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Tips for Tenders
Presented by:
Rebecca Clarkson
Director of Fundraising and Business Development
Hackney CVS Training Team
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Content of this online learning session

Understanding the history of tenders

Tendering as a consortium
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The Statement of Approach
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Exercise: Tendering scenarios
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Costing your tender
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Be green! Re-use your tender
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Understanding the history of tenders
through central and local government
The previous government came to office in 1997 and implemented
plans for a programme known as Best Value. This replaced the
previous Compulsory Competitive Tendering arrangements.
Out of this came the commissioning culture as a means of being able to
demonstrate efficiency.
Since then, Best Value has been modified in favour of procurement and
commissioning arrangements nationwide and government has
attempted to make the process as standard as possible.
Many local authorities have interpreted this in different ways, although
the majority have used this as a way of funding the Voluntary and
Community sector whilst simultaneously removing the culture of grants
in favour of contracts.
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Tendering as a Consortium
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A consortium is a collection of providers who come
together for an expressed purpose: usually to bid for large
scale pots of commission-based monies.
There must be a lead organisation which will, as the
accountable body, be responsible for any monies
awarded and will also be the contract signatory.
The remaining consortium members will sign either
service level agreements or memorandums of
understanding for the service they will provide through the
consortium.
The lead bidder is also responsible for ensuring quality,
monitoring and evaluation of all the consortium members.
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The Statement of Approach

Your statement of approach will largely
determine whether your tender submission is
successful or not.
 Your statement of approach must describe what
propose to do, how you propose do it, and with
whom you propose to do it!
 This should be the longest section of the
document as it covers everything about the
project itself.
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Example of what will be required in a
Statement of Approach
Please note: this is an example, not the final word – requirements may
vary across tenders
1. A detailed methodology statement indicating how
you will undertake and complete each of the key
areas as set out in the tender documents.
2. A project plan setting out key milestones and
actions to meet the requirements of the brief, with
specific timescales and resources allocated.
3. Identification of any likely risks or problems and
how you will address these.
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Example of what may be required in a Statement
of Skills and Experience
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Details of similar projects that your project team has
previously completed, including hard copy of one
example of a similar piece of work.
Evidence of a proven track record
CVs of each team member involved in the project,
specifying their experience in this area. Each CV
should be no more than two A4 pages.
At least two appropriate referees for whom you have
undertaken work previously. Please include all their
contact details as both will be contacted for references
if your organisation’s bid is shortlisted for interview.
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The exercise
 The
next section gives you the opportunity to try writing
some responses to tender specifications.
Refer to the previous slides if that’s helpful.
 Remember
to include everything and everyone who will
be involved.
 Don’t
worry about it being overly long: just ensure that
you add enough and score enough points to win!
 Now
open part 2 of the presentation
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