Professional bid and tender writing fees in the UK
Engaging a professional bid writer can be an excellent investment for SMEs and contractors looking to secure frameworks other government contracts such as NHS contracts. Fees and pricing for a bid writing service depend on:
- Your existing policies and documentation.
- The deadline and turnaround time.
- The project scope and transparency.
- Your industry (if you require an industry specialist) such as construction, health and defence.
In this article, our team of expert bid and tender writers here at Tsaks Consulting UK will break down the costs of hiring a freelance bid writers across the UK for different sectors. We will also discuss our fees, how we price frameworks and what is involved as well as general information on how much bid writers charge to write tenders, bids and SQs across the UK.
How much do bid writers in the UK charge of a specific tender?
At Tsaks Consulting UK, we often charge on a per tender or per framework basis. That means clients such as small businesses and contractors across the UK will come to us with a tender, bid or framework application they need to complete and we provide a fixed fee proposal to complete the entire bid. A guideline of our fees for different types and sizes of tender is provided below and sometimes includes not just completion of the entire tender but also a simple bid review or compliance review of a tender that a client or small business has already written themselves:
- Bid Review / Compliance QA: £400 – £950
- Small / Simple Tender: £500 – £2,500
- Standard SME Public Tender: £2,500 – £5,000
- Large Framework / Major Contract Submission: £5,000+
Why many businesses chose to work on a fixed price per tender basis?
Many of our small, medium and even large contractors and businesses across the UK prefer to have a fixed fee for their tender or bid so that they have fee certainty and understand the total cost of the project. We take the time to look at the existing documentation that you have, the complete scope of the tender, what needs to be written, and other content that needs to be created, as well as any existing content or boilerplate marketing information that you have which we can use.
Once we have done that, we provide that scope to you so the client then understands that this is what will be delivered, the cost, and this is the approximate amount of time taken and proceeds with the project.
What day rates do freelance bid writers charge and how does this compare to agency pricing for bid and tender writers?
Most bid writing consultants, both freelance and agency, charge:
- £300 – £500 per day: Junior / Independent Freelancer
- £500 – £750 per day: Senior Sector Specialist
Here at Tsaks Consulting UK, we usually charge £450 per day for a junior bid writer and £700 per day for a senior sector specialist. The reason we charge a higher amount for a senior sector specialist is because they understand an industry or a sector in detail. Our sector specialists often bring strategic insights into your industry and understand best practice as well as the terminology involved in the specific sector.
For example, one of our bid writers is a professional services and law sector specialist and has a track record of writing winning law firm tenders, bids, and framework applications across the UK and internationally. We also have healthcare and medical sector specialist bid writers who work solely in that sector and have a comprehensive understanding of all the different subcategories within healthcare tenders and bids across the UK, as well as a detailed understanding of NHS procurement, which is critical.
Day rates are helpful when you’re looking to engage a bid or tender writer and there is ad-hoc or hard-to-scope work. It gives us, as a bid writing consultancy, the flexibility to complete everything and anything as quickly as possible without the need to scope the work in detail and work off rigid timelines. On the other hand for tenders where we can scope the tender, we generally recommend a fixed fee proposal. That way you know your costs before proceeding with our service. For larger tenders, where we are working on major infrastructure bids, day rates are helpful because it is necessary to have the flexibility to work a number of days in a row and often consistently over weeks or months (depending on the scope of the tender and depending on the tender preparation process).
When you work with Tsaks Consulting UK, we do bring the added advantage of having multiple bid writers, senior bid writers, and also graphic designers and other coordinators on our team. This enables us and our team to put forward and compile bids and tenders private organisations, the UK government, NHS, Ministry of Defence, and also large bids and tenders for major infrastructure and other projects internationally.
Is professional bid writing support worth the price? How much it costs to engage a bid writing consultant compared to hiring a bid writer in house?
It all depends on your situation. For example, if you are a small business tendering maybe once a month or potentially twice a month, then it’s just generally worth engaging a consultant like us here at Tsaks Consulting UK as we can help you cost-effectively develop a quality tender response.
For larger businesses however, where you are tendering for example once a week, then it’s generally more cost-effective and optimal to have an in-house tender writer. You can always engage in our day rate services or the day rate services of any other consulting consultancy if your in-house writer is overrun with multiple tenders at the same time. By engaging a tender writing consultancy like us, you do get the benefit of reusing all the content and case studies we create.
If you’re new to tendering, it’s generally a good idea to engage professional bid writing services such as our team here at Tsaks Consulting UK and we can help you get a kind of prototype tender developed. Once you have this prototype tender, you can potentially write your own bids and tenders, maybe engage us for questions that you’re unsure of or just simply review. Alternatively. hire in-house resource or even train somebody in-house to complete your tenders.
Tender and bid writing costs for different locations across the UK
Our tender and bid writing services are generally the same price for all locations across the UK. If you ask yourself:
- “How much does it cost to engage a bid writer in London?”
- “How much does it cost to engage a professional bid writing service in Manchester?”
- or even “How much does it cost to engage a specialist bid writing service in Leeds?”
you will generally get the same answer and the same fee if the work is to be delivered remotely. We work on a day rate and can either work remotely or attend your offices. When we attend your offices if you are in a remote or regional location in Northern Wales there may be an additional charge for our personnel to attend. The reason for this is simple. We often provide day rate services from sector specialists. That means that if we have a sector specialist in the NHS that is based in London then we can service you remotely from our London offices
However, if you would like someone to attend your offices then we need to cover the travel costs of our bid riding specialist from London to attend your location in, for example, Northern Scotland.
Overall our prices and fees are consistent and most freelance and consulting bid riders do provide a remote service, which enables us to provide a consistent price no matter where you are located across the U.K.
Tender and bid writing fees and costs in the UK depending on your sector
Some sectors command higher prices and fees. That is generally because they are highly specialised. For example, for tenders, bids and frameworks to the ministry of defence, our fees are highly as there are often requirements for security clearances. The same applies to specialist rail sector bid writers.
Some of the areas and sectors we specialise in, and have specialist bid writers supporting clients, include:
- Health and Safety (including specialist writers to assist with RAMS, CDM 2015 behavoural safety programs and ChAS and SafeContractor applications).
- Defence
- Construction, Civil Engineering and Infrastructure
- Health and Medical (including NHS and social care)
- IT, Cyber Security and Software
- Rail
- Aviation and Maritime
- Facilities Maintenance
Start winning more tenders, frameworks and SQs with Tsaks Consulting UK
To discuss our fees and, more importantly, how we can assist you to win your next bid, tender or framework, contact the team here at Tsaks Consulting UK. Whether you are a small, medium or large business or even a charity or not-for-profit organisation, we provide transparent pricing and a passion for helping you win.