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10 Things to Expect from Fire Alarm Maintenance Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

Fire alarm maintenance tenders and how to succeed

Fire alarm maintenance tenders are constantly being released by buyers in both the private and public sectors. Due to health and safety requirements, every building must have a fire detection system installed. This means that fire alarm maintenance services are needed across the board in residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Fire alarm maintenance tenders can be used by contractors to procure fire alarm, fire systems and fire protection devices for:

  • Service
  • Testing
  • Inspection
  • Installation
  • Repair
  • Replacement
  • Maintenance.

Tenders are typically split into two sections: quality and price. The quality criteria are often split into different sections that are evaluated.

10 things you can expect from fire alarm maintenance tenders

  1. Providing your organisation’s information

You will always need to detail your organisation and contact details at the first stage of fire alarm maintenance tenders. You can expect to include your company’s registration and VAT number as well as contact details.

  1. Mobilisation plan

For this section, you can expect to detail how your organisation would achieve mobilisation in time for the commencement date. You will likely need to include how your organisation will manage any transition period if applicable during the contract. 

  1. The technical ability of staff

You can expect to detail the technical ability of your staff and the management structure you have in place. This may include staff CV’s or detailing their professional accreditations and qualifications. You may need to detail the reporting lines within your organisation to support the successful performance of the contract.

  1. Training

Buyers for fire alarm maintenance tenders may want you to describe your company’s approach to staff training. This is because they want to know that they are up to date with all requirements and demonstrate best practice.

  1. Service levels and performance

A common section within fire alarm maintenance tenders is service levels and performance. This will likely include how you would ensure emergency call out times are managed and adhered to.

Moreover, a contractor may require you to demonstrate an efficient and fully auditable process for detailing the work. You may need to include the entire work order process from ordering through to invoicing. This will likely include work order, quotations and invoicing.

  1. Contract monitoring

Contract monitoring is another section that you can expect to find within your fire alarm maintenance tender. You will likely need to provide and demonstrate your business’ standard reports you would propose to the buyer using. This covers areas such as health and safety incidents, Key Performance Indicators and jobs and service delivery.

  1. Health and safety

Of course, health and safety are to be expected in almost every tender. In this section, you will need to detail that you hold a recognised health and safety management system. For example, OHSAS 18001, ISO 45001 or equivalent, providing a copy to the buyer. Along with health and safety, you can expect to detail your risk assessments too.

  1. Environmental management and added value

Environmental management and added value are an increasingly important section of a bid. If tendering in the public sector, you can expect a minimum 10% weighting on social value. This means that you must detail the social, economic and environmental aspects when fulfilling a contract. These promises are contractually obliging, so you want to ensure you’re making promises you can keep. These could range from:

  • Aiding COVID-19 recovery
  • Paying staff National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality
  • Employing local labour or appointing apprentices to tackle unemployment
  • Tackling carbon emissions
  • Reducing waste
  • Equal opportunity and diversity policies.

You could include a copy of your environmental management systems certificate such as ISO 14001 or equivalent. Moreover, a buyer is looking at how a potential supplier can bring added value to the contract. This could include the integration of new technology, the use of local labour force and so on.

  1. References

References will be required when writing your fire alarm maintenance tender. These are often referred to as case studies. You can be asked to provide up to three past case studies within the last three to five years. These previous contracts could be from either or both the public and private sector.

You should keep your case studies relevant to the project at hand. You should choose examples that are similar in scope, complexity and location where possible. The case studies should demonstrate your company’s technical capability in the market.

  1. Financial standing

Your business’s economic financial standing will be assessed when you’re applying for tenders. It is often assessed as pass or fail and is assessed on three aspects of your business:

  • Annual turnover
  • Financial ratios
  • Insurance.

Need assistance when writing your next fire alarm maintenance tender?

We know how busy you are when running your own business. Buyer will always expect and look for a high-quality written response when they release a tender. Sometimes you just don’t have the time or resources in house to write a winning response. Outsourcing your next bid to tender writing experts can help you secure a pipeline of work for your business.

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 more fire alarm maintenance tenders. Whether you’ve never tendered before or need your response proofread before you submit – we can help.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect tender for your business, why not send it over to us? 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. 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 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 it.

Where can I find fire alarm maintenance tenders for my business?

Knowing where to find fire alarm maintenance tenders can take a lot of time out of your day. There are hundreds of websites posting multi-sector opportunities. Each requiring their own portals, logins and passwords – keeping track can turn into a full-time job! Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Enter…Facilities Tenders!

Facilities Tenders is one, easy-to-navigate portal that hosts all facilities management tendering leads and opportunities. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes that can result in missed opportunities. Our Opportunity Trackers manually source and upload tenders from hundreds of websites.

You’re able to search all exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK. You are able to filter the results by keyword, location, budget and more. This allows you to find the perfect fire alarm maintenance tenders for your company, streamlining the process.

Below are previous fire alarm maintenance tenders sourced on our portal:

Fire Systems Maintenance Services

London Borough of Bromley- London- Budget: £540,000

Fire Safety Maintenance Contract

Almond Housing Association- Scotland- Budget: £90,000

Fire Safety & Maintenance 2021

Irwell Valley Homes- North West- Budget: £125,000

GB-St Leonards on Sea: Fire Alarm Maintenance

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust- South East- Budget: £50,000

Oldbury Fire Systems Maintenance Reference number: MX-OLD-FIRE2021

Sellafield- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

A 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 is available to answer any questions you may have about fire alarm maintenance 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.

