For many organisations of all shapes and sizes, bidding for both public and private sector contracts can be a powerful route to achieving predictable revenue which can be the foundation for continual company growth.
Gross spending on public sector procurement was £434 billion in 2024/25 across the UK. There was an increase of £19 billion or 5%, compared with 2023/24, accounting for approximately a third of all public expenditure. The MOD alone spent £37.6 billion on contracts with UK and foreign suppliers, and c.20% of all public sector procurement is awarded to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Public sector contracts can be particularly attractive because they must follow strict procurement legislation designed to ensure transparency, fairness, and value for money. However, despite this legislation many organisations waste valuable time and money pursuing opportunities they are simply not yet ready to win. It is not enough to know you can deliver a service in line with their specification; you need be bid ready to ensure you can score as highly as possible in the tender process to outrank your competitors during the evaluation.
What does “Bidding” mean for a growing business?
Bidding is the process of responding to a formal opportunity to win work in the form of contracts which can span for up to 10 years. This may include public sector tenders, private sector proposals, framework agreements, further competitions, grant-funded opportunities, or contracts commissioned by large private organisations:
Buyer type
Examples of what they may buy/procure
NHS organisations
Healthcare staffing, patient transport, community health services, training, digital systems, facilities management support.
Department for Work and Pensions
Employment support, skills programmes, wellbeing services, assessment services, training provision.
Local Authorities
Adult social care, children’s services, housing support, community services, transport, facilities management.
Housing Associations
Facilities Management, Construction Services, Energy Retrofitting, Planned and Reactive Repairs and Maintenance.
Corporates/Private Sector
Consultancy, outsourced services, training, technology, recruitment, facilities management, construction.
Third sector organisations
Community delivery, partnership services, grant-funded programmes, specialist support, training.
However, as previously detailed, bidding is much more than simply knowing you can provide a good service and a competitive price.
A lot of work is needed before you organisation is truly ‘bid ready’. You need to ensure that you have an established bid library that effectively evidences your experience, with high-quality case studies, evidence of added value, compliance and innovation for example.
You also need to be able to evidence your compliance with all relevant legislation and industry best practise with an established suite of policies, procedures, risk assessments and method statements. Only with established structure, bid resource and proper preparedness can you be successful in this field.
7 questions to ask before you decide to bid…
1. Does this opportunity fit our core service offer?
It is important that you have direct referenceable previous experience, if you do not have this you will not score as well when compared to other contractors that have case studies, KPI reports and testimonials evidencing their ability to perform to the procurement organisations requirements. Or if you are looking to diversify a service or transition into a new geography, you need to ensure that the experience you do have is transferrable and impactful enough to still resonate within your responses.
For example, you may be providing live in care in Newcastle and the same service is advertised in Manchester. This is a great opportunity for you to move into a new territory. However, if you deliver live in care and want to diversify into Healthcare Training, you need a proper diversification plan which the Evolve Network Group can support you in creating.
2. Can we genuinely deliver what the specification requires?
Public sector contract specifications are often highly detailed, prescriptive and leaves little room for deviation. If the scope of works asks for 5 key deliverables and your organisation is only experienced and capable at delivering 3 of these services to the standard required, is pursuing this contract really worth the resources required to produce a high-quality submission if you cannot meet their core requirements?
Some organisations indeed submit bids with support from subcontractors/partners or with the expectation that they won’t be successful so that they can use this feedback to refine and enhance their delivery model, but unless you have dedicated resources internally this can be a costly exercise for a bid that should have been qualified out at day one.
3. Do we have enough time and resource to produce a high-quality submission?
Tackling a response to an Invitation to Tender should not be taken lightly; it is a highly time consuming and resource heavy undertaking and if you produce a submission that is far below the standard needed to be successful you even run the risk of creating a lasting negative perception of your organisation with the authority which can impact your future attempts at securing other contracts with the same authority.
Time and staff requirements should always be captured within your bid/ no bid decision to ensure that sufficient resource across your business is allocated to produce a high-quality compliant submission.
4. Do we understand the buyer’s requirements and evaluation criteria?
Particularly so in the public sector, requirements and evaluation criteria are detailed and prescriptive and you need to take time to understand these before you even consider crafting your bid response. If you do not properly dissect these at the start of the process, you run significant risks of submitting a non-compliant bid response which will score very poorly.
The evaluation criteria is just as important, as this guides you as to what needs to be presented within each response to score the highest marks. If every response is asking to see examples of added value and innovation above and beyond the specification to score 10/10, and you simply do not have this within your bid library or current/previous contracts, then you need to consider risks to winnability and immediately start solution planning to ensure you reach the 10/10 needed to score high.
5. Do we have strong evidence, case studies, and policies to support our claims?
When bidding for contract work, your previous successes pave the way for future contract awards. You need to spend time to carefully curate a strong evidence pack including case studies, KPI reports, testimonials, photographic evidence and much more that you can use to evidence your ability to not only meet the specification but also go above and beyond it.
