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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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:

• 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 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.