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 tender 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 fire alarm maintenance tenders.

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.
  • 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.

A Guide to The Utilities Procurement Regulations

Posted on by John Hudson

Utilities Procurement Regulations: answering your FAQs

Utilities Procurement Regulations are also known as the Utilities Contracts Regulations or UCRs. They are the principal procurement rules governing utilities in the UK. The regulations were created in order to help ensure general principles of transparency in the procurement process for utilities.

They’re used to establish equal treatment and non-discrimination ensuring that all tenders are assessed creating a fair and competitive process. UCRs create a more level playing field, allowing SMEs to get involved in tendering in the public sector. The Government have pledged to spend £1 in every £3 with SMEs by 2022. This means the public sector is actively looking to work with smaller businesses.

There are two sets of Utilities Procurement Regulations for the UK these are as follows:

  • In England, Wales and Northern Ireland: The Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016
  • In Scotland: The Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016

When are UCRs used?

Utilities Procurement Regulations apply where the following three conditions are satisfied when the:

  1. Entity awarding the contract is a ‘utility’
  2. Contract is for works, services or suppliers associated with a prescribed relevant utility activity
  3. Estimated value of the contract exceeds the relevant financial thresholds.

What entities are covered by the UCRs?

The entities that are covered by the Utilities Procurement Regulations are defined as ‘utilities’ and must be:

  • Contracting authorities

Including public bodies tasked with performing public functions such as local authorities.

  • Public undertakings

Over which contracting authorities may directly or indirectly exercise a dominant influence. They could do this by virtue of their ownership or financial participation or governing rules.

  • Private undertakings operating on the basis of ‘special or exclusive rights’

Deriving from authorisations granted by the State. For example, authorisations or licences to operate a gas or water network.

Utility activities in the UK are contained in the UCRs. They can be summarised as covering:

  • Regulated water and sewerage companies
  • Incumbent gas and electricity transmission and distribution network businesses
  • District heating networks
  • Transport services
  • Ports and airports
  • Postal services.

What contracts are covered by the Utilities Procurement Regulations?

The UCRs apply to the following contracts:

What’s the difference between UCRs and public sector regulations?

The contracts that the regulations apply to are fairly similar to the public sector regulations (PCR) 2015. The Utilities Procurement Regulations provide greater flexibility for utilities being more market-orientated. Therefore, they’re less likely to be influenced by ‘buy national’ circumstance when procuring works, supplies and services.

The UCRs only apply to the award of works, supplies and service contracts relating to the relevant utility activity. They allow utilities to choose freely between prescribed contract award procedures. Moreover, they give utilities greater freedom to use framework agreements now they have become more regulated. The PCRs stipulate that there’s a four-year maximum term for a framework. Whereas under the UCRs, a utilities framework can have a maximum of eight years.

What is a framework?

A framework agreement is a multi-supplier agreement used by the public sector to procure a range of goods and services. They are frequently used within the utilities sector. The length of a framework can vary from a few months, but utilities frameworks more often run for years. Due to this, securing a place on a framework agreement can be a lucrative opportunity for your business.

Framework agreements are split into different lots. Each lot can either be a specific good, service, work or geographical location. They allow suppliers to apply to be part of a wider contract without needing to supply all areas. The number of suppliers for each lot varies and can be anything from four suppliers for one lot to ten. Suppliers need only apply for the specific lot[s] they specialise in.

Depending on the buyer, suppliers may be able to bid on any or all of the framework lots available. This will be stated within the tender documents and tender specification released by the buyer. If this is an option, a supplier must be able to demonstrate that they’re able to undertake all works. They must have the appropriate capacity and resources to undertake the works across all selected respective lots.

What are the tender award procedures?

Utilities Procurement Regulations provide for six main contract awards tender procedures:

  1. Open procedure
  2. Restricted procedure
  3. Competitive procedure with negotiation
  4. Competitive dialogue procedure
  5. Innovation partnership
  6. Negotiated procedure without a call for competition.

How are utilities contracts awarded?

Under the Utilities Procurement Regulations, all contracts must now be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT). A MEAT takes on a cost-effectiveness approach and could be based on price or cost alone. It could also be evaluated by a best price-quality ratio.

A MEAT can consider the following aspects of a tender:

  • Accessibility
  • Customer service
  • Sustainability
  • Environmental aspects
  • Ability to deliver on time
  • Price
  • Quality.

Need help with your next utilities tender?

You may not always have the experience, time or resources in-house to write a winning tender response. If you’re interested in a current framework agreement or utilities DPS but don’t know where to start, we can help. Outsourcing to tender writing experts can help you win your next tender, securing a pipeline of work for your business.

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 more utilities tenders. Whether you’ve never tendered before or need your response proofread before you submit – we can help.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect utilities tender for your business, why not send it over to us? 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. 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.

Below are previous utilities tenders sourced on our portal:

Utilities Framework

Exceeding Limited- East Midlands- Budget: £1,500,000

Market Engagement Event in relation to LB Hackney’s Zero Carbon Electricity Power Purchase Agreement(s)

London Borough of Hackney- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Supply of Electric/Gas Meter Covers

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

Contract for the Provision of a Fully Managed Service for Energy Supply (Gas and Electric)

Cheshire East Borough Council- North West- Budget: £6,000,000

Plot N24 Electricity Installation (Hereford Enterprise Zone)

Herefordshire Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

A 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 is available to answer any questions you may have about utilities 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.

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 tender 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 utilities tenders.

