Local Government Tenders – Writing a Bid To Win

The tender process for local government tenders is highly regulated, requiring you to submit pricing, quality questions and mandatory accreditations – for instance, ISO 9001:2015 accreditation.

Since 2009, Executive Compass have bid into almost every council and combined authority in the UK – leaving us ideally positioned to give insight into how to win local government tenders.

We share our thoughts on how to source suitable opportunities, key differentiators such as demonstrating local knowledge and expertise, and how to tailor your social value commitments to the opportunity.

How to find local government tenders

For organisations looking to start bidding for the first time or more regularly, we always recommend two free-to-use government websites.

• Government websites: Contracts Finder will host all contracts over a value of £12,000, while Find a Tender presents tender notices with a higher overall value. You can customise your search to include different industries (via CPV codes) and geographic area, ensuring the opportunity is right for you.
• Procurement portals: Equally, signing up to commonly used procurement portals – for example, NEPO’s Open Portal – will allow you to filter opportunities by the local authority. Once you have expressed an interest in bidding on this portal, you will receive a copy of the tender documents.
• Council and local authority websites: Some local authorities will also have live and upcoming tender opportunities hosted on their website – often under a page titled ‘procurement’, ‘contract opportunities’ or similar. These pages may also include guidance on certain topics for suppliers, such as environment and sustainability policies or net zero targets.

Local government tenders often provide valuable opportunities for small- and medium-sized businesses to join their supply chain. This demonstrates an ethical and sustainable approach to procurement, and ensures spend is recirculated within the local economy.

To support greater engagement between public sector buyers and prospective suppliers, the Procurement Act is introducing greater pre-bid activity, including preliminary market engagements aimed at building capacity amongst local suppliers.

Demonstrate your knowledge of the local area within the bid

The quality questions within a tender are the primary area you can highlight your local knowledge and experience, adding persuasiveness to your submission. We have included some examples of common tender topics where you can add this into your bid response below.

Contract examples and case studies

To maximise the impact of your experience and expertise, you should select contract examples and case studies which align with the size and scope of the tender submission – for instance, housing associations within the council’s borders. This will add credibility and specificity to standard topics, allowing your submission to stand out from other bidders.

Service delivery and geographic area

Questions around service delivery or contract management should reference your experience delivering similar works in the same geographic region. Additional emphasis on the experience of your contract personnel working in the same region will also be a persuasive, beneficial point to include. In doing so, you will give the authority confidence on your suitability to deliver against requirements.

Risk management

Information on the local area where you are delivering works or services could inform your approach to a response around how you would effectively manage risks to delivery. For instance, mapping staff to geographic areas will allow you to meet response times. Mentioning common congestion areas and how you will avoid these through alternative routes will add a nice element of detail as part of the response.

Tailor your social value commitments to local government tenders

Local government buyers often apply a large weighting to social value initiatives bidders commit to delivering over the contract term. In some cases, the social value element will comprise 20–25% of the total evaluation criteria for local government tenders. Consequently, it is crucial you maximise your social value offerings to attain maximum marks from the contracting authority.

Within your social value delivery plan or method statement, ensure that you emphasise the impact of your commitments to the local area by:

• Offering skills and apprenticeships for residents of the local area, giving details on how you will deliver against commitments by naming local stakeholders and partner organisations, such as job centres or colleges
• Volunteering time or in-kind contributions to charities and third sector organisations within the council’s administrative boundaries, ensuring initiatives target those who may not have otherwise received support
• Improving local community areas, parks or green spaces through volunteer hours or donations, thereby ensuring all residents of the community benefit from your social value initiatives
• Ring-fencing a percentage of total contract spend on parts, materials and equipment with local businesses, giving preference to small- and medium-sized businesses within your supply chain.

Social value commitments should always be relevant to the opportunity, tangible in the form of value delivered, and proportionate to the contract value. Our team have received recognised, accredited training on social value, and are ideally positioned to provide advice on how to develop and present your commitments to local authorities.

Support with local government tenders

With thousands of local government tenders submitted on behalf of clients and a success rate of 85%, we are ideally positioned to provide support with your tender submission.

This includes our bid writing service, where one of our expert bid writers takes the entire quality element of the submission off your hands, as well as our bid review service, where a senior member of the team reviews responses produced by your subject matter experts.

Equally, our pre-bid consultancy and capture planning services also allow you to gain a head start by identifying potential priority areas for local government tenders – developing bid win themes.

To learn more about the above services or how else we can support you win local government tenders, contact us today at info@executivecompass.co.uk, or via telephone 0800 612 5563.