Top 10 Tips for Writing Winning Bids in Health and Social Care

In the health and social care industry, bid writing plays an important part in securing contracts, funding and partnerships. It is crucial to ensure that your bid stands out from the competition and wins the contract. Writing a bid can therefore be a daunting prospect, especially if you’re not familiar with the process. 

In this blog, Dr Julia Daniels discusses some key tips to help you write a successful bid for this industry.

1.   Understand the requirements of the tender

This can seem like an obvious assertion, but it often gets missed in the rush to write a compelling method statement.

Before you start writing your bid, make sure that you have read through and understand all the requirements of the tender. Study all the specifications, terms, and conditions of the contract thoroughly, including any guidance notes, evaluation criteria, and submission requirements such as font style/size and word count. This will help you to understand what is being asked of your organisation, and to tailor your bid to the specific needs of the contracting authority and demonstrate your understanding of their requirements.

It can also be useful to highlight and/or annotate fundamental parts of the specification. Have a notebook with you during the writing process so that you can note down the essential requirements and make sure that you have addressed them when the bid is ready to submit. Make a note of any key dates (such as the deadline for submission) and ensure you comply with all the requirements.

2.   Answer the question

This is a common mistake in bid writing. Organisations can wax lyrical about their company, eager to emphasise their unique selling points which may be exactly what the buyer needs, but then fail to win the contract because they have not addressed the specific requirements of the question. 

You can avoid this mistake by reading the question multiple times until you are absolutely clear what the buyer is trying to find out, and directly address the requirements in the specification document. If the question asks for it, ensure you demonstrate your organisation’s compliance with, for example, health and safety standards or data security by citing the relevant policies and procedures that govern these.

3.   Do your research

This is an essential component of bid writing. Get to grips with the Care Quality Commission rating of your organisation and whether/how this can be improved; and conduct research on the contracting authority. 

If the contracting authority is a council, for example, what political leanings does it have? What are its aims and objectives? Which other organisations have been successful in winning contracts, and how does your organisation differ from them? 

Considering these points may give you a nuanced insight into writing a successful bid, such as key words or phrases used in previous winning bids. Make sure you mirror the language and terms used in the specification.

4.   Know your competition

Research the strengths and weaknesses of your competition and try to make sure that what you are offering matches up to and exceeds what they can offer. 

Emphasise your unique selling points if this is relevant to the question and think through what sets you apart from the competition. This could be your experience, level of expertise, innovative approach, or quality of service. Make sure you clearly articulate why your service is the best fit for the tender. Don’t just show that you meet the requirements; demonstrate how your service can go beyond what is needed. If, for example, you have within your team someone with expertise in a particular area, or additional skills, competencies or links with community services, highlight these factors.

Tell commissioners what outcomes and benefits your services will achieve for both the service users and the commissioning authority.

5.   Demonstrate your understanding

When writing your bid, it is essential that you briefly demonstrate your understanding of the health and social care industry and the particular challenges that service users face. 

This industry is all about the service user, so make sure your language reflects a person-centred approach that puts their needs at the centre of service delivery. This includes demonstrating your knowledge of relevant policies and legislation. Show that you have a clear understanding of the needs of the community and how your service can meet these needs.

6.   Provide evidence

It is not enough to just say that your service will provide X, Y and Z; the contracting authority needs to know exactly how it will do this. 

Using case studies and examples of previous work provides evidence to back up your claims. This evidence can be in the form of statistics, testimonials, or case studies. Any case studies used should be similar in size, scope, and complexity to the service you are bidding for. It is essential that you use evidence to demonstrate the impact of your service and the benefits that it brings to service users, and to provide specific examples that are relevant to the contract to demonstrate your expertise and track record.

7.   Be specific

It is important to specify exactly how your organisation will tackle the issues identified. 

For example, what policies do you have or will commit to bringing in to support the initiatives that the commissioning authority is looking for? It is not enough to simply describe the policies or legislation, but specify exactly how they will be put into place, and identify the outcomes.

8.   Structuring your response

Once you have studied the specifications, done your research, and gathered appropriate evidence for the question at hand, you can now turn your focus to structuring the response. 

For each method statement, highlight the key elements of the question and use these to construct the major sections of your response. Under each section, note down the essential points you want to make, and provide some background information and evidence which will give your statements credibility. This will also give you the overall structure which you can then flesh out with a convincing and persuasive narrative to give flow to your response.

9.   Proofread, edit, and proofread again

Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors not only look bad but they reflect negatively on the overall quality of your organisation. 

Think of the intended audience here; poorly edited bids make it look like your organisation is careless and incompetent. The tendering process is extremely competitive with many businesses applying for the same contracts. 

Paying attention to punctuation, style, and presentation can make your bid stand out favourably. This includes using clear and concise language, avoiding jargon, and ensuring that your bid is easy to read and understand. Structure your bid in a logical and coherent manner, using headings and subheadings to make it easy for the contracting authority to find the information they need. 

Highlighting essential information in bold is a good way to direct their attention towards the fundamentals of the offer.

10.     Review

Once you have formulated your response — making sure that you have paid attention to the specifications, considered your competition and how you can minimise their advantages, emphasised your unique selling points, provided evidence, ensured a clear, comprehensible structure, and proofread your bid — it is time for the final review before submission. 

Make sure you have addressed all of the specifications and addressed how your organisation will tackle each one. Good luck!

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