Invitation to Tender – Tips for Bidders
The guidance below will help you when preparing your bid for submission to South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA).
The first thing to do is to read through the Invitation to tender (ITT) document and all other documents provided with it, before you start.
Section 1
Have a look at the timetable and note all key dates such as deadline for submission, date for any site visits, etc. Please ensure that your bid is submitted via the In-tend portal by the due date and time as we do not accept tenders submitted after this deadline. Please also make a note in your diary if we have specified a date for clarification meetings. If these are required as part of the evaluation of your bid, we will contact you to arrange a meeting on this date.
You can ask questions during the tender process. There is a deadline by which all questions should be received. Questions must be submitted using the In-tend portal’s correspondence option. All questions asked, together with SDNPA’s answers, will be made available to all bidders who have expressed an interest in the tender, and these will be issued as a clarification via the In-tend portal.
What you must submit
You should ensure that you submit all the required information, as an incomplete submission may be rejected. In all cases, make sure you include:
- Completed and signed pricing proposal
- Completed procurement specific questionnaire
- Completed Form of Tender
- Completed Certificate of Non-Collusion
- Completed bid response document (your quality response to the tender)
- AI disclosure document (not scored)
- (If required), Information on how you will add Social Value to the contract, in addition to the specification (see Social Value below).
Your quality response
For most tenders, you will be required to submit your response in a “bid response document” which contains specific questions to be answered. Occasionally you will be asked to construct your own response as a separate document instead. The bid response document is used to evaluate your bid on quality (Section 4 of the ITT provides information on the specific evaluation criteria being used). Section 5 of the Invitation to Tender contains further information about what you should cover. Your quality response is a key aspect of your bid, and is required in order for the panel to evaluate it fully. Please read Section 5 of the ITT carefully, together with the Specification in Section 3, to ensure that your response addresses all aspects of the requirement. Typically, most tenders will ask for information on your approach (methodology) and resourcing information, along with other project specific questions.
- Approach: have you explained how you will deliver the work and how you will meet the requirements in the specification?
- Resourcing: what human resources do you have for deployment on the contract and how will their knowledge and experience benefit the performance of the contract? Will you need to recruit new staff, or sub-contract? What equipment (if required) do you have? How can you demonstrate your ability to deliver the contract to any required deadlines? What lead times (if any) are required? How can you build resilience into the contract, for example in terms of sickness, equipment breakdowns, etc?
Social Value
In accordance with the Social Value Act (2012) SDNPA has regard to economic, social and environmental well-being in connection with public services contracts. If Social Value is required as part of the tender, further information will be provided with the tender documents. SDNPA includes a Social Value requirement wherever it is felt to be appropriate and proportionate in a contract. Further guidance on social value in tenders is available on our website.
In this context, Social Value is something that benefits people, communities, and the environment, over and above the core deliverables of the contract being tendered for. Your social value offer must be proportionate and relevant to the contract, and the benefits should be focussed on the South Downs National Park area. The evaluation panel will be looking for benefits beyond your core/day to day business activities, policies and processes, and will want to see that your social value proposal is deliverable. The social value offer of the winning bidder will be captured within the contract and delivery monitored using KPIs.
Consider the Evaluation Criteria
SDNPA usually evaluates bids using a mix of price and quality to arrive at the Most Advantageous Tender.
We publish the criteria by which we evaluate your bid within the ITT (Section 4). Bear these criteria in mind, including the weighting that is applied to each, when you are writing your submission as it will help you understand what is important to the contract manager.
Don’t assume that the evaluation panel will know anything about you and/or your organisation, even if you have carried out work for the National Park Authority in the past. The panel can only evaluate on what is contained within your bid, so make sure you have addressed all requirements fully.
Help the evaluation panel
To make it easy for the evaluators to score your bid you may wish to:
- Use headings and bullets
- If the question includes bullet points, adopt these as subheadings
- Break down the elements of the requirement to provide a structure
- Keep sentences short and use plain English
- Minimise jargon and acronyms
General tips
- Proof read your submission for spelling and grammatical errors.
- Avoid cutting and pasting from previous bids – it shows!
- Pay attention to detail, show your understanding of the requirement in the setting of the National Park.