10 Things You Can Expect from Electrical Testing Contracts

Published26th March 2021 AuthorJohn 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.
  • 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.

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