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.
  • 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.

How to Prepare for Energy Tenders in the UK

Posted on by John Hudson

Energy tenders in the UK and where to find them

Searching for energy tenders in the UK can be overwhelming. Hundreds of websites post multi-sector opportunities daily and it can be hard to know where to begin.

Energy tenders in the UK can vary from renewable energy to energy efficiency contracts. Both the private and public sectors release energy tenders and they can be lucrative opportunities for your business.

Where to find energy tenders in the UK

Half the challenge of tendering is knowing where to find the right opportunity for your business. It can seem daunting and end up turning into a full-time job. Multiple websites ask for different logins and passwords, it can be hard to keep track. Ideally, you should be looking for a sector-specific portal that posts relevant exclusive, public and private tenders and leads.

Facilities Tenders is a centralised portal that hosts all the UK’s facilities management tendering leads and opportunities. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes that can result in missed opportunities. Our Opportunity Trackers manually source and upload relevant facilities management tenders daily from across the UK. You’re able to filter the results by location, budget, keyword and more. This allows you to find the perfect energy tenders in the UK for your company.

Below are previous energy tenders we sourced on our portal:

S/M Agreement for Building Management Equipment Services

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

Jigsaw Homes Group Energy Tender 2021

Jigsaw Homes Group Ltd- North West- Budget: £3,000,000

Zero Carbon Electricity Power Purchase Agreement

London Borough of Hackney- London- Budget: Undisclosed

PS-21-13 – Dunlop ECC – Passivhaus (Energy Efficiency) New Build Project (PRJ0012653)

East Ayrshire Council- Scotland- Budget: £2,050,000

Energy Efficiency Retrofit Project Market Engagement

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority- Eastern- Budget: Undisclosed

A 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 is available to answer any questions you may have about energy tenders 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!

Once you’ve found a site that posts sector-specific opportunities, you may be wondering what’s needed. It’s important to develop a bank of responses ready to submit when the time comes. Writing a tender can take time, you will need to provide company information. A buyer will often ask for your business’s policies on a range of areas such as:

  • Health and safety
  • Modern slavery
  • Equality and diversity
  • Environmental.

Question if the opportunity is right for your business

Before you get underway with any bid, you should ask yourself the following questions:

  • Can I deliver the contract if successful?
  • Do I meet the minimum financial and eligibility criteria?
  • Can I write a high quality, winning response?
  • Do I have the required experience?

You should be answering yes to all the above questions when looking for the right energy tenders for your business. These are essential in order to be in a chance of winning a contract.

Know your businesses economic and financial standing

When submitting a tender response, you will be asked to provide your economic financial standing. This generally covers your business’s:

  1. Annual turnover
  2. Financial ratios
  3. Insurance[s].

Have a bank of case studies demonstrating past contracts

Requirements for energy tenders in the UK could include previous contract examples of work you have completed. They should be similar in complexity, scope and style. You may be asked for up to three examples within the last five years. They are often referred to as case studies and can strengthen your bid. Make sure you keep them relevant and include any challenges you overcame.

Your case studies should demonstrate:

  • Previous contracts similar in scale and location
  • How you delivered the contract and mobilisation
  • Any challenges you encountered and how you overcame them
  • Whether you completed the contract on time and within budget.

CVs of the team members expected to work on the contract

Energy tenders in the UK may ask for you to attach CVs of team members expected to work on site. They should detail their:

  • Name
  • Job title
  • Experience
  • Knowledge
  • Technical skills
  • Relevant qualifications and accreditations.

You need to instil confidence in the client that your team knows what they’re doing. You should demonstrate that they will deliver the project successfully. It will never go amiss attaching a small, friendly and professional-looking picture of each team member. This enables the buyer to put a name to a face that they will potentially be working with on site.

Be prepared to answer a question on social value if tendering in the public sector

Public sector contracts have a mandatory 10% minimum weighting on social value for each tender. This is because they need to ensure value for money when spending taxpayer’s money. It’s also because they have pledged to commit to more sustainable procurement practices.

A winning tender will need to assess the various social, economic and environmental aspects while carrying out the tender. These could include:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • Paying employees National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality
  • Using local labour to tackle unemployment
  • The environmental consideration taken, such as reducing waste and encouraging recycling
  • Steps taken to reduce carbon emissions
  • Upskilling and use of apprentices and more.

The pledges you make at this stage are often contractually binding. This means you should be making promises you can and will keep. It is not something to just gloss over within your tender response.

Need assistance when writing energy tenders?

You may not have the time, resources or experience to write a winning bid response in house. Writing energy tenders in the UK can take a large amount of time out of your day. If you are unsure if you can write a high-quality written response to the bid, outsourcing is a great option.

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

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect energy tender for your business, why not send it over to us? 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. 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.

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 energy tenders in the UK.

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 strategy.
  • 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.

How to Win Lawn Care Contracts up for Bid

Posted on by John Hudson

Lawn care contracts up for bid: 3 steps to success

Have you been searching terms such as “how to win lawn care contracts up for bid?” Or “where to find lawn care contracts up for bid?” You aren’t the only one. Tendering for work can have many advantages for your business. There’s never been a better time to give it a go, particularly if you’re an SME. However, knowing how to win and where to find lawn care contracts up for bid can be daunting.

Before applying for any bid, you should consider the following questions after reading the tender specification:

  • Can I fulfil the work?
  • Do I hold and meet the necessary requirements?
  • Do I have enough experience?
  • Does my business meet the economic and financial standing?
  • Do I have the resources to carry out the contract?

