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Tag: facilities tenders

How to Bid on HVAC Service Contracts: 5 things to consider

Posted on by John Hudson

Everything you need to know about how to bid on HVAC Service Contracts

 Do you need some help with how to bid for HVAC service contracts?

 What should I include in my HVAC service contract?

 If you’re learning how to bid on HVAC Service contracts, you’ll be wondering what to include in your response.  Here’s what the buyer is looking for:

  • Business details
  • Service definitions
  • Pricing
  • Service modifications
  • Governance
  • Date and signature

5 things to consider

Now we can look at what you need to remember when it comes to bidding for HVAC service contracts. Here are 5 things to consider when bidding for HVAC contracts:

Certifications

The first point of contact you make with the buyer will be the bid. Demonstrate as many signs of credibility as possible. List all the certifications and accreditations you have gained. The more qualifications you have, the more reputable and experienced you will appear to the buyer.

Time management

 There are many deadlines throughout the duration of the tendering process. Be sure to note down deadline date or stay updated for any changes. It may affect your timings, register for notifications so you be alerted of any changes. Submitting your response or turning up to any pre-bid meetings late doesn’t look good for you. It will give the impression that you’re lazy and unprofessional and could cost you the bid.

Pricing

When it comes to pricing, you’ll need to figure to figure the following:

  • What materials will you need?
  • How long will it take to install and test the equipment?
  • Will you need to obtain any permits?
  • Will you need to meet any building inspectors at the site?

All these factors will contribute what you are planning to charge for your services. Remember, if you price too low, the buyer may question your legitimacy. Being the lowest bidder doesn’t always win you the contracts. However, if you price too high, the buyer will just opt for a cheaper bidder. Price your services just right.

Create added value

There are going to be a lot of people bidding for the same contract. Show the buyer what you can bring to the table that your competitors can’t. Make your response stand out and demonstrate why you’re the best for the job.

Your response should provide social value. This is how your service can ehance the community you’re working in such as:

  • Creating new jobs and promoting skills;
  • Encouraging economic growth;
  • Supporting COVID-19 recovery;
  • Tackling climate change, and;

Submitting the bid

The final thing to consider when it comes to how to bid for HVAC service contracts is submitting it. Be sure to follow any submission guidelines the buyer has listed. If you ignore the buyer’s instructions, you may lose marks or have your bid disqualified.

 Below are some HVAC services tenders sourced on our portal:

200048 – 031 Replacement HVAC – Expressions of Interest

Public Health England – South West – Budget: Undisclosed

COVID 19 MITIGATION FOR THE HEATING VENTILATION AND AIR CONDITIONING (HVAC) AT HQ, SAFESIDE AND HAYMIILS FIRE STATION

West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority – West Midlands Budget: £220k

GB-Eastbourne: HVAC Controls DGH Phase 2

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust – South East Budget: £100k

GB-York: HVAC and Air Conditioning Planned Maintenance ITT

York St John University – Yorkshire and Humber Budget: £500k

HVAC Maintenance Services

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine – London Budget: £750k

Where to find HVAC Service Contracts?

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 HVAC 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

Contact us for further help and support for growing your business.

Need assistance with how to bid for HVAC service contracts?

You may not have the time or resources in house to write a winning tender response in house. Outsourcing to tender writing specialists can help you secure your next contract.

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, provide four levels of bid writing support services. Our Bid Writers have over 60 years of collective bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. Whether you’re new to tendering or need your response proofread – we can help.

Tender Ready

Tender Ready is the perfect programme for those who are completely new to tendering. You’ll have access to an expert Bid Consultant to answer any questions that you may have. You’ll also get a year’s subscription to our Logistics Tenders portal.

Tender Improvement

If you have already been applying for tenders but aren’t seeing success our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Writers will go over your previous submissions and provide feedback and guidance.

Tender Writing

Have you found the perfect courier delivery contract for your business but are struggling to start? Send it over to our Bid Writing team and they can write the whole response for you. If you use our Tender Writing service, they’ll even submit it on your behalf!

Tender Mentor  

Our Bid Writers can look over a bid response you’ve already written, checking it for errors before you submit. Sometimes you just need another pair of eyes to go over your response and our Tender Mentor service can help.

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.

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.

