Organisations in the UK’s healthcare and social care sectors find it critically important to bid successfully for public sector contracts, yet it is immensely challenging. The stakes are high: more than £20 billion in NHS and local authority service contracts are completed every year. An appointed professional bid writer can give you an invaluable competitive advantage when working on your submissions.
Those who write bids have intimate knowledge of the extremely complicated process of writing winning tenders. They know exactly what commissioners want when they consider awarding lucrative contracts to companies.
Public procurement specialists who are able to produce convincing, compliant submissions to public procurement requirements. In this article, we look at ten compelling reasons why partnering with a specialist bid writer can help healthcare and social care providers win more contracts and grow successfully.
Mastered the Highly Complex Bid Process
Over time, seasoned bid writers have learned to navigate the multilayered public procurement process successfully. They know the necessary procedures, protocols, formats, systems and strict timescales involved in competitive tendering.
They know the bid cycle inside out – planning, writing, evidence gathering, submission, clarification, evaluation and feedback. They know how to schedule and manage the process in order to meet tight deadline requirements. Bid writers are familiar with the entire set of required bid documents, such as the Pre Qualification Questionnaires, Invitation to Tender responses, and price schedules.
Experts know what goes on in each section of a tender at the right level of detail. It also involves expertly using cumbersome procurement portals and skirting through complex online attachments. Compliant writers know how to format and structure their responses in ways that are specifically directed by commissioners.
By outsourcing the intricate bid process to seasoned professionals, providers can focus 100% on delivering essential public services. The administrative burden of writers in reducing the risk of disqualification on technicalities is significant.
They Understand the Commissioners’ Priorities
Over time, successful bid writers have gained an in-depth understanding of what commissioners are looking for in the bid evaluation process. They provide clear insight into the scoring criteria, decision drivers and pain points that contracting authorities value.
Experienced writers are aware of NHS and local government planning cycles and how local and national policy priorities affect commissioning nationally and locally. They recognise the impact of financial pressures on contracting authorities’ procurement intentions. This high-level insight is used by writers to finely tailor and tune responses to commissioners’ current needs and expectations.
Bid writers keep public procurement trends and developments at their fingertips. They know which evaluation approaches are becoming the hot thing to impress commissioners as best practices. During bid assessments, writers know just how to make bids stand out favourably against the competition. They employ proven techniques to convincingly demonstrate a provider’s credibility, capability and commitment to contract excellence.
Organisations can expertly tailor responses to the priorities that really matter to evaluators by leveraging bid writers’ intimate knowledge of commissioners’ perspectives. This greatly increases relevance, quality and competitiveness.
Enhance Bid Quality and Persuasiveness
Highly experienced bid writers have refined and honed the advanced writing techniques required to develop truly compelling, convincing proposals. They appreciate how to articulately convey key messages in a manner that powerfully resonates with evaluators.
Seasoned writers excel at accurately articulating an organisation’s unique strengths, track record, and capabilities in a persuasive manner. They know how to write responses that address the bid criteria in a clear, coherent and consistent narrative. Writers understand how to utilise language precisely tailored to public sector decision-makers.
Bid writers adeptly pull together and integrate contributions from various subject matter experts into a cohesive story. They ensure responses flow logically, align seamlessly, and are easily understood by evaluators. Writers also competently handle gathering, compiling and formatting vast amounts of supplementary evidence.
The immense bid writing expertise brought by professionals noticeably enhances submission quality and persuasiveness. Their skills make the difference between satisfactory bids and truly outstanding winning ones. Engaging specialist writers signals a commitment to bidding excellence.
Save Considerable Time and Resources
Preparing high-quality bids requires dedicating considerable resources and places major administrative strain on organisations. Activities such as planning, writing, evidence gathering, editing and compliance checking impose a substantial time burden.
This diverts focus from delivering vital public services, over-stretches internal capacity and reduces productivity. Resourcing the bid function in-house also necessitates recruiting and maintaining specialised skills permanently.
Appointing expert bid writers provides guaranteed skills and capacity to handle tenders as they arise. Clients avoid the need to recruit or train internal bidding teams. Writers are only paid for actual time spent working directly on bids as required.
Outsourcing the bid function frees up internal resources to concentrate on frontline operations. It also converts the fixed costs of permanent staff into a flexible, scalable resource to meet bidding workload peaks. This offers a highly cost-effective solution.
