the turnover threshold isn’t stated within the specification there’s a way you can easily calculate it yourself. Generally, it’s unadvised to bid for work that is more than half your annual turnover. For example, if you turn over £150k, we advise bidding for tenders with a maximum budget of £75k.

Assess your competition

As with any tender, you need to consider your competition. You need to persuade the buyer that you’re the best company for the job. What will you do that your competitors won’t? Do you have a unique selling point? Do you use any innovative solutions or have a particular environmental or sustainability edge?

When assessing your competition, it’s hard not to compare price. You need to remember not to undercut yourself when pricing your services. The cheapest bid doesn’t always win – especially in the public sector where the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) wins.

The MEAT allows the buyer to award the contract based on aspects other than just price. These can include:

  • Accessibility
  • Innovation
  • Quality
  • Technical Ability
  • Environmental benefits
  • Customer Service
  • Ability to deliver on time
  • Proposed design 

Make life easier for the buyer and keep your response concise

Buyers may have hundreds of lift tenders to go through depending on the size of the procurement. You’ll want to get into their good books, and you can do this by making their life easier. When writing your response, be clear and concise and clearly highlight your conformance with the specification. For example:

  • Use headings and subheadings that breakdown the question.
  • Don’t allow the buyer to make any assumptions. If you leave room for assumptions, they could make the wrong assumptions losing you valuable marks. Carefully explain your approach to the work at hand.
  • Don’t use filler or fluffy words. Why use three or four words when you can just as well use one. For example, instead of saying “Here at Lift Company Ltd” say “we”.
  • Try and get to as close to the word or page count as possible. It’s there for a reason. If a buyer thinks the answer deserves a 500-word response, don’t just write two sentences.

Where can I find lift tenders?

Good question. Lift tenders are uploaded by hundreds of buyers to many different portals across the UK. Live tenders are uploaded to multiple portals day by day. So, searching for the right opportunity for your business can turn into a full-time job!

Usually, tenders are uploaded and tagged with a CPV code. These tend to be unreliable and you could end up missing out the perfect opportunity for your business. Our Opportunity Trackers manually search for the latest public and private sector opportunities. They then upload them to our Facilities Tenders portal where you can filter the results. You can find a tender that suits your needs by keyword, budget, location and more.

Here are some past examples of lift tenders we have sourced: 

Rivers House, Bridgwater – Passenger Lifts

Environment Agency- South West- Budget: £70,000

05-01-2021

Refurbishment of a Bed Passenger Lift

Health Service Executive (HSE)- International- Budget: Undisclosed

18-09-2020

Riverside House – Passenger Lifts

LGSS- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

17-08-2020

Full Replacement of Single Drive Passenger Lift

Salvation Army Housing Association- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

02-10-2020

Contract for the Provision of Servicing and Maintenance of Lifts and Hoists

Cheshire East Borough Council- North West- Budget: £500,000

30-12-2020

Hopefully, this guide to lift tenders has given you some food for thought. But, if you’re still struggling with what to write for your next lift maintenance bid, we can help. We offer four bid writing services to help you succeed with you next bid.

Bid writing services

Our Bid Writers at Hudson Succeed have an 87% success rate and over 50 years of bidding experience. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or want to improve your current bid, they can support you. Our services include: 

  1. Tender Mentor

Our Bid Writers will take a look at a lift tender response you’ve already written. They’ll then provide you with some feedback and notify you of any errors before you submit.

  1. Tender Writing

Have you found the perfect lift tender, but don’t know where to start with your response? You can send it over to one of our Bid Writers and they’ll handle it all for you. They’ll even submit it on your behalf! This allows you time to focus on running your business. They will provide you with a full tender writing breakdown and let you know if they need anything from you.

  1. Tender Improvement

Our Tender Improvement package can help if you’re submitting lift tenders but aren’t seeing results. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous tendering responses and supporting documents.  They’ll then provide you with guidance and recommendations on how you can improve.

  1. Tender Ready

The Tender Ready package is for those who are completely new to the tendering process. You’ll have access to an expert Bid Consultant and a 12-month subscription to our Facilities Tenders portal.

