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Scenario Number 1

There is a new tender for a contract to deliver luncheon club services to older people. The commissioner has specifically asked for a consortia approach to tendering for the contract, and has stated that evidence of responding to diverse needs is key to what they are looking for. You have been asked to cover the whole borough, including the use of vehicles to transport elders to luncheon club venues.

The use of five buildings comes as part of the contract.

The contract value is £1.5m over 2 yrs.

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Now pause the presentation…

… now pause the presentation. You can do this by moving your mouse to the bottom left of the screen and clicking the rectangular icon.

Now make some notes on how you would respond to this tender. When you are ready, start the presentation again for the tips.

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How did you get on? - a

You should always pay close attention to the tender specification. The key words in this one include:

Luncheon club services – Is this part of your organisation’s mission?

Older people – do you work with older people? What knowledge do you have of their expectations of this service?

Ability to respond to diverse needs – do you know what these are? Have you checked out the local demographics?

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How did you get on? – b

Also note that the commissioner has specifically asked for a consortia approach to tendering for the contract. In other words, a single bid is likely to be viewed less favourably. Can you organise this in the time you have, or are you looking to be a partner in another bid?

Other things to consider: You need to think about the transport element – does

your organisation have experience in this area? You should also explore the reality behind the five

buildings which come as part of the contract: The contract value is £1.5m – has your organisation the

systems and structures in place to be responsible for this amount of money?

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Scenario Number 2

You have been asked by the local PCT to develop and manage a community centre in the east of the borough. The services that you plan to deliver from the community centre must cater to:

Children and young people Women with pre-school children The over 60s

- as well as offering a health and well being service.

The use and maintenance of a building comes as part of the contract.

The contract value is: £750,000 per annum.

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Now pause the presentation…

… now pause the presentation. You can do this by moving your mouse to the bottom left of the screen and clicking the rectangular icon.

Now make some notes on how you would respond to this tender. When you are ready, start the presentation again for the tips.

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How did you get on?

What are the key points to address?

What are the possible liabilities?

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Costing your tender

Remember to show how you arrived at your costings[and keep this as a record].

Always stay within the tender price given but attempt tooperate Full Cost Recovery. This means that youwill not short-change yourself when it comes tooverheads such as travel, training, stationery, audit andmanagement costs.

For more on Full Cost Recovery, check out www.fullcostrecovery.org.uk

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Be green [!] – re-use your tender

Always keep a copy of your tenders as the format for tenders is often the same – e.g. the same information can be used many times, such as organisational details.

The best way to save time if you are writing multiple bids is to cut and paste, especially if it’s for the same client group [e.g. young people] as your methodology will probably be more or less be the same.

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Thank you for watching!

We hope this online learning session ‘Tips for Tenders’ was useful to you.

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Need to know more about tendering and consortia development?

Contact Rebecca Clarkson on

rebecca@hcvs.org.uk