Bid writing services
Carrley® Business is an expert bid writer and a leading authority on winning business in the public sector. We have a tremendous wealth of experience in bid writing (tender writing) , with some fantastic clients onboard and are known for achieving high success rates - we have won millions of £'s of funding for our clients and have achieved some outstanding scores.
We are totally committed to winning business for our clients and provide a professional, timely and high-quality bid writing service for a wide range of public sector tenders - from government department (including OGC Framework Tenders), Environment Agency, NHS to Regional Development Agency (RDA), Emergency Services and those issued by Housing Associations, Registered Social Landlords, Local Authorities and City Councils. Our bid writers have many years experience of success and have won client funding through European Regional Development Funding (ERDF), European Integration Funding (EIF), Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities (NLDC), European Social Funding (ESF), RDA and other complex funding streams.
There are huge opportunities to win business in the public sector (please read further below) and these include preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We are delighted to support an extensive and growing portfolio customers to win business in the public sector and have an established, highly experienced and successful team in place to help facilitate this.
Carrley® Business bid writing services are geared to winning business in the public sector, although increasingly applied also to the private sector, where larger companies also run Approved Supplier lists and tender processes.
We are often asked what differentiates us from other bid writers. Our Unique Selling Point (USP) is that Carrley® Business is a business growth specialist which directly employs highly experienced bid writers with a public sector background. We also design and implement procurement systems for public clients and provide them with training on compliance and best practice. We therefore have clear knowledge of funding body processes, and a 360 degree view of how tenders are typically handled.
Our consultants add further substantial value through knowledge of funding body strategic frameworks and the ability to align this to quick and effective understanding of your business, carrying out efficient and effective analytical work to write the strongest bid possible. We also fully understand the sometimes difficult terminology used in the public sector, and have extensive experience in both supporting clients to write their own successful bids and in delivery of complete end-to-end bid writing services.
The Market
The UK market offers tremendous opportunities and is projected to grow further over the next two years.
There are over 100,000 public bodies in the UK, issuing a current total of 70,000 Invitations to Tender (ITT's) per year. As a barometer of spend levels, Central Government spends around £15 billion annually on procurement of goods and services, whilst Local Government expenditure stands at £80 billion per annum, with Councils in England alone buying in £40 billion of goods and services.
Opportunities to win public contracts are increasing - in his March 2010 Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the Government will be building upon the recommendations of the Glover review by increasing the proportion of central government contracts which go to SME's (Small to Medium businesses) by 15%. This brings an additional £3 billion of opportunities to win central government business and up to £15 billion across the wider public sector.
Additionally, the NHS employs around 1.3 million people, with an estimated annual spend of £30 billion per annum on purchase of third party goods and services. The NHS consists of 452 Trusts (Primary Care, Acute, Foundation, Ambulance, and Mental Health Trusts). Each controls its own budget, buying through various framework agreements and contracts.
Furthermore, with two years to go to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, there are £billions of business opportunities which will be put out to tender and won competitively by businesses throughout the UK.
Whilst public sector business is often hard to win, the rewards can be substantial – in the form of stable, ongoing revenue streams with invoices paid promptly.
Winning bids are often those that meet all ITT (Invitation to Tender) criteria plus position the bidder as an experienced, financially and operationally stable, well-resourced, capable, innovative and dynamic business which takes provision of quality services very seriously. The bidding process is rigorous, often demanding and designed to exclude all but the top contenders at an early stage.
Whilst the bidding process is rigorous (-and rightly so, as contracts are funded through the 'public purse'), small businesses should be encouraged by the Chancellor's March 08 budget announcement of a target to be introduced of 30% of small firms winning public sector business contracts during the next five years.
Additionally, 'The Glover Report' commissioned by HM Treasury during the 2008 budget places emphasis on removing the obstacles contractors face when tendering for public sector contracts. These recommendations have been accepted and it is the Government's intention to make information on all public sector tenders accessible via a single online portal by 2010.
Bid writing services
Carrley® Business provides a professional, timely and high-quality end-to-end bid writing service for a wide range of public sector tenders - from government department (including OGC Framework Tenders and those of the UK Border Agency), Environment Agency, NHS to Regional Development Agency, Emergency Services and those issued by Social Landlords, Housing Associations, local authorities and city councils.
We also work in partnership with existing client writing teams, providing vital pre-submission input, gap analysis and partial drafting services.
Our bid writers have many years experience of success and have won client funding through European Regional Development Funding (ERDF), European Social Funding (ESF), RDA and many other complex funding streams.