Join Facilities Tenders

At Facilities Tenders, we source sector-specific tenders on a daily basis from thousands of buyers, across the UK.

We’ll send you daily alerts when new tenders are released. You’ll have 24-hour access to our portal, and a dedicated Account Manager on hand to help.

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Waste Management Tenders: The Updated Waste Management Plan for England

A breakdown of the government’s updated waste management plan and what it means for waste management tenders

As we produce waste in almost every aspect of our lives, there is a constant stream waste management tenders. Waste management includes the storage, collection, transportation and disposal of all forms of waste. Waste management also includes the monitoring and regulation of waste. Such tenders are published by both the public and private sectors.

The UK government has released their updated Waste Management Plan for England (WMPE) for 2021. It’s updated every six years and it reflects the UK’s 2050 net-zero emission ambition and other sustainability goals. This includes the government’s target to recycle 65% of municipal waste, limiting landfill of municipal waste to 10% by 2035.

Waste management tenders have become increasingly competitive with everyone in the industry hoping to get a slice of the action. This has already seen an increase in commercial waste removal, disposal and recycling waste management tenders.

What areas of waste do waste management tenders cover?

Below are just a few examples of waste management subsections that might be put out to tender:

  • Food waste
  • Clinical waste
  • Recycling
  • Waste removal and clearance
  • Technology waste
  • Waste management, support and disposal
  • Wastewater treatment plant construction and equipment works and services
  • Underground waste containers
  • Hazardous waste
  • Scrap waste
  • Chemical waste
  • Residual waste treatment infrastructure solutions

Buyers are ultimately looking for you to meet their bespoke needs while contributing to their overall waste requirements. They want to know how you’ll meet their requirements while maximising innovation, adding value and maximising compliance. You also need to demonstrate how you will keep cost and disruption to a minimum.

What does the updated Waste Management Plan for England include?

The updated WMPE has a primary focus on sustainability, green solutions and the environment. It aims to bring current waste management policies under the umbrella of one national plan.

The new initiatives hope to achieve waste reduction targets helping deal with the ever-increasing amount of waste. They hope through doing this, that it sets a vision to move to a more circular economy.

The Resources and Waste Strategy

The Resources and Waste Strategy aims to preserve material resources by minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency. It hopes to minimise the damage caused to the natural environment. The government hopes to do this by tackling waste crime and reducing and managing waste safely and carefully.

The Resources and Waste Strategy identifies five strategic ambitions in line with the 25 Year Environment Plan. These are:

  1. To work towards all plastic packaging on the market being recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.
  2. Work towards eliminating food waste to landfill by 2030.
  3. To eliminate avoidable plastic waste over the lifetime of the 25 Year Environment Plan.
  4. To double resource productivity by 2050.
  5. To eliminate avoidable waste of all kinds by 2050.

When applying for government waste management tenders, it may be worth thinking about some innovative waste treatment technologies. The government encourages those waste management treatments that:

  • Have efficient waste recovery from residual waste.
  • Have environmental benefits.
  • Reduce carbon impacts.
  • Provide economic opportunities.
  • Have innovative technologies that improve the environmental outcome for the treatment of residual waste.

For example, how you use technologies that could then create transport fuels through the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation.

The Resources and Waste Strategy will unlock the increased investment needed in the infrastructure to support delivery on green solutions. Moreover, they will help support the finance and delivery of those policies and ambitions. This is another thing to consider when writing your waste management tenders. Green, sustainable solutions that reduce waste are what they are looking for.

Waste Management Plan

The Waste Management Plan, known as “the Plan” will fulfil the requirements of the Waste Regulations 20114. It has a focus on waste prevention through policies that support activities that:

  • Reuse
  • Repair
  • Recycle
  • Remanufacture

Waste Hierarchy

  1. Prevention

Prevention within the waste hierarchy means the use of less material in design and manufacturing. It has an emphasis on keeping products for longer, reusing them and using less hazardous materials.

