Orthodontic Tenders

Our team of bid and tender writers are specialists in writing and reviewing orthodontic tenders. One of our team members, Chris, writes orthodontic tenders on a fortnightly basis and previously worked for a major orthodontic service provider.

Generally commissioned by the NHS, orthodontic tenders are often so consuming they result in some of our clients neglecting their practices just to complete the tender. This is where our team comes in. We take the time and hassle out of the bid writing process and help ensure you deliver a quality, exemplary response.

Types of orthodontic tenders we can help you write and win

Our team of bid writers have experience working on a range of NHS Orthodontic bids including:

General Orthodontic Services:

These contracts cover a large range of treatments where there is a referral from a general dental practitioner. Some of these services include assessment, diagnosis and the provision of braces and aligners. Demonstrating your presence and capacity to service the geographic region you are bidding for is critical. The NHS England’s local area teams or the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) issue the contracts.

Specialist Orthodontic Services:
In addition to general Orthodontic services, the NHS, as well as NHS Trusts, academic health science networks and other entities, release tenders for specialist Orthodontic tenders from time to time. Our bid writers have assisted with these – a highly specialised and technical area. They generally involve advanced treatment modalities including the management of congenital anomalies, craniofacial disorders, or multidisciplinary cases. Given the highly technical nature of these bids, we generally require significant subject matter expert input when writing these bids for you.

Education, Teaching and Training Orthodontic Services:

Where hospitals, academic institutions and NHS trusts or training centres require Orthodontic teaching services they generally adopt a formal procurement process. Therefore, opportunities for the provision of clinical education, training and supervision for orthodontic trainees, dental students and other healthcare professionals often arise. A well thought out bid that highlights your commitment to the profession, ability to work within teaching methodologies and frameworks, and your commitment to continuous improvement and training needs to be developed to secure these contracts.

How the orthodontic tendering process works

Most of the orthodontic tendering, bidding and contract opportunities that arise are for public sector contracts: through the NHS. They are generally spread across all regions including the Midlands, North and East of England as well as London, East Anglia and Yorkshire. As opposed to the NHS procurement hubs, where most NHS services are procured, the NHS England also releases contracts and bids for orthodontic services via the managed clinical networks (MCNs).

Generally speaking the tendering process is quite competitive with continuous quality and patient care improvement, as well as driving cost efficiencies being two competing motivations for the government driving the procurement process. Being a quality provider is a pre-requisite for winning NHS contracts, and you need go above and beyond in terms of submitting an innovative tender that demonstrates your ability to deliver on the contract over the long term.

Prior to deciding whether to bid for an orthodontic contract, or not, it’s important to qualify the opportunity. You can do this by following a bid / no bid process and asking yourself:

• Does my practice or business meet the minimum financial thresholds to submit a compliant bid?
• Am I in the correct geographic location to service the contract? Do I have the local track record and presence they are looking for? Does this contract fit my practice profile?
• Do I meet all the prerequisite requirements such as experience, insurances and qualifications?

Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ)

Most of the time, the NHS England commissions a PQQ – and this is the start of the tendering process. They release the PQQ (or SQ) to state that they are looking for orthodontic works, goods or services. Generally speaking, this is a relatively easy and straight forward step in the process. You provide your basic company information, confirm non-collusion and provide copies (or confirm you have) environmental, quality and diversity and WHS processes.

Invitation To Tender

After meeting the minimum criteria and passing the PQQ stage, you will be sent the ITT. There is a substantial amount of work involved in completing the ITT. You need to comprehensively respond to each question and ensure your response answers the question, provides evidence and includes sufficient detail. You need to convince the reader that you are the best potential supplier and that you can deliver on the contract better and more comprehensively than other bidders.

Ensure you consistently focus on:

• The quality of services you will provide.
• How you are innovative and forward thinking in your approach to improving patient outcomes.
• How you will deliver the services consistently over the long term.
• How your previous experience aligns with the requirements of the bid.
• How your bid will deliver value for money.

Once submitted, the procurement team (sometimes a single buyer but other times a team of people) will review all of the bids, score each tender based on price and written content, and award the contract to the best scoring tenderer.

Dynamic Purchasing Systems

Many orthodontic tendering opportunities are released and presented under Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPSs) as opposed to the more common framework agreements which are the most popular NHS avenue for releasing healthcare sector tenders.