5 Things to Think About When Applying for Grass Cutting Contracts

Posted on by John Hudson

5 things to consider when looking for grass cutting contracts

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

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

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

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

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

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

  1. Remember the basics

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

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

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

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

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

  1. Health and Safety

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

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

  • RIDDOR
  • CHAS

  1. Pricing

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

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

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

  1. Case studies

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

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

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

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

  1. Social value

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

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

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

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

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

Where to find grass cutting contracts

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

Use a sector-specific portal with a variety of opportunities

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

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

Join Facilities Tenders

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

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

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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

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

Amenity Grass Cutting at selected sites throughout Pembrokeshire

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

08-01-2021

BTC Invitation to Tender Grass Cutting

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

15-01-2021

Bar Hill Village Grass Cutting Contract 2021 – 2023

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

20-01-2021

Grass Cutting – North West England

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

11-01-2021

Grass Cutting and Landscape Maintenance Contract

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

15-01-2021

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

Bid writing support

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

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

  1. Tender Mentor

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

  1. Tender Writing

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

  1. Tender Improvement

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

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

  1. Tender Ready

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

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

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

The Ultimate Guide to Lift Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

How to succeed when writing lift tenders

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

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

What type of lift services are buyers looking to procure?

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

  • Repair
  • Maintenance
  • Servicing
  • Installation

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

Case Studies

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

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

Applicable British Standard and Qualifications 

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

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

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

Economic and financial standing

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

  1. Annual turnover

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

  1. Financial ratios

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

  1. Insurance

You usually need to attach your insurance documents.

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

Assess your competition

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

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

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

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

Make life easier for the buyer and keep your response concise

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

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

Where can I find lift tenders?

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

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

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

Rivers House, Bridgwater – Passenger Lifts

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

05-01-2021

Refurbishment of a Bed Passenger Lift

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

18-09-2020

Riverside House – Passenger Lifts

LGSS- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

17-08-2020

Full Replacement of Single Drive Passenger Lift

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

02-10-2020

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

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

30-12-2020

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

Bid writing services

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

  1. Tender Mentor

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

  1. Tender Writing

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

  1. Tender Improvement

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

  1. Tender Ready

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

Join Facilities Tenders

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

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

We also track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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

The Fundamentals of Waste Disposal Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

Everything you need to know when applying for waste disposal tenders

Waste disposal tenders can cover a range of services across a variety of homes, businesses, buildings and public facilities. They are often noted as waste collection, disposal and recycling service contracts. The cleaning sector, in general, is vast and waste disposal tenders could be needed in areas such as:

  • Private and domestic
  • Commercial
  • Industrial
  • Corporate
  • Local Government
  • Education
  • Hospitality

Almost every aspect of life has an output of waste in some way. It is paramount that the disposal of this waste is done in the most environmentally conscious way as possible. Waste disposal tenders are abundant due to the necessity of the job.

There are significant subsections that waste disposal tenders could cover, such as:

  • Hazardous waste
  • Landfill waste
  • Inert waste
  • Scrap waste
  • Builders waste
  • Green waste
  • Recyclable waste
  • Laboratory waste
  • Chemical waste
  • Hospital Waste
  • Food Waste
  • Incineration
  • Biological reprocessing waste

The UK has a significant waste disposal issue and it’s taking its toll on the climate. The UK government estimates that over 26 million tonnes of waste is generated in the UK per year. Only 12 million tonnes of that are recycled and 14 million tonnes are sent to landfill. Because of this, the government has set multiple goals to try and address the UK’s waste production and disposal problems.

They hope to recycle 65% of municipal waste by 2035, with no more than 10% ending up in landfill. Moreover, they have a commitment of working towards eliminating all food waste to landfill by 2030. They hope this will tackle the problem of landfill emissions head on.

The basics of waste disposal tenders

Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ)

The procurement process can be tricky to navigate if you’re new to it. Processes can vary from tender to tender. A PQQ covers the status of your organisation. Typically, when waste disposal tenders are released, a business will need to complete a PQQ.

The PQQ will often ask for your company’s:

  • Information

Here, you will be asked to include general information about your company including:

  • Business name
  • Registered address
  • Contact information
  • Insurance details

  • Economic and financial standing

Buyers will want to assess your organisations financial standing at the preliminary stages of tendering. You will have to provide your organisation’s financial information. This is to make sure that your business can afford to fulfil the contract at hand. Buyers usually assess your economic and financial standing by asking for your:

  1. Annual turnover
  2. Financial ratios
  3. Insurance

  • Technical Capacity

Within the technical capacity section, you may be asked about your:

  1. Annual staffing and number of managerial staff.
  2. Educational and vocational qualifications of managerial staff.
  3. Tools and technical equipment that you’ll use for the project.
  4. Case studies.

