The health sector has seen many changes and this is particularly true when we look at the procurement strategy that the various health bodies have adopted.

Recently NHS procurement focused on outsourcing all non-medical activities. Now the drive is to achieve economies of scale through regional consolidation of back office services. There are many opportunities for companies to support the health service, but as with all public sector bodies they are governed by the European procurement regulations, which require a formal bidding process with open procedures and clear evaluation criteria. If you are looking to bid to this sector, then The Bid Team can help.

Due to the public body nature of the NHS, it is important for SMEs seeking work within this sector to stay up to date with government issued health tenders. These are advertised on the Crown Commercial Services website. Displayed in the table below are some of the current frameworks in this sector:

Occupational Health, Employee Assistance Programmes and Eye Care

This is a framework for the provision of a range of occupational health services, employee assistance programmes and eye care services. These services are provided via telephone or online support.

HSCN Access Services DPS

This framework provides interested parties with access to the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) for health, social care and related organisations. The HSCN is a data network that enables health and social care services to access and share information.

Multidisciplinary Temporary Healthcare Personnel

This framework allows for clinical staff, at various different pay bands, to be sourced. This is an NHS agreement that includes doctors, consultants and all specialist roles, all nursing grades, allied health professionals, health science services, emergency services, including dentists.

Permanent Recruitment Solutions

This framework provides contracting authorities with a comprehensive choice of pre-approved suppliers to provide recruitment services to central government

Data and Application Solutions

A range of software-led office systems covering services for the public sector including software licenses, associated hardware, app-related consultancy services, software support and maintenance with a particular lot covering health and social care

Management Consultancy Framework

This framework provides management consultancy advice for central government, arms-length bodies, non-departmental public bodies and the wider public sector.

Non Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff

This framework is produced by the Workforce Alliance (a combination of NHS Procurement in Partnership and Crown Commercial Service) The framework gives NHS contracting authorities and all UK public sector bodies the ability to secure quality candidates regionally and nationally across the UK under a variety of specialisms.

International Recruitment of Clinical Healthcare Professionals

This framework provides access to an extensive range of international recruitment organisations for the hiring of clinical healthcare professionals. Crown Commercial Services, together with NHS Procurement in Partnership and the Workforce Alliance run this framework and award organisations to ensure a framework standard of quality. The framework addresses the NHS need to increase international recruitment to fill existing vacancies.

Flexible Resource Pool – Staff Bank

This framework is again produced by the Workforce Alliance to provide staff bank services for NHS contracting authorities. Through this framework, services are available for access to help flexibly manage the workforce and maximise shift fill rates.

The Process

Bids into the Health care industry are typical complex, multi-phased and require large diverse teams. The invitation to tender is the initial stage to streamline applicants and create competition. The value of construction contracts attracts a lot of competition. This means it important to ensure your bid is up to the highest of standards to stand your company in the best position to win. Understanding the tenderer is a vital part of positioning the bid. It is important to understand the needs of the client and make sur your answer directly conveys this understanding and provides a suitable response covering all issues. It is crucial to tailor your bid to the wants and needs of the provider. Writing answers that appeal to the culture of the organisation and suits their structure will help separate your answer from the competition. This will make your answer stand out as well as more appealing to the company supplying the contract. This will help you score highly in your bid submission responses.
Bidders are expected to produce high-specification submissions in terms of content, graphics and media. The audience for the submission can vary from a technical evaluation team through to full public consultation. The approach must therefore encompass a high degree of graphics to represent and visualise the concept, while at the same time convey clear win themes and client benefits, in an understandable manner for all possible

The Bid Team

If you are looking to submit a health tender into this sector, then The Bid Team can help. We have worked closely with 3M to provide bid services since 2007. In 2017 the Department of Health announced a framework for the provision of accountable health solutions that would support the NHS Five Year Forward View for greater integration of healthcare services, of health and social care, and of physical and mental health services. 3M commissioned The Bid Team to provide bid management, writing and review services for this key NHS framework and we successfully won them a place on this framework.
Our bid process is defined and well suited for construction tenders and overview of our process can be found here. In addition we have produced a series of “How to” guides to further assist our clients win work through construction tenders for example “How to position a bid“, “How to qualify a bid” and “How to write a bid answer“. These guides incorporate our approach with easy to use forms and templates. We also provide news on construction tenders on our news page.
If you are looking to bid to this sector, then The Bid Team can help provide bid management, bid writing, bid reviews as well as other services to help your organisation win construction tenders. Please use the form below to contact us for a discussion on your bid.