healthcare equipment supply tenders

Market scope and size for medical equipment and supply tenders

Medical equipment and supply contracts form a substantial component of the NHS annual budget and procurement activities and exceed £15,000,000,000 per year. Our team of bid writers has extensive experience helping organisations write bids and win contracts foe the provision of medical equipment.

Procurement processes and framework for medical equipment

The last three years have seen significant change in the process and framework for the procurement of medical equipment over the past three years. There were over 100 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in 2021. These groups procured healthcare products and they (as well as the NHS) were funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) became the new authority in 2022 and the CGSs are consolidated into these.

Our strategies to help you win UK government tenders for the provision and supply of medical equipment

• Read between the lines and understand your client’s needs: You need to comprehensively review the ITT or proposed contract and service. Are there any issues with their current supplier that you are aware of? Do you know if they have had an increase in volume and therefore can you handle an increase? You will need to address the unique requirements of the contract, demonstrate that you understand them, and then show how your product will meet this need.
• Clearly articulate any technological advancements or innovations that your equipment delivers: The NHS and procurement teams in general are well aware of the speed of technological advancements in healthcare equipment development. You need to convince and demonstrate to the reader that your product is state of the art and delivers value. This, combined with patient outcomes is critical. Where your product exceeds the market in terms of diagnostic accuracy or an increase in volume or ease of us, this needs to be clearly articulated to the reader and possibly even presented in an infographic.
• Highlight your compliance with any regulatory standards: This is more of a mandatory criteria than a strategy. In order to be successfully awarded a contract, you need to do the work in terms of listing each relevant regulatory and quality standard and confirming that you conform with them as well as providing a brief explanation of how your medical or healthcare product conforms.
• Evidence, evidence, evidence: Procurement teams know their area of work and have often been reading tenders and bids for a long time. This means that they will not take everything you say at face value and will want to see evidence. You need to integrate evidence for every assertion you make in your bid. Letters from suppliers, documentation proving compliance with modern slavery checks and references are all useful to include as are independent verifications and testing of the performance of equipment.
• Demonstrate you are delivering value and a cost effective product: This doesn’t just mean talk about the price. You need to talk about quality and total cost of ownership for the equipment you propose to supply. The NHS is rational. They understand that a product with lower initial costs but higher maintenance costs can actually be more expensive than a product with high initial costs. You need to demonstrate to them that you proposed equipment is cost effecitce.
• Ask clarification questions: Asking the right clarification questions can be helpful throughout the tender process. You need to be aware that all the bidders will see your question and the response. Therefore, you need to be careful not to give out any insights or innovations. However, you can go back and forth asking questions that demonstrate your knowledge of the area and clarify any key components of the bid.
• Provide a quality response to social value: Social value has now become a key component of any tender or bid. It forms a critical component of the evaluation criteria (often 10%) and gives medical product suppliers the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring the downstream economic benefits of any contracts flow through to their local communities. It is also an excellent opportunity to set yourself apart from your competitors, particularly if they are highly product and technical focused (and possibly complacent about responding to the social value component of the tender. Key themes to focus on in any social value response include:
  • The covid 19 recovery – Talk about the impacts of Covid 19 and how your social value commitment will help local communities recover from it.
  • Economic benefits – talk about how awarding you the contract will help develop the local economy by creating new jobs, transferring skillsets and supporting local businesses (including naming the businesses you propose to engage with).
  • Environmental benefits – Talk about any environmental initiatives you will undertake if you are awarded the contract. This not only includes the environmentally friendly features of your product (or service) but also any additional environmental initiatives – particularly local initiatives – you propose to support.
  • Supporting disadvantaged groups – Promoting equally is crucial. You need to talk about how awarding you the contract will results in increased opportunities for different community groups. For example, you may earmark a role suited to somebody with a disability.
• Provide a comprehensive training and support solution. Medical and healthcare supply tenders generally go beyond simply providing the product. You need to demonstrate to the procurement panel that you are in it for the long haul. That you will provide reliable support for any product issues, that your technical assistance will be professional, that you have accounted for maintenance costs and service in your product and that you have a reliable training program to ensure the proper use of the equipment.
• Clearly detail your warranty – This is important and it provides your bid with credibility and builds trust in the mind of the reader. You need to provide a comprehensive warranty policy and detail any specific performance guarantees. You warranty protocol needs to align with what your competitors will generally deliver as well as what is generally the industry standard for your specific product.

The types of companies we have helped write winning medical and healthcare equipment supply bids include:

• Medical Equipment Manufacturers: We help the manufacturers of medical equipment and devices bid for contracts directly for the supply of their products.
• Medical Equipment Distributors: These are often much larger and complex tenders as our medical distributor clients bid for a broad range of products which they distribute.
• Healthcare technology companies: These are usually innovative companies which offer highly technical solutions such as software as a service for health, digital health platforms and health management systems that integrate different software solutions. Our clients also provide data management platforms and systems to maintain and administer electronic health records.
• Biomedical engineering companies: There are comprehensive regulatory standards that medical equipment need to abide by. Our engineering clients often tender for the maintenance and repair of this equipment to ensure it consistently complies with the relevant regulatory standards.
• Medical imaging suppliers: These are some of the most common clients who we have helped write equipment supply bids for contracts. We have helped clients write and win contracts to supply a range of imaging equipment such as X-ray machines, MRI scanners, CT scanner and ultrasound machines.
• Suppliers of laboratory equipment: Laboratory equipment is a large market with substantial procurement. We have helped clients that are involved in manufacturing and providing laboratory instruments and equipment for both medical diagnostics and research.
• Suppliers of rehabilitation and disability equipment: This is a large market with a broad range of mobility aids, rehabilitation support equipment and aids for physio and other therapy. These often involve supplying equipment to regional providers across the UK and also servicing equipment where required. We help suppliers bid for contracts for equipment supply and specifically address the needs of people with a disability.
• Medical and healthcare furniture: Although supplying hospital beds and other furniture seems simple and straight forward it is actually a highly complex area. Our expert bid writing consultants help our clients differentiate their products by focusing on adhering to cleaning standards, total life cost, installation instructions and support for the proper use of equipment such as hospital and nursing home beds.
• Manufacturers of surgical instruments: These are highly specialised areas and many of our clients have their own in-house technicians and subject matter experts who complete the technical components of the bid. We help by reviewing these to ensure they adequately respond to the question and taking care of more generic areas of the contract such as social value.
• Medical, home healthcare, dental and veterinary medical suppliers: Over the years, our writing consultants have helped suppliers from these industries bid for NHS contracts. These are generally specialised areas and our team combines their experience in dental tenders and other social care tenders to deliver a quality response to our clients.

How we can help you win

Our team of expert writing consultants help clients across the UK (and international companies bidding for UK contracts) from London to Leeds, Birmingham and Glasgow. We have experience helping clients win medical equipment supply tenders through all types of procurement including Invitation to Tenders (ITT), Request for Proposals (RFP). Request for quotations (RFPs), expressions of Interest, Framework Agreements, Mini-competitions, single-stage tendering and two stage tenders. We have also helped clients with both restricted and open tenders.

Our writers will help you:

• Write your tender
• Project manage your tender response
• Create graphics
• Manage your internal stakeholders to gather the necessary information
• Create supporting documentation
• Ensure you comply with the requirements.

We will also review your existing bid if you have completed the bid yourself and would like another set of eyes on it. Contact our team today to discuss how we can help you win your next bid.