These questions are a good place to start before beginning any bid response. They can help you establish if it’s the right opportunity for your business. You don’t want to waste resources starting a bid only to realise you don’t qualify on financial standing, for example.

Opportunities for SME’s

If you’re an SME, you may be wondering if you are in with a chance of winning lawn care contracts up for bid. A lot of SMEs think that tenders are given to larger businesses and corporations exclusively. However, this isn’t the case.

The UK government has implemented a scheme to see at least £1 in £3 being spent with SMEs by 2022. This means that public sector organisations are actively looking to award contracts to smaller businesses. Winning a contract, particularly if it’s a place on a framework agreement can be a lucrative opportunity for your business.

So, if you’ve never tendered before you may be wondering how to go about it. Generally speaking, there are three steps to winning lawn care contracts that come up for bid:

  1. Knowing where to find lawn care contracts up for bid.
  2. Competitively pricing your services.
  3. Knowing how to write a high-quality bid response.

Let’s break these down.

Step 1: Where to find lawn care contracts up for bid

You may be wondering where you can find lawn contracts up for bid. There are hundreds of websites posting multi-sector tendering opportunities daily across the UK. Each may require a different login or password and keeping track can turn into a full-time job! Both the private and public sector release tenders in order to procure lawn care services.

You should be looking for a site that hosts industry-specific opportunities. Facilities Tenders is a centralised portal that hosts all facilities management tendering leads and opportunities. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes that can result in missed opportunities.

Our Opportunity Trackers manually source and upload exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK. You’re able to filter the results by keyword, location, budget and more. This allows you to find the perfect lawn care contracts up for bid for your company.

Below are previous lawn care contracts up for bid on our portal:

Provision of Weed Control Services

The London Borough of Barnet- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Landscaping and Grounds Maintenance – V2

Taff Housing Association- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

Scottish Ambulance Service Grounds Maintenance

Scottish Ambulance Service- Scotland- Budget: Undisclosed

Framework – Provision of Garden Maintenance and Hedge Trimming Services – MTS

East Renfrewshire Council- Scotland- Budget: £105,000

Grounds Maintenance Services – North West Region

Salvation Army Housing Association- London- Budget: Undisclosed

A 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 is available to answer any questions you may have about lawn care contracts up for bid. 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!

Step 2: Pricing your tender right

Pricing your bid right is an important aspect of any tender. You don’t want to undercut your competitors. Moreover, pricing your services too low may lead to a contractor questioning the legitimacy of your services.

The public sector has certain rules and regulations that it must follow to award a contract to a supplier. However, the private sector isn’t bound by such rules and can award a tender however they want. In this case, the cheapest bid may well win, but for the public sector, it won’t. Public sector organisations will award bids to the most economically advantageous tender, known as the MEAT.

The MEAT seeks to achieve the most value for money and added value from a bid proposal. This is because they need to ensure they are getting the most value for money out of the taxpayer’s money. A buyer will take into account a range of factors that will be specified in the tender documents. They’ll evaluate them both individually and in combination. They might include the following:

  • Accessibility
  • Technical ability
  • Ability to deliver on time
  • Innovation
  • Environmental considerations
  • Sustainability.

When applying for lawn care contracts up for bid in the public sector you need to consider social value. A tender will have a minimum weighting of 10% on social value, this could be more depending on the buyer. You will need to consider the environmental, social and economic aspects of the contract. Make sure you’re including promises you can keep, as social value is often contractually binding. It’s likely that lawn care contracts up for bid will have a particular focus on environmental aspects and considerations.

Examples of social values you could include in your lawn care contracts up for bid are:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • Reducing waste and encouraging recycling
  • The eco-friendly and innovative products you use
  • Encouraging biodiversity and tackling carbon emissions
  • Upskilling
  • Paying staff the National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity and diversity policies
  • Apprenticeships or employing local labour to tackle unemployment. 

Step 3: Write a high-quality response

Buyers will be expecting a high-quality written bid response. Even if the quality section of the tender is weighted less than cost. A business should aim to score as highly as possible across all aspects of the tender evaluation sections. You should aim for your responses to be clear and concise. Ultimately you want to be assertive in your writing, persuading the buyer that you’re the best business for the job.

Try and hit as close to the word or page count as possible with your written response. The word count will be detailed in the questions. If a buyer is expecting a 500-word response, simply responding with two sentences won’t suffice. Word and page counts are there for a reason. Clearly laying out your response will reflect strongly on you as a business. Using subheadings and bullet points can help break up your responses. A buyer will apricate this, particularly if there’s a high level of responders.

Pro-tip: Have a bank of evidence of previous contracts you have fulfilled. Buyers will ask for two to three case studies of completed contracts within the last three or five years. They should be similar in scope and complexity to the lawn care contracts that you’re applying for. You should consider:

  • Past contracts you have completed similar in scale and location.
  • How you mobilised and delivered the contract.
  • The challenges you encountered and how you overcame them.
  • Whether you completed the contract on time and within budget.

Need assistance when writing your next lawn care contract?

It’s understandable that you may not always have the resources, time or experience to write a winning response in-house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help you win your next tender, securing a pipeline of work for your business.

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 more lawn care contracts up for bid. Whether you’ve never tendered before or need your response proofread before you submit – we can help.

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

Want to save even more time?

Upgrading to Discover Elite allows you to identify tender 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 lawn care 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 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.
  • 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.