You must be able to substantiate your claims otherwise any such performance guarantees you profess will likely sound hollow and lack impact. The same also applies for your company policies and procedures. Not only must they align with relevant legislation and industry legislation, but you also need to evidence their practical application and how they are embedded into your organisation as part of your day-to-day delivery with evidence/proof points, outcomes, and statistics being key here.
6. Is the contract commercially worthwhile?
Many organisations can fall foul of being enticed with large contract values and lengthy contract terms without considering whether the contract will be profitable to take on and deliver. It is no use to chase increases in revenue if this comes at the cost of profitability, and indeed if you do grow too quickly you can quickly become undone if you do not keep a commercial mindset when approaching potential new contracts.
There are many reasons why organisations pursue a tender but if it ultimately negatively impacts your bottom-line then you need to think long and hard about why you want to continue with submitting a bid response.
Perhaps the new contract will enable you to pick up work from the client ‘off-spec’ which will improve profitability, or it will give you a new foothold in a new geographic location or service so the benefits of taking on this contract as a loss-leader outweighs its commercial costs.
7. Do we have a realistic chance of winning?
One of, if not the most, important questions you should be asking yourself throughout the bid process is whether you stand a reasonable chance of success. You can learn a lot from the feedback that you get following an unsuccessful submission, which you can then use to drive continuous improvement within your bid process and your wider collateral and even delivery model. However, unless you are intentionally using a bid process to gain this intelligence to use in future submissions, you need to be honest in your assessments as to whether you reasonably stand a chance of success.
There are different types of contracts, each one being more suitable to you depending on your organisational and bidding journey. For example, if you are a relatively small organisation and just beginning your journey into public sector contracts, you should definitely look at Framework and DPS agreements where the threshold for success is comparatively lower. You can then leverage this experience and growth in the future to increase your chances of winning larger sole provider contracts.
If you are unsure as the to the answer to any of these questions, the Evolve Network Group can help you with your bid qualification process and decision making before you begin tackling your next tender response. If you are considering moving into new markets and geographies we can even assist you in creating a bespoke diversification plan to ensure your efforts are targeted and designed for maximum impact for your future organisational development.
Why bidding can be the right move
For the right organisation, who has taken the time to make sure that they are bid ready, bidding can be a hugely effective strategy to achieve long-term sustainable revenue which is the foundation for future growth.
Contracts, particularly those in the public sector can run for many years and can even include multiple contract extensions if you perform well. It also gives you the opportunity to establish yourself as a partner to the local authority who will be best placed to take on additional responsibilities, ad hoc works and the design and development of new service specifications. Bidding can also improve credibility and market position. Securing work with recognised buyers can enhance reputation, create stronger case studies, and demonstrate capability in a way that supports future growth.
Why Bidding Is Not Right for Every Business
While bidding can create growth, it also requires discipline. Not every opportunity is worth pursuing, and not every business is ready to compete effectively.
A common issue is internal capacity and competency. Bid preparation takes time from operational, commercial, and leadership teams. If that time is not available, the process can become rushed, disjointed, and expensive in terms of opportunity cost. Bid writing is also a skillset in its own right, and one that takes time to hone and perfect. You cannot reasonably anticipate success in this field if the responsibility of responding to tender opportunities falls to someone who has never had any experience or training in this discipline.
Quick tips to get bid ready…
- Make sure you have all of your requisite policies and procedures in place. We also recommend that you have these independently appraised to ensure that they are legislatively compliant and also reflect current industry best practice.
- Document and collate a comprehensive library of your previous experience, including case studies, performance data, testimonials and evidence of where you have previously added value and innovated during the delivery of a contact.
- Industry specific certifications and accreditations should be sought. Certain certifications are often specifically requested within tender documentation, and they also serve as an outward demonstration of the suitability of your arrangements as they have been independently audited by a third party.
- Identify the subject matter experts within your organisation and make sure they have the time available to provide the contributions they need to provide to ensure a high-quality tender submission is created.
When to bring in bid support…
External bid support can add value at different stages of the process.
For some organisations, the challenge is readiness. They may need help reviewing responses, strengthening case studies, building a bid library, or putting the right structure in place before they start pursuing opportunities. For others, the issue is capacity. Internal teams may know the service well but not have the time to coordinate, write, and review a high-quality submission.
External support can also bridge skills gaps. A specialist bid partner can help shape responses, strengthen structure, improve compliance, and make sure the submission speaks clearly to the buyer’s priorities – challenging quality scores along the way. In many cases, this support saves time and money by helping businesses focus on the right opportunities and submit stronger bids when they do decide to compete.
At the Evolve Network Group our support can range from helping clients get bid ready, to providing writing and review capacity, to supporting qualification decisions at the earliest stage.
With our 93% success rate, you can be confident that we are the specialist bid partner who can work with you to get bid ready and achieve success in bidding for both public and private sector contracts in the UK and beyond.