DPSs offer a unique opportunity to Orthodontists given there is no deadline to join, and more often than not, no limit on the total number of suppliers. This is due to the fact that the buyer will want to buy different products off different suppliers and will therefore create a shortlist of approved suppliers for a variety of products.

You will need to pass the PQQ and ITT in order to be appointed onto the approved suppliers list. There are then a number of mini-bids for certain products which you participate in. These are undertaken through mini ITTs. We recommended all our dental and orthodontic clients to work hard to secure a place on a DPS as they can run for many years and can lead to a significant and long term income stream.

What are ‘Lots’ in orthodontic tenders

Within an orthodontic tenders or bid, there are different lots. They are either defined by value or quantity (Units of Orthodontic Activity – UOAs). Each individual service, product or even location becomes a Lot in the tender. I.e. providing services in London and Birmingham would mean submitting for two different lots.

Although you can bid for multiple lots, you need to provide a tailored and specific response to each lot within your bid. You also need to show you are large enough as an organisation to service a number of different Lots. I.e. when reviewing your financial capacity and resources, they will review it through the lens of the number of lots you are bidding for.

Adhering to regulatory and compliance standards

All NHS orthodontic tenders and bids require you to confirm and evidence that your practice is managed in line with industry standards and expectations. You will need to provide you have robust clinical governance procedures in place, as well as quality assurance, practice management and work health and safety protocols. Examples of what you must adhere to in order to win bids include:

• Regulatory standards
• Clearly defined roles
• Clinical audits
• Safeguarding procedures
• Patient safety
• Health and safety
• Complaints procedure
• Responsibilities and accountabilities
• Incident reporting procedures
• Feedback mechanisms
• Sustainable practice
• Equality and diversity practices

Membership and active participation in the following networks and governance boards will also support your credibility in the eyes of the reader:

• NHS England
• Orthodontic MCN
• Local Dental Network (LDN)
• Local Dental Committees (LDC)
• Local Authority Health and Wellbeing Boards and Scrutiny Commissions
• Healthwatch
• British Orthodontic Society
• Community Dental Services

Stay patient focused and evidence everything

The NHS England is all about being patient-focused. No matter what top you are writing about in your bid, or what question you are responding to, integrating the ‘patient-focused’ theme you’re your response is important. The NHS wants to know that across your practice there is a culture and focus on the patient and patient care.

In addition, because many other businesses in orthodontic bids will be making claims about their experience and capabilities, it is important to evidence whatever you write about. Buyers and procurement panel members are experienced in reading bids and can quickly understand if what you write is supported by evidence or not. When there is no evidence, they will often simply ignore what you have stated or may take a sceptical approach.

Take the time to attach evidence to all of your case studies, go into concise detail about what you delivered, and provide references and testimonials as much as possible.

Have a comprehensive mobilisation plan

Convince the reader you can deliver a seamless service. This includes the initial mobilisation. You need to show them that you understand the risks associated with mobilisation and you have a mobilisation plan to put into practice should you be awarded the tender that will ensure any risks are mitigated.

The types of questions you will encounter in NHS England orthodontic tenders and how to respond

Organisation structure and leadership – This is standard question in most Orthodontic tenders. They want to know that, in the context of the size of the lot or contact you are bidding for, you have the depth of resources and amount of skilled personnel you need to deliver a quality service. In addition, in terms of leadership, the commissioner will want to know your practice is led by an Orthodontic Specialist with extensive and proven skills and experience.

Patient Journey – When asked about patient journey, it’s often driven by the high proportion of young people that undergo orthodontic treatment. You need to talk about the systems and processes you have in place to support the patients on their journey. This applies to follow up and being in contact with the patient throughout the entire course of treatment. It also includes parent communication.

Proposed premises – This is generally critical as the buyers will want to know that you have the right premises, equipment and location. Your premises needs to be in an easily accessible location and needs to be well presented, clean and in accordance with clinical standards. Including images of your premises in your bid, as well as information on the location and public transport access as well as parking is always a good idea.

Most of the time in Orthodontic tenders, you will need to cover other key areas such as Data Security & protection Toolkit as well as information on your credit score and financial credentials. Ensure you comply with the relevant financial thresholds prior to deciding to bid for an NHS Orthodontist contract as this is generally a dealbreaker.

Our team of expert and experienced writing consultant is ready to help you with your next Orthodontic tender.

How we can help you win your next Orthodontic Tender?

We can help write all aspects of our Orthodontic Tender. Our team of bid writers can help you respond to questions regarding: