Advice on how to tender for council work

So, you may be wondering how to tender for council work. It can be a great opportunity for your business and tendering for contracts has many advantages. However, the tendering process can be a difficult and confusing one to navigate.

Some advantages include prompt payment and securing a pipeline of work for your business. Remember, when council tendering, you’ll likely need up to three case studies. This is something that people often overlook when considering how to tender for council work. They must be similar in scope and complexity to the contract you’re applying for. This gives the buyer confidence that you know what you’re doing and have successfully done it before.

How to tender for council work

1. Read the tender documents carefully

You can find most council tendering opportunities on their websites or on tender portals. Here, you can register your interest and gain access to the tender documents. Remember to read these documents carefully. They’ll state what qualifications and accreditations are needed and other important information.

2. Structure your response

If you’re wondering how to tender for council work, you could consider the structure of your tender response. Avoid overly technical jargon and be clear and concise with your language. The council likely won’t be experts in your area, hence why they’re outsourcing it.

Using bullet points can help you include vital information while saving on the word count. Subheadings can also help you break down the question and structure your response. They can help make sure you’re answering every aspect of the question, too.

3. Don’t skimp on social value

Social value is a critical aspect of any public sector tender response. The council, obviously, is no different. Public sector tenders have a minimum weighting of 10% on social value, therefore, it’s not something you should consider as an afterthought. Councils want to see value for money and innovation. They care about their local communities and the environment.

Take a look at their websites to see what initiatives they support. This can help strengthen your application, including how you can add value if you win this contract. After all, they want to get the most bang for the taxpayer’s buck.

4. Have strong policies and procedures

The council has to uphold quality assurance. They expect your business to do the same. Do you review your policies regularly and update them? If you’re wondering how to tender for council work, you should ensure you’re upholding best practice. Councils want to be assured that the work will be completed to the highest standards with minimal risk.

Can you demonstrate quality assurance and health and safety qualifications such as ISO9001? Do you have a safeguarding procedure, environmental or equality and diversity policy? Technical Bid Writers can help you get the most out of your response, conveying what procedures you have in place.

5. Proofread your response before you submit

You want to submit the best tender you can. Therefore, you should ensure you proofread your response before you submit it. A good way to make sure it’s error-free is by getting someone else to read it. They can then check it’s in line with the specification and you can make any adjustments you need before submission.

So, now you know how to tender for council work. If you follow our advice on structuring your tender, reading the tender documents carefully, you’ll be well on your way. Remember to not skimp on social value and give quality assurance. Having strong policies and procedures can also help as well as proofreading your response before you submit it.

Need assistance with your next tender?

Although you’re a bit more familiar with what’s required for council contracts, you might still be looking for some support with your tender. Writing isn’t everyone’s strong suit and that’s ok. Outsourcing to bid writing specialists can help you secure that next contract and grow your business.

Here at Hudson Succeed, we pride ourselves on being bid writing experts. We hold an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of collective bid writing experience.

We offer four levels of bid writing support to suit every business need. You may not need the whole tender written for you; you may simply need it proofread before you submit. We can help with that.

Our services

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect bid for your business, send it our way. Our Bid Writers can take care of the whole thing for you 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 businesses that have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully. They can also help you better understand the tendering process. Tender Ready offers your business:

• A 12-month subscription to one Hudson Discover.
• Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding Professionals.
• An Organisation-wide Bid library, including 3 case studies, 5 CVs and policies.
• Additional flexible benefits.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing success from your current efforts, our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents. They will work with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to a Hudson Discover portal and additional tendering development services.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need it double-checked for errors, Tender Mentor can help. A Bid Writer will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They will also ensure it’s in line with the specification before you submit. This can help you formulate a winning submission.

Additional support

If you only need the assistance with PQQs or SQs we can help. Send the information over to us and we can provide you with a quote for the work involved.

Discover Elite

Upgrading to Discover Elite can help optimise your tendering efforts – even when you’re busy. Our two new time-saving tools can improve your competitor awareness and success rate when bidding for a contract.

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 Healthcare and Technology, 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 dedicated 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.

Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including:

• How to win a tender
• What is a Bid Writer?
• The tendering process
• Writing winning bids
• 7 tips for tendering for contracts
• Tips for bid management
• Bid writing services
• The types of tendering procedures
• Writing bids
• Bid writing consultants
• Submitting a tender response
• And many more.