Provide a Strategic Competitive Advantage
Engaging a seasoned bid writer can provide organisations with a vital strategic competitive advantage when bidding for key contracts. Their accumulated knowledge and experience enable the creation of submissions that are closely aligned with commissioners’ strategic objectives.
Expert writers understand precisely what high-scoring tender responses contain and why. They know how to differentiate an organisation favourably from competitors. Writers use proven methodologies to convincingly demonstrate credibility, capability and value for money.
Commissioners look favourably at organisations that engage specialist bid writers for important tenders. It signals a genuine commitment to bidding excellence and successful contract delivery. Appointing expert writers demonstrates an organisation has the resources and expertise to win and deliver on public contracts.
In summary, outsourcing bids to experienced writers offers healthcare and social care providers a substantial strategic advantage. Their support provides the winning edge to secure more contracts in fiercely competitive environments.
Have Access to Insider Information
The most accomplished bid writers have built close working relationships with commissioners over many years. This provides them access to valuable insider knowledge regarding upcoming contract opportunities and commissioning intentions.
They gain privileged insight into the particular pain points and service priorities important to contracting authorities. Experienced writers leverage their contacts to obtain details on procurement timescales, budgets and evaluation criteria ahead of formal tender advertisement.
This enables them to advise clients on whether they are likely to be competitive for a given contract. It also facilitates tailoring bids perfectly to what commissioners want to procure well in advance of competitors. Tapping into these insider connections is invaluable.
Are Specialists in Bid Compliance
With extensive regulations and bid requirements, compliance is an extremely critical yet often overlooked area. Even the greatest bid content cannot compensate for not following the rules and guidelines precisely.
Seasoned bid writers are subject matter experts in navigating the intricate technicalities of bid compliance. They meticulously ensure every compliance box is ticked and requirements comprehensively addressed to avoid costly errors. Their expertise prevents otherwise strong bids from failing on technical grounds before the quality is considered.
Compliance may seem mundane, but experts appreciate that it can single-handedly make or break bid success. Bid writers provide watertight assurance in this fundamental area other providers often struggle with.
Manage Access to Procurement Portals
Modern public procurement relies heavily on complex online portals and systems to manage bid processes. Navigating these technologies and inputting information correctly requires training and experience.
Bid writers are highly adept users of portals, having managed numerous submissions across a breadth of contracting authorities. They can capably handle the administrative burden of inputting responses in the correct sections and formats.
This spares internal teams from the trials of learning multiple different portals. It also ensures information is entered properly the first time to prevent errors undermining compliance. Bid writers’ expertise eliminates this significant risk.
Proofread and Quality Check Thoroughly
With lengthy, complex bids, errors can easily be overlooked, which could negatively impact scoring. From typos to inconsistent data, minor mistakes can create a poor impression on evaluators.
Meticulous proofreading and quality assurance are essential to identify and rectify any flaws in bids before submission. Bid writers have refined processes and an eagle eye for detail, enabling them to thoroughly check bids for issues. Their expertise prevents avoidable errors from slipping through the net.
This provides vital peace of mind on the quality of mission-critical submissions. Bid writers enhance polished professionalism to convince evaluators.
Provide End-to-End Bid Support
Professional bid writers continue supporting organisations beyond simply submitting the bid. Experts liaise with commissioners to respond to clarification questions and provide additional information as needed during the evaluation phase.
Writers also obtain detailed feedback after contract award decisions to identify areas for improvement for future bids. By retaining their services throughout the bid lifecycle, clients gain continuity of knowledge and maximise learning.
This end-to-end support across the entire bidding process is extremely valuable to enhance procurement experience and continuous improvement. It represents an intelligent investment in future tender success.
Conclusion
As a key but challenging priority, healthcare and social care providers successfully bid for public sector contracts. To develop winning submissions, internal teams need to possess extensive capabilities and resources. By appointing a specialist bid writer, you have guaranteed skills and capacity when tenders arise.
Experts have a clear understanding of complex procurement requirements. But they do it so well that they create compelling, fully compliant bids that are closely aligned to commissioners’ current needs. Bid writers greatly improve submission quality and persuasiveness to ensure clients secure more contracts. They add vital knowledge, skills and expertise to enhance competitive advantage.
To ensure your tender submission stands out, a professional bid writer is essential. For tailored advice and to schedule your free consultation, visit our contact page. Follow AssuredBID on LinkedIn and Facebook to stay updated on the latest government contracts and learn expert tips on creating winning submissions.
