Four Strategies to Win Public Sector Contracts in the UK
Our team of bid and tender writing consultants here at Tsaks Consulting specialise in writing bids to the public sector and winning our clients public sector contracts which government departments, NHS trusts, local authorities and other public sector entities across the UK.
As public sector tender and bid writing consultants, we specialise in helping our clients win public sector contracts and will work with you to show you how to win public tenders in across the UK. We can also help you identify public sector contract opportunities and want to know how to find them and win.
The below guide to public sector contracts and tenders includes four tips and strategies your business can adopt to improve your chances of success. Contact our team of bid writers today if you are a UK business looking for information on how to:
- Identify relevant bid opportunities for your organisation
- Win government contracts or other public sector contracts
- Apply for and win tenders and bids in different industries such as construction, security and information technology
- Win more work from the government and increase your overall tender success rate.
- Apply for key frameworks issued by procurement organisations which government and public entities use to procure.
Here are five strategies to help you win public sector contracts in the UK in 2025:
- Identify and qualify opportunities.
This is critical. Tenders and bids take a significant amount of resources to complete well. Contracts in the UK are posted on the Contracts Finder Website whilst EU tenders are posted on the TED website. Don’t just jump at the first opportunity. It’s important to qualify the opportunities that come through, and to extend your search to local municipalities.
For example, if you are a local recruitment firm based in Leeds or Manchester, you may come across a national government opportunity. The reality is, if you don’t have the relevant experience or national presence, your prospects of success are limited. You may be better off waiting on a more suitable opportunity where you have better prospects of success. Allocate your resources appropriately.
You also need to check the mandatory requirements and criteria of a public sector tender prior to deciding to bid for it. Ensure you can comply with all the criteria and that you have the qualifications and experience required to bid.
Most public sector tenders are highly competitive. That means you need to put forward a credible and evidence-based bid if you wish to succeed. We generally recommended not taking the ‘you have to be in it to win it’ approach to bids and tenders across the UK, and instead a quality over quantity approach. Pick your battles, pick your bids and one you have decided that your business and experience aligns with the contract opportunity, put in the required effort to win the tender.
This strategy applies to all public sector tenders across the UK and Europe, including building and construction, medical, community and social care, education, equipment supply and many other industries.
- Prepare to beat the rush
Tenders, bids and PQQs often all ask similar questions. Pitching or bidding to win contracts in the Government sector in the UK almost always means that you will need to provide Quality, Health and Safety and Environmental documentation. ISO Accreditation is not a must, but It’s generally a very good idea.
The issue that usually arises is that you are given three weeks to get all of these documents together as well as the tender or bid response, and there isn’t a lot of time. It’s a great idea to get these documents in place prior to any tender being released. The advantage is that it will be one less thing to worry about when you are compiling your bid, and also, Quality Assurance and other ISO Systems are useful for your business in general. Case studies, profiles and case studies also need to be drafted for tenders, so keeping a profile of these along with testimonials is a great idea and will make the tender response process more efficient.
With the increase in popularity of AI, there are lots of tools available to build a bid library and keep all of your content, case studies and documentation on-hand and ready to bid. A bid library, which can be as simple as a Microsoft word document and as complex as some an advanced AI program, will help you store content so that you can quickly and easily put together evidence such as testimonials and references.
The strategy here is to set yourself up to win. Most of the time with bids and framework applications, they are either highly complex or have a very short due date. This means being well-prepared before tender release will help you run a smooth bidding process and bid for great opportunities as they arise.
- Sell yourself – be confident and play to your strengths.
It’s important to submit a professional response. It’s equally important to sell your business and be confident and bold. That means playing to your strengths and convincing the reader that you are the best suited company for the contract. You need to write confidently, talk about your experience and ‘talk up’ your capabilities. For example, when compiling CVs and your personnel, it’s important sell the fact that they are you’re a team and the best most skilled and experienced team to service the contract. Don’t be shy. Talk about how your business is an industry leader, any innovative products or services you have in place and why you should be awarded the contract.
If you are pitching for a Council contract, make sure you focus on your links and contribution to the community. Any community initiatives you have been involved with, charities you support, or locals you employ, all need to be talked about. The multiplier effect you have on the local community through your operations is critical.
The key point when looking to write a winning bid is to showcase your skillset and experience and don’t be shy. Your writing needs to demonstrate that you want to win the contract and spell out why. We have helped our clients across the UK including in London, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and other cities write bids and attend shortlisting presentation. One key point is when our clients have not spelled out explicitly why they should be awarded the tender, they are sometimes still shortlisted. When they are shortlisted and take the opportunity to confidently state what they will deliver, the feedback is often a positive surprise. Procurement teams want to know that you want to win.
- Put forward a quality response.
You need to answer each question comprehensively and provide evidence where possible to support what you are saying. Provide case studies of where you have delivered in the past and build credibility in the eye of the reader by going into detail (not just marketing talk). Put the work into a tender and you will improve your prospects of success.
You should write concisely and clearly to help stay within the word limit but provide an adequate amount of information to score well.
- Focus on local benefits to achieve ender success
If you want to increase your tender success rate, especially with government and public sector tenders, you need to focus on the local area in which you will operate and the economic, social and environmental benefits operating in the local area will bring to the local community. Everything from upskilling local personnel and workers to helping local charities and purchasing from local suppliers is important and can help build your credibility in the eyes of government procurement teams. Be sure to make your proposed initiatives measurable and realistic.
What our team of professional bid writers at Tsaks Consulting can do for you
At Tsaks Consulting, we help businesses write winning bids, tenders and business proposals to the Government and Public Sector across the UK. If you want to see an example of a bid or tender, or need help with putting a proposal together, we love to help. Our services extend across the UK and we’ve helped businesses in Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol.
Our services extend across all industries including healthcare, construction, professional services, equipment supply and IT. Our consultants know how to write, understand graphics, and will guide you through the complex process of submitting a compelling proposal.
Our team also provides bid and tender writing training to organisations across the UK including in London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow and other regions across the UK. Whether it is providing training to your personnel, or the information transfer from our bid writing services, we can demonstrate to you:
- How to win a contract or bid
- How to win tenders
- How to win government tenders
- How to win public sector contracts
- How to win government contracts in the UK
- How to increase your tender success rate
For any help with you next tender or bid or for guidance on tendering for and winning public sector contracts, contact our team of experienced bid writing consultants.
Client testimonials
We use the Tsaks Consulting UK team for all of our public sector bids and some private sector proposals. Jason and the team are great. They are excellent at writing responses to Social Value and other government-specific ITT and procurement questions. They are also very responsive and professional in their communication, and you get confidence through the process that they are on top of everything from a bid writing perspective and also that they will help you write an effective bid. The know all the little strategies for winning bids and tenders with the different government departments, NHS trusts, frameworks and other procurement organisations. I would recommend them to any business across the UK that wants to increase their public sector win rate.
Tracey V | Community Organisation | Manchester
Hi Tsaks Consulting Team, we won the bid! Thank you Jason and the team for all your help. Nathaniel you were fantastic. This is a big win for us as it’s an important contract and essentially one that we could not afford to lose. Your team are specialists in public sector bids and tenders in the UK and it shows. We were confident after working with you that we put a strong bid submission forward and covered everything in the requirements and evaluation criteria. Thank you for all your assistance and we will be in touch with you for the next bid.
Simon T | Professional Services | Birmingham