🢂 THE BRIEF

Our client, a large facilities services group, was bidding for a significant opportunity with a large NHS Trust in SE England, classed as a 'must win'. The social value response was worth 12.5% of the overall tender score and consisted of 4 questions, all individually worth 25% of the available social value score. The client had already begun working on its response and, given some previous tender low social value scores, approached Samtaler two weeks before final submission to provide an independent review of their final answers and ensure they were on the right track.

🢂 THE APPROACH

The Samtaler team conducted a comprehensive review of all the tender documents and Authority's requirements. From this, we were able to complete a thorough independent assessment of first draft responses provided by the client, providing an indicated score as well as comprehensive feedback comments relating to the response content. We also researched the NHS Trust's specific strategic social value and sustainability priorities and identified a number of key priorities aligned to the tender.  

Originally, Samtaler had just been asked to add comments to the customer draft responses, but our review had identified substantial content gaps and our assessed score was significantly lower than had been anticipated. In order to help our client improve their response, we offered to deliver a bespoke workshop for their ESG, Social Value Leads and bid team. Due to time constraints, the workshop was held over 2 days and covered:

• A review of the Authority's requirements with an explanation of what the questions were asking for and where their current responses were falling short (this included identifying some requirements that had been missed)

• Making suggestions for how they could improve the structure, layout and language used in their responses

• Providing ideas for additional solutions they could consider incorporating into their answer that increase the positive impact of their delivery of the contract.

Following the workshop and based on the feedback provided by Samtaler on previous drafts, the client redrafted all four responses and again requested Samtaler’s independent assessment. Our second review confirmed a much more comprehensive response to the tender requirements, but some residual structure issues in the responses, making it hard for the reader to identify clear commitments and the impact they would have. Given the tight time constraints, we agreed with the client to redraft of one complete answer, which could then be used as a guiding structure for the other 3 responses, making it easier to identify robust and clear commitments with definitive KPIs, method statements and impacts identified.

“The team highly valued the support and time spent working with Samtaler; a lot was learned and we saw clear benefits in the outputs as well as the understanding and knowledge of our team.”

“It was great working with you all, found it extremely useful and learned much in a short period. I've already asked for some more support and I'm confident we'll be working together soon.”

How we can help

From responding to social value questions to helping you make sure your bid stands out from your competitors without impacting on price, we are here to help commercial teams understand social value requirements and respond to complex questions and win contracts.

Reach out today via hello@samtaler.co.uk or read more about our Bid Writing and Design services