Win local authority, NHS and ICB care contracts

Yes, for almost every care tender. Most local authority, NHS and ICB commissioners require providers to be registered with the relevant regulator (CQC for England adult care/health, Ofsted for children’s services, Care Inspectorate for Scotland, CIW for Wales) as a minimum entry criterion. Some DPS frameworks accept applications conditional on registration being completed before contract award.

A Framework is a pre-approved supplier list for a set period (typically 4 years); commissioners then choose from that list. A DPS (Dynamic Purchasing System) is an open framework you can join at any time, remaining available for call-off contracts. A direct contract is a single competition for one specific service — winner takes all. Each requires a different bidding strategy.

Social value is the wider benefit your service delivers to communities beyond the core contract — local employment, training, environmental impact, support for SMEs. Under the Procurement Act 2023 and Social Value Model, it typically carries 10% of the scoring weight in central government contracts and is increasingly common in local authority and NHS bids.

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were abolished in July 2022 under the Health and Care Act 2022 and replaced by Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). There are 42 ICBs in England, each leading an Integrated Care System covering both health and social care commissioning across a defined geography. They have broader remit, more strategic powers, and operate within Integrated Care Partnerships.

Yes. We can review work already done, identify gaps and areas for improvement, and complete the remaining sections. This is common — often providers start with confidence and hit problems on social value or method statements. We can typically jump in mid-process and bring it to submission standard.

A method statement is your detailed answer to a scored question in the tender. Commissioners typically ask 5–15 method statement questions covering quality, safeguarding, mobilisation, governance, and similar areas. Each is evaluated against published scoring criteria. Method statements are where bids are won or lost.

From publication of the opportunity to contract award, most tenders run 8–16 weeks: 4–12 weeks for the bid window plus 4–6 weeks for commissioner evaluation. Our bid-build work fits inside that window — typically 5–10 days standard, with 3-day urgent turnaround for close-to-deadline cases.

Yes. We offer a lost-bid review service: analysing your previous submissions and any commissioner feedback, identifying gaps in evidence, pricing or quality, and creating an improvement plan. This is included in our Multi-tender Strategy package, and available as a standalone service for individual lost bids.

Yes. Our Multi-tender Strategy package provides ongoing support across 3 tenders in 6 months, including opportunity scanning, bid building, and a reusable bid library that grows in value with each submission. Many providers transition into ongoing retainer arrangements after their first successful win.