Asbestos Tender Opportunities: 5 Things to Expect

Posted on by John Hudson

Asbestos tender opportunities and where to find them

Asbestos tender opportunities are fairly common within the facilities industry. They are released by both the public and private sector. Although, you can expect to see more asbestos tender opportunities released by public sector organisations, such as local councils. They are used to procure services and works in relation to asbestos.

You may be able to find asbestos tender opportunities for:

  • Surveying, sampling and analytical services
  • Removal
  • Testing and consultancy
  • Asbestos management services.

Asbestos was used in building works from the 20th Century, with the peak usage in the 60s and 70s. There is an array of buildings that now need it removed or tested after its ban in the 1980s. These may include:

  • Offices
  • Educational premises
  • Leisure centres
  • Social housing
  • Community centre
  • Shop units
  • Depots
  • Residential homes.

5 Things you can expect from asbestos tender opportunities

  1. Framework Agreements

A framework agreement is a multi-supplier agreement used by public sector organisations. They are used by a buyer to secure multiple suppliers for particular services, goods and works. They’re also used by buyers if there is a contract with multiple locations.

The length of framework agreements can range from a few months to multiple years at a time. Some offer the possibility of an extension and securing a place can be a lucrative opportunity for your business. They are a great way of securing a pipeline of work for your company.

They are split into lots and each lot is a specific good, service or location. It allows suppliers to tender for work applying for the certain lot[s] they can deliver. This means a supplier doesn’t have to be able to provide the whole contract. Depending on the buyer, and the framework, a supplier may be able to apply for multiple lots. In this case, a supplier will have to provide hard evidential proof they have the resources to deliver multiple lots.

Below is an example of an asbestos tender framework agreement broken into locational lots:

Lot 1 – Birmingham City Council

Lot 2 – Wolverhampton City Council

Lot 3 – Coventry City Council

Lot 4 – Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council

Lot 5 – Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

If you were only able to provide your services to the Solihull area, you would only apply for Lot 5.

  1. A method statement

You will likely be asked to provide a method statement when applying for asbestos tender opportunities. An example question that may be asked is:

“Please provide a method statement from an operational perspective detailing how the project works will be undertaken in an occupied building, where you perceive the key risks are in operating in an occupied building and how you proposed to mitigate these risks (your answer should be limited to 500 words).”

For this, you could include a step-by-step guide detailing how you would deliver the work at hand. A focus on carrying out the works safely is crucial. Including how employees carry out work in a safe manner to prevent injury to themselves or others is also vital. Typically, a method statement will include how your business handles the following:

  • First aid
  • PPE
  • Welfare
  • Staff and training
  • Tools and equipment
  • Material handling.

  1. Proof of relevant qualifications and accreditations

When writing your proposal for asbestos tender opportunities, you can expect to provide evidence of your technical capability. Buyers will likely ask what relevant qualifications, accreditations and licences your business and employees have. These could be:

  • ISO 9001; 14001
  • OHAS 18001
  • EMAS
  • RIDDOR
  • CHAS
  • Asbestos Removal Licence
  • ConstructionLine certificate.

This is because they want to be reassured that your business upholds best practice.

  1. Value for money

Public sector contracts will be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender, which is known as the MEAT. They want to be assured that taxpayer’s money is spent on tenders that present the most value for money. Buyers will be looking at more than just price. They will be looking at aspects of your tender response individually and combined.

Each buyer has different needs and requirements. The tender specification will detail what aspects the buyer will be evaluating the tender on. It could include the following:

  • Innovation
  • Environmental aspects
  • Ability to deliver on time
  • Technical ability
  • Quality
  • Sustainability.

  1. Social value

Asbestos tenders in the public sector will have an evaluated section on social value. The minimum weighting is 10%, but it can be as large as 30%. Social value covers the social, economic and environmental aspects of a contract. You should be making pledges that you can keep in your tender response. This is because they are likely to be contractually binding. Therefore, it is something that you should carefully consider.

Due to the nature of asbestos, it’s likely that there’ll be an emphasis on the environmental aspects of a contract. Social value considerations you could include in your response could be:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • Supporting the local community through employment of local labour
  • Reducing waste
  • Paying National Living Wage
  • The sustainable and environmental practices you implement
  • Equality and diversity policies
  • Apprenticeship training.

Need help writing your next asbestos tender proposal?

You may not have the time or the resources to write a winning response for asbestos tenders in-house. It can take hours out of your day, and some questions can be confusing if you’ve never tendered before. Outsourcing to a bid writing company can help take the headache out of tendering, maximising your chances of success.

Our sister company Hudson Succeed, are experts in tender responses. They 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 more asbestos tender opportunities. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or need a response proofread before you submit – they can help.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect asbestos tender opportunity 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 current 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 asbestos tender opportunities?

Searching for the right tender for your company can take time. There are thousands of sites posting multi-industry opportunities that are updated daily. Each may require a different login, password or portal and it can be hard to keep up. Simply relying on CPV codes can result in missed opportunities. This is because they are often mislabelled, ironically, going against their very purpose.

Luckily for you, we have a solution. Facilities Tenders is a portal that hosts all live tendering opportunities within the facilities management industry. It’s a time-saving tool that can help optimise your search using one, easy-to-navigate centralised portal.

