How to win health and social care tenders
Tedious for most, agonising for some and downright infuriating for others, if you want to provide care services for a local authority you will probably go through the health and social care tendering writing process.
For smaller and newer care providers this unenviable task will often fall on an already heavily lumbered pair of shoulders, probably your registered manager or the owner and operator of the business themselves.
Some care providers even outsource the pleasure to professional social care tender writers. Sensible? Perhaps. Expensive? Certainly. So here are the key things you need to know to make your health and social care tenders less stressful, less time consuming and more successful.
Health and social care tenders: The method statements
The real core of a health and social care tender submission is the method statements and the quality of responses you can give to the commissioners’ questions.
To give yourself the best chance of a successful health and social care tender, follow these tips:
- Pay close attention to the key requirements outlined in the specification document. Also refer to the structure that has been outlined for their evaluation process. This will give you a good idea of what commissioners want you to show them in your response.
- Use the questions being asked in the method statement to structure your responses, in the same way you would use an exam question to structure your answer.
- Highlight the key elements of the question. You can even use these elements as headers for your response. Keep referring back to the questions in the statement to ensure you are staying on topic.
- There will usually be a set word count. Sometimes a specific word count is allocated to each question. If there is not, then set yourself a rough word count for each section, based on the points allocated to each question.
- This will ensure equal weight for all your responses and give you the best chance of getting maximum points from the commissioners.
- Once you’ve got this structure in place, note down the key points you want to make under each section.
- Then begin substantiating these points, with evidence and background evidence. Pay attention to the word count, but feel free to go over at this point. Once you’ve answered all the questions you can then edit to ensure the overall word limit is not exceeded, and if there is space to add more evidence, testimonials or background information.
Health and social care tenders - common mistakes to avoid
Not answering the questions set
Something drummed into students entering exams, and it rings true in tender responses too. Yet, it is frequently overlooked and is probably the most common mistake people make when writing social care tender responses.
Following the steps outlined above, including highlighting the key aspects of each question, should help you avoid this mistake. Read the question multiple times until you are clear exactly what they are trying to find out. Also, ensure you directly address the requirements in the specification document.
Not enough detail
In order for answers to be clear and credible you will need to add sufficient detail. Ask someone who has not been involved with the tender response but understands the social care sector to review. Are they convinced?
Insufficient evidence
Second to providing enough detail, you need to bolster your response with evidence. Examples of evidence include, but are not limited to; data and stats, feedback from clients, other commissioners comments and regulators’ inspection reports.
The types and formats of acceptable evidence may be outlined in the documentation. If not, contact the commissioners/respond to the pre-tendering process to ensure you are following their guidance.
Too much irrelevant information
Don’t try to make your response look more substantial than it is by adding a lot of filler. This won’t earn you any extra marks and is not likely to make a good impression on the commissioners reviewing the response.
Focus on getting the information across as efficiently as possible, be both concise and clear.
Compliance issues
Some tenders will ask you to demonstrate compliance, with health and safety standards, care regulators, safeguarding, recruitment, data security, policies and procedures and so on.
Failure to meet the commissioners’ standards in these areas could see you lose points or even be ruled out of the process altogether.
If regulatory compliance is something you need to improve, Access Care Compliance software helps you do just this, using mock inspections and action plans to drive up quality across your services and help you get a better rating.
Social care tender - what to include
Experience
If you have it, flaunt it. Show the experience that you, your organisation and your team have, especially when it relates directly to their requirements or the services they are commissioning for.
Supplementary value and USPs
Don’t just show that you meet the requirements. If you have examples of how you can go beyond what is needed, for example if you possess additional skills, competencies, facilities or links with community services, businesses or other organisations that help you create a more rounded service for people using your services.
Identify the benefits
Don’t simply describe the steps you will take to deliver the services and meet requirements, tell the commissions what outcomes and benefits this will achieve for the service users and the commissioning authority.
