The finance sector comprises a large portion of the FSTE 500, and therefore there are often many high-value bids available to tender for.

Due to Brexit, there is currently uncertainty surrounding the future of the UK economy, of which the finance sector is an important and influential part. However, the strength and prominence of the finance sector of the UK means that the finance sector is expected to respond well. There is no indication of any slowdown of procurement in this sector, which typically require detailed calculations. If you are looking to bid to this sector, then The Bid Team can help.

Due to the uncertainty in the market created by Brexit, a reliable option for SMEs looking to submit finance tenders is to look at government frameworks. The Government advertises its frameworks through Crown Commercial Services. As such a key service, there are many opportunities for SMEs to gain places on government frameworks. The government has committed 33% of central government procurement spend to go to SMEs by 2022. This means that there will be more opportunities than ever before for SMEs to compete for finance tenders. The current frameworks available are listed below:

Corporate Financial Services

This is a framework where suppliers provide specialist advice for a range of corporate finance issues such as mergers and acquisitions. The scope of this framework extends from long term policy planning to shorter term response to external events.

Fuel Cards and Associated Services V

Successful parties will provide card and associated services. This agreement provides an easy method to pay for vehicle fuel using a single-purpose card.

Grants and Programme Services

This is a framework for the supply of services for establishing and running grant programmes. These services include administration, support and grant delivery; design, communication of programmes, assessment of applications and distribution of money or services to winning applicants.

Insurance Services II

This is a framework that provides access to a range of insurance and insurance brokerage services including, but not limited to liability, travel and personal accident, property and construction and motor insurance.

Insurance and Related Services 3

This is a follow up to Insurance Services 2 providing insurance and related services, brokerage and related services and claims handling and related services. This framework will also include lots for brokerage and related services, and include claims handling and related services.

Merchant Acquiring, Merchant Acquiring Equipment & Payment Gateway Services

This is a framework that will enable organisations to accept payments by debit card, credit card and other methods directly into a bank account.

Payment Acceptance

This is a framework set up to establish payment acceptance services for the public sector.

Payment Solutions

This allows supply and maintenance of payment solutions to buy goods and services, including travel. In addition, a prepaid solution for disbursements of funds to those who do not have access to other means.

Spend Analysis and Recovery Services 2

Under this agreement the suppliers provide retrospective audit and analysis of company’s core spend and transactions. From this analysis they identify and recover any overpayments, overcharges or missed opportunities.

Supplier Early Payment Solutions

Supplier early payment solutions (SEPS) enable your suppliers to choose to receive early payment for their invoices in exchange for a discount or charge against the invoice value.

The Process

Bids into the finance sector 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 utility 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 sure 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 audiences.

The Bid Team

If you are looking to submit a finance tender into this sector, then The Bid Team can help. We worked closely with ea Change Group (eacg). Serving some of the largest and most specified financial services companies in the world, they provide flexible temporary and permanent recruitment solutions from a single day’s strategic consultancy through to large scale project teams of associates and contractors. In 2017, RBS invited proposals from bidders to provide a managed service partner solution that would augment the bank’s in-house resources for CMA retail banking remedies, ICB ring fencing and EU general data protection requirements. eacg engaged The Bid Team to provide bid process review support for this key proposal. For eacg, we provided a review of how eacg structured their proposals; bid process review services, reviewing the submissions mid-bid to ensure that the bid strategy was being implemented; and a review of their client engagement process. Our bid process is defined and well suited for IT 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 IT 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.