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

Below are previous asbestos tender opportunities sourced on our portal:

Approved list for Asbestos Removal – Review

London Borough of Bexley- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Asbestos Management Services

Newport City Homes- Wales- Budget: £2,400,000

Asbestos Removal Services

B3 Living- Eastern- Budget: £500,000

Asbestos Removal to New Islington Mill

Salford City Council- North West- Budget: Undisclosed

Asbestos Testing & Consultancy Framework

Hampshire County Council- South East- 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 available to answer any questions you may have about finding asbestos tender opportunities. 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 asbestos tendering opportunities.

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 Construction, 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.

How to Bid on Landscaping Jobs

Posted on by John Hudson

5 things you can expect when you bid on landscaping jobs

So, you may be wondering how to bid on landscaping jobs, and you aren’t alone. Bidding on landscaping jobs can have advantages and enable you to secure a pipeline of work for your business. Landscaping tenders may be commissioned by both public and private organisations such as councils, private residences, universities and enterprises.

Commissioners may release tenders for landscaping services that cover a range of work such as:

If you’ve never tendered before, you may be confused about where to begin. Procurement methods can vary, and different buyers will ask for different things depending on their needs. Below are five things you can expect to be asked for when you bid on a landscaping job.

  1. Health and safety policies

Health and safety is an important aspect of any tender, but particularly when operating equipment. Buyers want to be confident that your business works to the highest health and safety standards. You will also want to minimise the risk to your employees and the general public while carrying out a contract. In order to do this, you must exhibit best practice.

You may be asked to include a risk assessment in accordance with a copy of your health and safety policy. These could be:

  • CHAS
  • RIDDOR
  • A contingency plan that identifies and mitigates risks.

  1. Method statement

A method statement will usually be required when applying to bid on landscaping jobs. The statement will need to detail the way in which the tasks will be completed. It should include a step-by-step guide on how to carry out the job safely. It may also need to include what controlled measures have been implemented to mitigate risks. Stating how employees carry out work in a safe manner to prevent injury to themselves or others is also crucial.

Typically, a method statement will include how your company handles:

  • Staff and training
  • Material handling
  • Preparation and induction
  • Welfare
  • Tools and electrical equipment
  • A full list of machinery to be used on the contract
  • PPE
  • First aid.

  1. Site visits

It is likely that when you apply to bid on landscaping jobs you will be able to conduct a site visit. Depending on the buyer and the site, they may be optional or compulsory. However, it will be detailed within the tender documents. Site visits can be greatly beneficial to your bid response. They’re a great opportunity to go and see the proposed working environment for yourself.

It’s strongly advised that if there’s an option to conduct a site visit, that you participate. They allow you to gain an insight into the buyer, accessing information you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. It may even result in you being able to price your services more accurately.

  1. Relevant qualifications and accreditations

Buyers will often ask for you to attach relevant qualifications and accreditations for the job. This is because they want to be reassured that you have the ability and experience to undertake the work. Some relevant qualifications and accreditations may include:

  • ISO 9001; 14001; 18001
  • BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries)
  • RHS (Royal Horticulture Society) training
  • IoG (Institute of Groundsmanship)
  • Constructionline
  • SSIP.

  1. Social value

When tendering for public sector contracts, there will be a section on social value. This is because the government have made a compulsory minimum weighting of 10% of social value within tenders. However, depending on the buyer, the weighting can be as large as 30%. This means it’s not something to disregard. Buyers will be expecting you to keep the promises you make in your tender proposal.

Social value is the social, economic and environmental aspects that you will take into account while delivering a contract. Your response should include how your business is:

  • Supporting COVID-19 recovery
  • Creating equal opportunities within the workplace
  • Creating jobs or upskilling through apprenticeships for local labour
  • Tackling climate change and reducing waste.

Due to the nature of landscaping jobs, there’ll likely be an increased focus on the environmental aspects of the contract. Buyers will likely want to know how you will be:

  • Managing waste
  • Reducing consumption
  • Increasing recycling
  • Encouraging biodiversity.

We can help you win your next bid on landscaping jobs

You may not have the time, resources or experience to bid on landscaping jobs. Outsourcing your next tender to bid writing experts can help get you on the path to success. 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 land your next landscaping contract.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is perfect for those who have never tendered before. Our Bid Writers 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

Our Tender Improvement package can help if you’ve been tendering for work but aren’t seeing results. 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 Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect landscaping bid for your company, 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.

Where can I find landscaping jobs?

Now you know how to bid on landscaping jobs, you may be wondering where you can find them. There are thousands of websites across the UK that upload multi-industry opportunities. Each has a different portal, requires a different login or password, and can take hours out of your day.

Facilities Tenders is a time-saving tool that helps you optimise your search when you’re looking to bid on landscaping jobs.

We host all the live tendering opportunities within the facilities management industry. Our Opportunity Trackers source and upload exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes! 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 landscaping tender for your company.

Below are previous landscaping tenders sourced on our portal:

Adam & Eve Hard Landscaping

University of Winchester- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

Barcud – Landscaping 2021-2022

Barcud Cyf- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

Land West of Woodhouse Lane, Hedge End: Construction of Natural Turf Sports Pitches, Footways and Landscaping

Eastleigh Borough Council- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

Landscaping Project Phase 1 at St Peters Garden

Chalfont St Peter Parish Council- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

Landscaping Services – Lot 3 Argyll and the Islands

Highlands and Islands Enterprise- Scotland- Budget: £101,250

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 available to answer any questions you may 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 landscaping 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 Construction, 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.