We work in a focused, communicative and highly effective manner which has been proven to generate excellent results. This is reflected in many of the testimonials received from Carrley® Business clients and a selection of which can be found at the foot of this page.
Bid management
Carrley® Business provides a comprehensive bid management service which puts the necessary frameworks, processes and generic library content in place to achieve success and is supported by high impact, professional training.
We also operate as Bid Manager when working with corporate clients, storyboarding content with the bid team, setting parameters and timelines for provision of draft content and managing timely receipt of the latter.
Bid consultancy services
Our consultancy services are comprehensively tried and tested and include Fit2Bid?®
This highly acclaimed analytical service assigns critical bid success factors to the client’s business, identifies gaps based on best practice and flags any necessary actions to be taken in advance of bidding. The latter includes any corrective action to policies and procedures.
Our clients tell us Fit2Bid?® is invaluable, enabling new operational processes to be quickly implemented, or existing processes refined to maximise chance of future bid success.
Fit2Bid?® is a registered trademark owned by Carrley® Business.
We also provide best practise analysis of past bids, through which substantial and sustainable improvements in success rates are quickly achieved.
Tender alert services
We have joined forces with Tenders Direct to offer clients the opportunity to access Europe's most accurate tender alert service, provided through a team of dedicated business information specialists. This invaluable service covers tenders both above and below Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) thresholds, emailed daily to your inbox.
For further information, please don't hesitate to contact either ourselves or our colleagues at Tenders Direct info@tendersdirect.co.uk
Bid writing training
We provide customised bid writing training which is directly tailored to client needs, with the latter discussed and analysed in-depth prior to delivery of the course.
Taking this approach enables us to achieve maximum, positive impact at an early stage, whilst developing courseware that will support sustained client growth of public sector business.
Carrley® Business has delivered successful bid writing training programmes to a wide range of clients, many of whom employ their own in-house bid writers or operate "virtual writing teams".
As successful bid writers ourselves, we deliver training programmes based on direct customer needs and our own writing experience. Added to this, we have a thorough understanding of procurement systems and processes applied within the public sector and consider both funding customer and bidder perspectives.
Typically, courses are delivered onsite to groups of key staff including bid writers, service managers and directors and the feedback we have received to-date has been consistently excellent.
Please phone on 0845 533 9419 or email info@carrleybusiness.co.uk for further information. We’ll also be happy to make case studies available upon request.
What our clients say
"I am writing to thank you and your colleagues for supporting NKS to win its recent competitive tender. The latter has, we are delighted to say, been successful with a published upper Framework Agreement value of £4.8million over the next five years.
We were particularly impressed here with your ability to analyse our business, its core processes, strengths and unique factors and reflect these throughout the tender. All of this was, of course, done remotely and with minimum impact on our essential day-to-day work.
We also appreciate the professional advice provided throughout the tender writing process and your subsequent support in handling further documentation issued by the Housing Association.
Many thanks again and we will certainly use the services of Carrley Business in the future."NKS Contracts Limited
"We are pleased to inform you that our company has been successful in our recent tendering process.
Thank you to you and your team for the professional and efficient service that Carrley Business has provided.
You offered sound, clear advice in a way that enabled us to understand the procedures required. It was very helpful and supportive to be able to talk to you directly and have questions and queries answered quickly and knowledgeably. You guided us through the process so that deadlines were met with the minimum of anxiety. Your whole approach enabled us to have ownership of the documentation so that it was fully reflective of our company style and ethos. This is something that is very important to us.
We will certainly contact you again if we need to engage with tendering processes in the future." Early Excellence Ltd
"I wanted to thank you for providing The Children's Society business development unit with a well-developed and supportive training programme. I was particularly pleased with the way you conducted a thorough needs analysis before planning the content. This meant the day was both targeted and an efficient use of the time available.
Your facilitator was professional and engaging and provided a fast paced and enjoyable day for the whole team and delivered the content very effectively. It is to his credit that every participant commented positively about the day and it has acted as a defining moment in our team development.
We are currently in the process of rolling out much of our learning in order to embed the enhancements that were discussed on the day. The good news is that since your training day we have won a hugely significant £1.8m contract, so as they say, the proof is in the pudding! Thank you. I look forward to working with you in the future." The Children's Society
"Your advice, support and bid writing skills have opened up a new market for our services. We value our relationship with Carrley Business and your ability to interpret the strengths of our business, work with different team members and articulate all the responses appropriately within tenders. It is not lost on us that the success we have already had is in large measure down to your core talents."eSAY Limited
Click here to hear what The Open University says about our bid consultancy and bid training services.
