Performance Review 2023
After another busy year, we’ve finally received data on our 2023 outcomes in order to give you our performance review for last year.
Following the trend from 2022, it seems public sector buyers like councils and NHS trusts continue to enjoy using dynamic purchasing systems (DPSs) and frameworks to find qualifying suppliers, instead of the more traditional invitation to tender (ITT) for individual contracts.
Last year almost half of all bids we supported were for DPS and Framework applications.
If you’re not familiar with these two terms, we’ve produced handy videos covering both.
In summary, both a DPS and a framework acts as a kind of approved list. It means suppliers who successfully join are part of a smaller pool of competitors, who are invited to bid for contract opportunities when they arise. This makes it quite attractive to become part of a DPS or framework, as you’ll likely see more opportunities coming your way, however both offer no guarantee of any contracts.
Let’s take a look at the numbers.
Overall Performance
Sector Breakdown
For the majority of sectors, our performance was excellent. We achieved a win rate between 67% up to 100%. We are particularly proud of our performance across Social Care (82%) and Construction (79%) – reflecting two industries that we have consistently excelled in.
Our expertise in construction tenders, specifically, is captured within our video Bidding for Construction Contracts:
This year we supported a new client within the sustainability and environmental space. Our performance here (environment = 17% win rate) was significantly lower that all other areas. Whilst a disappointing result, we suspect that this outlier can be explained by a number of factors. Firstly, the new client was competing against some very high-profile organisations. The average tender score we achieved for the quality submission for this client was 74.38%. This is a very high, within the territory of a winning score; highlighting the incredible standards of competitive bids and the level of competition our client was facing. Secondly, our client was bidding with a relatively new business model, one that didn’t have much demonstrable success or experience within the public sector. This meant it was an uphill battle, requiring creativity in drawing on transferable experience that, unfortunately, fell short when competing against more well-established competition.
Performance Across Services
For those interested, details of our Tender Setup Service can be found here: https://www.frameworker.co.uk/tender-setup-service/
Our online training course: The Tender Academy – An Introduction to Tendering can be found here: https://www.udemy.com/course/the-tender-academy-an-introduction-to-tendering/
Conclusion
Last year we achieved an unprecedented 92% success rate. This year, our figure has fallen more in line with expectations. Our work within the environmental sector impacted our success significantly, hurting our overall performance. However, we have managed to continue to win the majority of tenders across Construction & Engineering, Consultancy, Health, IT and Digital and Social Care sectors (with a win rate within these industries = 82%).
Likewise, we have continued to support smaller businesses across the UK and across sectors. 100% of our clients are SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises), who often find it more challenging to navigate and win public sector tenders.
If you’re struggling to get a foot in the door and would like more information on how public sector tendering works, we’ve got some great resources for you.
Videos
Check out our videos page, walking you through various features of bid writing, how tenders are structured and where to find tender opportunities
Training
Our online training course taking you through everything you need to know to begin bidding on pubic sector tenders
eBook
Our eBook with 60 pages of densely packed information covering much of what is in the course, but it also comes with a full list of English councils and links to their procurement portals so you can keep up to date with your local buyers
Articles
Our articles covering our thoughts on procurement and public sector tendering, along with other information about our company
And if you’d like some help, get in touch! Take a look at the services we offer and reach out via our contact form for a no obligation quote for bid writing, bid review, opportunity searching or simply picking our brains on how it all works.