Commercial Maintenance Contracts: 5 Things to Expect When Tendering

Posted on by John Hudson

Commercial maintenance contracts & tendering

Commercial maintenance contracts are put out to tender by private and public sector organisations procuring building maintenance works and services. They can be found for non-residential buildings such as:

  • Schools
  • Offices
  • Universities
  • Retail facilities.

Commercial maintenance contracts can be used to procure a range of goods, services and works. These could include:

5 things you can expect from commercial maintenance contracts

  1. Insurance

Contractors will often require you to provide copies of your insurance when tendering for work. You will likely need to attach it as part of the appendices during the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ). This is an initial stage set by a buyer to ensure you meet the minimum eligibility criteria.

Buyers will want to ensure you have the basic levels of insurance to deliver the commercial maintenance contracts at hand. There are four main types of insurance asked within tendering, these are:

  • Employer’s (Compulsory) Liability Insurance
  • Public Liability Insurance
  • Professional Indemnity Insurance
  • Product Liability Insurance.

  1. Health and safety

You will likely need to detail your business’s health and safety policy. Buyers want to be reassured that you uphold best practice and carry out the highest health and safety standards. You may also be required to do a risk assessment depending on the buyer and the contract at hand. This could include the measures you have in place and a business continuity plan in the case of:

  • Equipment failure
  • Materials shortage/non-delivery
  • Staff shortage
  • Resources/capacity.

Relevant policies and regulations that could be relevant are:

  • CHAS
  • SafeContractor
  • RIDDOR
  • CDN Regulations 2015.

  1. Experience

Contractors for commercial maintenance contracts will likely require you to provide evidence of your professional ability. They want to be reassured that you are capable of fulfilling the contracts and have relevant experience. You may be required to provide up to three case studies carried out within the last three or five years.

These case studies should demonstrate:

  • Past contracts similar in scale and complexity
  • How you delivered the contract and mobilisation
  • Any challenges you encountered and how you overcame them
  • Whether you completed the contract on time and within budget.

  1. Quality management

Tendering for commercial maintenance contracts will likely contain a section of quality management. An example of a quality management question is:

“Please detail your methodology for managing the quality of the workmanship and materials for both directly employed trades and any subcontractors.”

You will likely need to include quality management systems such as ISO 9001; 14001; 18001. Key Performance Indicators are also a good way to demonstrate your quality management. You want to establish the consistency and quality of your services to the buyer. Persuasive writing is essential as you want to convince them why you are the best business for the job.

  1. Value for money

A contractor in the public sector will always award the contract to tenders that demonstrate the most value for money. This is known as the MEAT and stands for the most economically advantageous tender. This is when a buyer looks at more than just price. They assess the tender on a multitude of factors. They could include:

  • Accessibility
  • Environmental factors
  • Sustainability
  • Ability to deliver on time
  • Innovation
  • Quality
  • Technical ability.

As mentioned above, every buyer is different and will have different demands from each other. This is why you will need to read the tender documents carefully before progressing with any tender. A buyers’ requirements will be detailed within the specification.

When tendering for public sector commercial maintenance contracts, you will need to consider social value. A tender will have a minimum weighting of 10% on social value. You should consider the social, environmental and economic aspects of delivering the contract. These pledges and policies are often contractually binding, so you want to make promises you can actually deliver. These could include:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • Reducing waste and encouraging recycling
  • Paying employees the National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality
  • Equal opportunities policies
  • Training apprentices or employing local labour.

Need assistance writing your next commercial maintenance contracts?

You may not have the resources or time to write a winning response for commercial maintenance contracts in-house. It can take a great deal of time out of your busy day. Outsourcing to a bid writing company can help take the headache out of tendering and maximise your chances of success.

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 more commercial maintenance contracts.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect commercial maintenance 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 current 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 commercial maintenance contracts for my business?

Searching for the right tender for your company can take time. There are thousands of sites posting multi-industry opportunities that are updated daily. Each may require a different login, password or portal and it can be hard to keep up. Simply relying on CPV codes can result in missed opportunities. This is because they are often mislabelled, ironically, going against their very purpose.

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.

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

Below are previous commercial maintenance contracts sourced on our portal:

HVAC and BMS Systems Planned Maintenance and Responsive Remedial Works with the Potential for Additional Project Works

Birkbeck University- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Fire and Security Systems Planned Maintenance and Responsive Remedial Works with the Potential for Additional Project Works

Birkbeck University- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Fall Protection Inspections, Equipment Servicing, Maintenance and Training

University of Southampton- South East- Budget: £300,000

Maintain, Inspect, Test, & Repair the Building Energy Management Systems (BeMS), Plant and Equipment Controls

University of Huddersfield e-Tendering- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

Quantum Technology Centre Cleanroom Service and Maintenance

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

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 available to answer any questions you may have about finding commercial maintenance contracts. 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 commercial maintenance contracts.

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.

How to Get Security Contracts for My Company

Posted on by John Hudson

3 steps to help you get security contracts for your business

Have you been Googling terms such as “how to get security contracts for my company”? You aren’t alone with your dilemma. Tendering for work is a great route that can enable your business to grow. Security contracts can range from key holding to CCTV and manned guarding to patrols.

You may be wondering how to get security contracts for your company? Generally speaking, there are three steps to winning security contracts:

  1. Knowing where to find security contracts that are up for tender.
  2. Competitively pricing your services.
  3. Knowing how to write a high-quality bid response.

Let’s assess these steps one by one.

Step 1: How to find security contracts for your company

Knowing where to find security contracts for your company can turn into a bit of a headache. There are thousands of sites across the UK that publish security tenders daily. Many of them require their own login and passwords and keeping track can turn into a full-time job.

