Support 4U is a CQC-registered provider of supported care services based in Walsall, in the West Midlands. As part of their business development strategy, they wanted to respond to some tenders to secure a steady pipeline of work and give them more flexibility with their income.
Hudson was contacted as a result of a Google search for bid writing companies, and after reading our testimonials and a little about the services we offer, they picked up the phone to have a conversation about which of our services would work for them.
Support 4U contacted Hudson without expectations, merely seeking some form of support to respond to the tender within their budget. They had a particular framework in mind which they wanted to bid for but were struggling to know where to start with the quality responses.
The Sales Team listened to Support 4U’s requirements and recommended Hudson Succeed’s Tender Mentor package due to their requirements and the budget they had to spend on consultancy. The bid was then passed over to Support 4U’s allocated Bid Writer for their review.
The framework responses were comprised of the same questions but across five Lots, which had different specialties. This meant that while the structure of the responses stayed the same, more specific content was required across each Lot. Through phone conversations, it was discovered that Support 4U had greater experience in two Lots and had not worked before in the specialities of the other three Lots. Hudson advised Support 4U to concentrate their efforts on the two Lots in which they were strongest, to ensure that there was enough time for the responses in these areas to be refined to a high standard.
Due to the timescales, Support 4U emailed across one question per Lot as they were completed, which were then reviewed and sent back. Their dedicated Bid Writer reviewed the responses against what was required in each Lot specification and provided comments, guiding Support 4U in the information to include and how best to structure this, as well as general comments to enhance the response. To support the feedback provided, phone calls were organised after sending each review back to the client to ensure that the feedback was fully understood and that any queries could be immediately addressed.
As Support 4U purchased the Tender Mentor service, they, therefore, made the submission themselves, once they had reconciled all comments and discussed their queries with their dedicated Bid Writer.
We were successful in securing Support 4U a place on the framework. The submission was particularly successful as we came first out of all the new applicants.
Support 4U has commended Hudson on the service provided, as per the following testimonial:
“Support4U contacted Hudson Procurement Group to help us complete a recent framework tender opportunity and as a first-timer using a procurement organisation, I didn’t know what to expect. They clearly explained to me what I was buying and what I could buy depending on what I wanted. It was tailor-made to people’s requirements which I thought was very good.
I was assigned a young lady called Olivia. Olivia was knowledgeable about the tender in question. She soon found it, went through it thoroughly and supported me to look at it objectively and realistically, look at our capabilities as there were many lots to go for.
I found it difficult to put what we do into words. I knew what good work we deliver and see it first-hand but putting it down on paper is much more difficult than people think. Olivia got me motivated and I started to let it all out on paper. Olivia has the experience and knowledge to know what Commissioners are looking for and that’s where we lacked the experience.
Olivia was quick to respond to all my queries, emails and phone calls, talked me through the difficult parts and was willing to go that extra mile.” – Jane Urmson, Business Development Manager.