  • Case studies

The PQQ will ask for your businesses’ technical capacity and you will need to include relevant case studies. These will need to demonstrate your experience on previous jobs of a similar spec. You may be asked for up to three past examples that your organisation has completed within the last five years.

Invitation to Tender (ITT)

Once your organisation has completed the PQQ, and it has been accepted, you will then be sent an ITT. This is a formal document issued by the buyer which outlines the scope of the project. It invites the supplier to submit a formal tender for the work.

It should outline how you will commit to the project delivery and often includes quality questions. These questions will ask how you carry out certain processes relating to the project at hand.

The weighting of the tender can range from 70% quality and 30% price or 80% quality and 20% price. If you are submitting a waste disposal tender for central government contracts, there is a mandatory 10% on social value. The social value is included within the quality response.

Social Value

When evaluating tender responses for government contracts, departments will use the new model to score potential suppliers. This scoring will focus on the wider, positive impact businesses will provide when delivering the contract. Organisations will be assessed on:

  • How your organisation supports COVID-19 recovery.
  • The environmental considerations your organisation takes to help fight climate change and reduce waste.
  • How you are creating new jobs or skills to tackle economic equality.
  • The equal opportunity policies you implement within your business.

If you’re still unsure about how to proceed with your waste disposal tenders – we can help!

Our team at sister company, Hudson Succeed, are experts in bid writing and have an 87% success rate. They have over 40 years of experience across multiple industries. They offer four bid writing packages catering to your every tendering need. These are:

  1. Tender Ready

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

  1. Tender Improvement

Have you been submitting your own waste disposal tenders but haven’t been seeing results? Our Tender Improvement package is for you. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous tendering responses and supporting documents. They will then provide you with recommendations and guidance on how to improve.

  1. Tender Writing

Have you come across a waste disposal tender you want to go for, but don’t know where to start? Why not send it to one of our Bid Writers? They can do everything for you, and even submit it on your behalf! They’ll provide you with a full tender writing breakdown which will let you know if they need anything from you.

  1. Tender Mentor

Our Bid Writers will take a look over a waste disposal tender you have already written as part of Tender Mentor. They will provide you with feedback, guidance and notify you of any errors before you submit.

Join Facilities Tenders

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

We know you’re busy! Our goal is to save you both time and money by manually searching for new business opportunities for you. We’ll send you daily alerts when new tenders are released. You’ll have 24-hour access to our portal, and a dedicated Account Manager on hand to help.

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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

The Difference Between Public and Private Security Bids

Posted on by John Hudson

Three Myths Surrounding Private Security Bids

Public and private security bids are often used when companies are looking to outsource security services. They are after the expertise and experience that a dedicated security company provides. This ultimately saves them money and training costs from directly employing security personnel. Both public and private security bids can increase your business prospects, helping you to further develop a security service business.

What’s the difference between public and private sector procurement?

Public Procurement

Public procurement is conducted by not-for-profit (NFPs) organisations, also known as the public sector. It’s often affiliated with the government both local and central.

Private Procurement

Private procurement is completed within for-profit organisations (FPs). This happens within privately-owned companies who are looking to outsource their needs. This is known as the private sector.

Budget

The budgets of private and public procurements are often the biggest difference between them. Public procurement that’s driven by governments tend to have a lot less flexibility on how they spend their money. The private sector has a lot more flexibility within budgeting.

Due to this, it’s easier to procure goods and services based upon their price and competitiveness. As there is an underlying focus on procuring to increase top-line value, there’s a need for wiggle-room. At the end of the day, the private sector wants to make a profit. This means they tend to favour the most economically advantageous tenders (MEATs). The public sector also prefers MEATs. However, the private sector can choose a supplier without the regulations that the public sector is bound by.

For any private security bids, guards will need a Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence. You need to have an SIA licence relevant to the nature of the job in hand. For example, key holding, manned guarding or door supervision. The organisation will need to be registered with the SIA as well. The SIA is the organisation responsible for regulating the private security industry in the UK. They report to the Home Secretary under the Private Security Industry Act of 2001.

SIA licencing covers the following activities:

  • Manned Guarding
  • Key Holding
  • Vehicle Immobilising

The SIA doesn’t currently licence the following activities, although the Private Security Industry Act 2001 allows for:

  • Security Consultants
  • Precognition Agents
  • Private Investigation Activities

Tendering for work in the private sector

Several myths are surrounding private and public sector tendering. If you’re a small and medium enterprise (SME), these myths might put you off the tendering process. We hope we can straighten some of these out.