Ideally, you should be looking for one site that posts industry-specific opportunities from across the UK. You want to be able to search for viable security contracts for your company, tailored to your needs.

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. It’s a good solution for when you’re asking yourself “how do I get security contracts for my company”.

Below are previous security contracts sourced on our portal:

Street Marshall Service – 29 March – 21 June 2021 for Allerdale BC

Allerdale Borough Council- North West- Budget: Undisclosed

Door Access System for Tamworth Enterprise Centre

Tamworth Borough Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

West Alarm and CCTV Signalling and Monitoring

English Heritage- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

Barnet & Southgate College – Onsite Security Services

Barnet and Southgate College- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Invitation to Tender – Site Security Services

Eden Geothermal Limited- South West- Budget: Undisclosed

What makes Facilities Tenders different?

A 12-month subscription to Facilities Tenders offers your business access to all exclusive, private and public sector opportunities. An on-hand Account Manager will be able to answer any questions regarding how to get security contracts for your company. 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’ll be entitled to 20-minutes of free tender 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!

Step 2: Price your bid right

You want to make sure that you don’t try to undercut your competitors on price when tendering for security contracts. The cheapest bid does not win if tendering for public sector contracts. Buyers will be expecting the prices you put in your bid to be fixed and final. You want to price your services competitively, but pricing too low will raise suspicion. Pricing your services too low may lead the buyer to question your company’s legitimacy.

If tendering for a private sector contract, the cheapest bid may well win. The private sector isn’t constrained by the same rules and requirements the public sector is. The public sector can’t award a bid simply on price. They have to award it to the most economically advantageous tender, known as the MEAT. The MEAT seeks out the most value for money.

A public sector buyer will evaluate a range of factors, including:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • Accessibility
  • Technical ability
  • Customer service
  • Ability to deliver on time
  • Innovation
  • Environmental considerations
  • Equality and diversity policies
  • Sustainability.

A buyer may assess these factors, and others, individually or combined. Each buyer will have different requirements, so it’s best to give the tender specification documents a thorough read through.

Step 3: Write a high-quality written response for security tenders

Buyers will be expecting a high-quality written tender response. The quality of your writing is important, no matter the weighting. Even if the quality section is weighted less than cost, you should still aim for the best score possible.

You should aim to keep your response:

  • Clear and concise
  • Assertive and persuasive, not descriptive
  • As close to the word or page count as possible.

3 things you can expect from security contracts

  1. Qualifications and accreditations

You will be expected to hold a range of qualifications and accreditations when tendering for security contracts. The security industry faces high risks. Contractors like to know that your business and employees are up to date on the relevant policies and regulations. They want to be reassured that you have completed relevant training and your security company demonstrates best practice. These could include:

  • SIA Licenses
  • CHAS
  • NSI
  • ISO 9001; 14001; 18001; 27001; 45001
  • CyberEssentials
  • SMAS
  • NASDU.

  1. Evidence

Buyers will always ask for previous evidence and examples of past contracts you have carried out. They want to be reassured that you are capable of fulfilling the contracts and have experience. You may be required to provide up to three case studies carried out within the last three or five years.

These case studies should be similar in scope and work of a similar calibre. You may want to consider:

  • Your experience on a project of a similar scale.
  • How you mobilised and delivered the contract.
  • The challenges you encountered and how you overcame them, demonstrating problem-solving skills and flexibility.
  • If you completed the contract on time and in budget.

Depending on the word count, you may also consider adding a positive testimonial from a previous satisfied client. A glowing testimonial will give your response an added edge over your competitors, increasing the buyer’s confidence in your company.

Your case studies should be:

  • Relevant
  • Detailed
  • Thorough
  • Well-developed
  • Include concrete evidence
  • Demonstrate your company’s abilities.

  1. Health and Safety

As mentioned above, the security industry comes with risks. Buyers should be confident that the security services you’re providing are carried out to the highest health and safety standards. You should ask yourself and detail:

  • How do you keep up to date with new guidance?
  • How do you communicate this to your staff?
  • What health and safety practices do you have in place?
  • How do your staff receive training?
  • How do you safeguard your employees and members of the public?

In your response, you must convey that all of these are aligned with best practice to win security contracts for your company. You may be required to provide a risk assessment. You may also be asked how you handle risks, conflicts and your out of hours procedure.

Need assistance?

We understand that writing a tendering response doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people, and that’s ok. It can be confusing keeping up with various procurement terminology and navigating through tendering specification documents for security contracts. You may not have the time, money or resources to write a winning response in-house. Outsourcing to bid writing experts can help you get the most out of your security company. They can help you write, or completely take over writing, a winning tender response for you.

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have an 87% success rate and over 60 years of collective bid writing experience. They offer four levels of bid writing support that can help increase your chances of success. Whether you’re completely new to the tendering process, or even if you’ve tendered before, they can help via:

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

Hopefully, these three steps can help you if you’re asking yourself “how to get security contracts for my company”.

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 security 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.
  • 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.

How to Prepare for Gritting Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

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.
  • 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.

Boiler Contracts in the UK: What to Expect

Posted on by John Hudson

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.
  • 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.

School Maintenance Contracts Explained

Posted on by John Hudson

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.
  • 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.

Solar Energy Contracts: 3 Things to Expect When Tendering

Posted on by John Hudson

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.
  • 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.

10 Things You Can Expect from Electrical Testing Contracts

Posted on by John Hudson

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.
  • 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.