  1. Preparing for reuse

This involves checking, cleaning, repairing, refurbishing whole items or spare parts.

  1. Recycling

Turning waste into a new substance or product. This includes anaerobic digestion and composting.

  1. Other recovery

Other recovery includes material from waste and some landfilling. It also includes co-incineration plants and incineration plants (including gasification and pyrolysis) that have R1 status.

  1. Disposal

Disposal includes landfill and incineration plants (including gasification and pyrolysis) that don’t have R1 status.

Green Finance Strategy

The government’s Green Finance Strategy has been published in accordance with their 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. These combined, set a clear framework for how investment will be increased. They have a focus on key clean growth and environmental sectors.

3 things to remember when writing your government waste management tenders:

  1. Environmental considerations and benefits

If this hasn’t already been made clear, with all waste management tenders, you must consider the environmental impact. All successful waste management tenders will deliver environmental benefits.

For example, if writing a housing waste management tender, in nearly all cases, successful bids proposed delivery enhanced recycling services. You would want to include how you will make it easier for residents to recycle.

  1. Qualifications and Accreditations

Qualifications and accreditations are an important aspect when writing your tender response. The buyer will want to know that you’re qualified to carry out the contract. Some examples of relevant qualifications, accreditations and policies that may be needed are:

  • ISO 9001; 14001; 18001; 27000
  • RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations)
  • CHAS (Contractor Health & Safety Assessment)
  • EMS (Environmental Management Systems)
  1. The Specification

This may sound obvious, but you must read the specification. You need to understand exactly what the buyer requires and clearly state how you supply it. You must demonstrate how you meet, exceed and improve their goals and expectations. Do you offer anything your competitors don’t? You want to convince the contractor that you are the best business for the job.

Pay attention to the word or page count. They are there for a reason. If the question is asking for a 500-word response, you will likely need to go into detail. A couple of sentences just won’t suffice. Write clearly and concisely and don’t allow the buyer to make any assumptions. 

Where can I find waste management tenders?

So, you now know what to include and consider when writing your government waste management tenders. You may be wondering where to find such tendering opportunities. You likely don’t have the time to search through thousands of websites every day.

Enter – our Facilities Tenders portal.

Facilities Tenders is an opportunity tracking platform where we source all tenders from across the UK. We then manually upload them to one convenient place saving you countless hours.

Unlike other portals that use CPV codes, we use manual tracking. CPV codes can be unreliable, thus leaving room for missed opportunities. On our portal, you can filter all live tenders by using keywords, location, budget and more. This takes the headache out of searching for waste management tenders, leaving you time to focus on the important things.

A subscription with Facilities Tenders offers your business:

  • A team of Opportunity Trackers that source waste management tenders from 1000s of sites daily.
  • Access to all public and private sector opportunities across the UK.
  • A dedicated Account Manager to answer any queries or questions you may have.
  • A 20-minute free consultancy call every month with one of our bid experts.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • A daily email bulletin sent directly to your inbox of all the live tenders posted that day. This saves you even more time to focus on running your business.

Here are some past examples of waste management tenders we have recently sourced:

2042 – Provision of Waste Management Services

An Post- Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

25-01-2021

Framework Agreement for General Waste Management Services

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire Police- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: £5,500,000

22-01-2021

General Waste Management Services

Yorkshire and Humber Police Procurement (Y&HPP)- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

22-01-2021

Waste Management and Waste Recycling Services

7 Forces Procurement- Eastern- Budget: Undisclosed

25-01-2021

Single Party Framework Agreement for the Provision of Waste Management Services to HRI Racecourses

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI)- Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

30-12-2020

Join Facilities Tenders

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

Book a free live demo today to learn how we can grow your business!

Bid Writing Support

Here at Hudson, we have over 40 years bid writing experience across a variety of industries. Once you’ve found the right waste management tender for your business, we can help you with your bid response.

Our Bid Writers have an 87% success rate and are happy to support you with your waste management tender. Whether this is your first time to tendering or you simply need someone to take a look at your response. We have four packages to suit your needs:

Contact our team today to find out how we can help your business grow.