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.

2. 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. 

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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:

• Property Maintenance Contracts
• Solar Energy Contracts
• Electrical Testing Contracts
• Cemetery Contracts
• Grounds Maintenance Contracts
• Cleaning Contracts
• Facilities Management Tenders
• Window Cleaning Contracts
• Manned Security Tenders
• Landscape Design Tenders
• Grass Cutting Contracts.

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.