Myth 1 – “You have to be on the inside to get access to private sector opportunities”

It can be easy to understand why some people might think this. There can be fewer opportunities within the private sector, and they can be even harder to find. This is particularly relatable when talking about private security bids.

Luckily, our talented team at Facilities Tenders are skilled at finding both public and private sector tendering opportunities. They then upload them onto our portal, so you don’t have to trawl through thousands of sites.

Myth 2 – “There are no rules or governing principles for the private tender process”

You might think that when comparing it to public procurement. Luckily, this isn’t actually the case. Although significantly less strict than public procurement, which has strict rules and regulations, there’s still important legal principles that apply. Particularly when turning over a specific amount.

Myth 3 – “Private sector tenders don’t use structured tender processes”

This isn’t strictly true. Like public procurement, private tenders can use basic ITT formats, RFTs, RFPs or similar. However, there’s one big difference. Even if the contract is worth more than the EU threshold, you’re not lawfully required to fill out a PQQ. You may be asked to fill out a simplified form concerning your basic company information. But it’s highly unlikely to be as detailed as the requirements for public procurement.

The disadvantages of private procurement

Despite these myths, there can be some disadvantages to private procurement. The private sector is not bound by the same rules and regulations that the public sector is. As mentioned above, they can choose a supplier without having to implement a fair process such as PQQs.

There is another disadvantage of private procurement that’s worth thinking about if going for private security bids. This is a matter of payment. There aren’t as many regulations around payment as the public sector, like the prompt payment code.

These points are worth thinking about when going for a private security bid. There are obvious advantages when going for public security bids instead, such as more opportunities. However, if you’re concerned about how to complete a private security bid, don’t worry. It could be a fairly simple process. But if you have any qualms, we can help.

Here at Hudson, we have over 40 years’ experience across a variety of industries and an 87% success rate. Our Bid Writing Team can help you! Whether this is your first-time tendering, or if you simply need someone to take a look at your bid response. We have four packages to suit your needs:

Join Facilities Tenders

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

We know you’re busy! Our goal is to save you both time and money by manually searching for new business opportunities for you. We’ll send you daily alerts when new tenders are released. You’ll have 24-hour access to our portal, and a dedicated Account Manager on hand to help.

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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

A subscription with Facilities Tenders can offer you:

  • A team of opportunity trackers sourcing public and private security bids from 1000s of sites.
  • A dedicated account manager on-hand to answer any questions or queries you may have about the process.
  • No reliance on CPV codes or algorithms. Our team manually upload each tender, making sure that you have access to all public and private security bids.
  • The ability to filter bid opportunities by keyword, budget, location and more.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free consultancy every month with our bid experts.

THE £12BN CLEAN UP

Posted on by John Hudson

THE £12BN CLEAN UP – Commercial Cleaning Contracts

This is the moment a lot of cleaning companies have been waiting for! A large Commercial Cleaning Contract.

The government has announced ‘a £12bn tender for cleaning and maintenance services at schools, hospitals and in other public buildings’.

The folks at Cleaning Matters has stated that the ‘move comes in the wake of Carillion’s collapse’ and will also help support the 2020 SME initiative, where 1 in 3 pounds will be spent with Small, Medium Enterprises.

Due to the recent Carillion crash, this has led to one of the biggest Facilities Management frameworks we’ve seen in a long while.

‘There are concerns that managing so many different suppliers would be a nightmare for the civil service, who have struggled to oversee outsourced work in the past’.

independent aspects of Commercial cleaning contract management

One thing that will undoubtedly be asked via tenders is the independent aspects of contract management. We advise all cleaning companies to get ahead, act fast and ask themselves to why they should be chosen and what makes them stand out in such a competitive market?

This will make sure you have the functions readily available to put across in your tender submissions.

If you need extra help, we offer a Tender Mentor service where we can guide and review your tender submissions for as little as £295+VAT.

Get in touch to get a part of the action and win various national contracts, with a value range from £500 to £1.4bn.

Below are some cleaning tenders previously sourced on our Facilities Tenders portal:

Cleaning Tender – Bolder Academy – New School Site – Isleworth

Bolder Academy- London- Budget: Undisclosed

Cleaning Tender, Bishop Stopford School, Kettering

Bishop Stopford School- South East- Budget: £100,000

Cleaning and Caretaking Services Framework for Schools and Corporate Properties

Gloucestershire County Council- South West- Budget: £17,040,341

Derby Cathedral School Cleaning

Derby Cathedral School- East Midlands- Budget: £725,000

For the Provision of Cleaning Services at Myddelton House

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

Join Facilities Tenders

We track opportunities for the following sub-sectors:

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