Everything you need to write tenders for government flooring contracts

Government flooring contracts often involve the provision, supply and installation of flooring in the public sector. They could also cover the maintenance, refurbishment and renewal of flooring within government owned facilities. These could range from council houses to community centres and village halls to sports centres.

Government flooring contracts could cover the following subsections:

• Resilient sheet
• Resilient tile
• Carpet tiles
• Laminates
• Ceramic
• Vinyl
• Soft flooring
• Resin flooring
• Hardwood flooring

Government flooring contracts could be a great opportunity to grow your business. There are often framework agreements that could secure your business a pipeline of work. If you’ve never applied for government flooring contracts, this guide will help give you a rough idea of what’s required.

Framework agreements

Framework agreements are commonly used for government procurement. A framework agreement is simply a contract agreement between multiple organisations to supply goods or services, sometimes in multiple locations.

Some frameworks can run for years at a time with the possibility of an extension. They can be lucrative opportunities for your business if you can secure a place. They can result in guaranteed pay and secure a pipeline of work, allowing you build up experience. This can place you in good stead for future contacts.

Framework agreements can use ‘Lots’. These allow businesses to work alongside other service providers in the contract. If a buyer is looking to procure multiple services, they may break it up into Lots. This means as a business you don’t have to be able to fulfil all the works. You need only apply to the lot that’s suitable for the goods, works or services your business specialises in.

An example of lots that could be available on government flooring contract framework agreements:

Lot 1 – Wood Flooring Supply and Fit

Lot 2 – Carpet Tiles Supply Only

Lot 3 – Resin Flooring Supply and Fit

Lot 4 – Entrance Matting Supply and Fit

Lot 5 – Contract and Domestic Grade Carpet Supply Only

If your business specialises in the supply and fitting of resin flooring, you’d apply for Lot 3. Some framework agreements allow businesses to apply for multiple lots. If successful, depending on the contract you could be awarded multiple Lots that you applied for. Although typically it’s never more than three at a time.

You must ask yourself before you apply to multiple lots if you have the capability to carry out the work if successful. There’s no point applying if you’re unable to provide the scope.

Economic and Financial Standing

A buyer will assess your economic and financial standing during the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) stage. It’s one of two ways the contractor assesses your business’ suitability for the contract. The other is your professional capability. Your business’ economic and financial standing is typically comprised of three things:

1. Annual turnover – buyers assess this via your latest financial accounts.
2. Financial ratios – This is usually found in your full financial accounts and can include the ratio of your assets to liabilities.
3. Insurance – you want to ensure you’re aligned with the set requirements for insurance.

The minimum financial threshold for the contract is often stated within the specification. You must seriously ask yourself if your business meets this criterion. If it isn’t outlined, you are able to work this out yourself. It is unadvised to bid for projects that have a budget of more than half your annual turnover. For example, if your annual turnover is £150k, it’s not advised to bid for contacts that are more than £75k.

Case Studies

Government flooring contracts will often require you to include 2 – 3 case studies of contracts your company has fulfilled. You will likely be asked to provide details of the client, including work that’s similar in scope to the contract at hand. The examples should have been carried out within the last five years. It’s important to keep them relevant. Include examples of work within a similar geographical location is possible.

Backing these up with evidence and testimonials are two ways to impress the buyer. Depending on the required word count, you could also include how you overcame unexpected challenges. This enables you to demonstrate your problem-solving skills to the buyer and that you are flexible. Including the steps you took to avoid this could score you highly.

Timetable

A timetable is often required when writing your tender response. You may want to consider including the following within your timetable for government flooring contracts:

• Preparation
• General organisation of the site
• Delivery of supplies
• Detailed list of tasks
• The duration
• The various bodies and subcontractors if required
• The means of identifying working personnel on site
• Any minimum time constraints.

Qualifications

As with any government tender, the buyer will want to know that your business is qualified to do the job. They may ask for certain qualifications and accreditations that are relevant to the contract. Building and construction sites can be hazardous environments and accidents happen. The buyers want to be assured that your business is in keeping with best practice.

Some examples that could be relevant for government flooring contracts are:

• CHAS
• SafeContractor
• CFA (Contract Flooring Association)
• ISO 9001; 14001; 18001
• RIDDOR
• IOSH
• Constructionline

MEAT

When tendering in the public sector, the construction contract is awarded to the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT). You should avoid undercutting yourself when pricing your services. The cheapest bid does not win. The MEAT allows the buyer to award the contract based on aspects other than price.

The buyer may take into account:

• Environmental impact
• Efficiency of the methodology
• Quality of services
• Quality of the proposed supplies
• Accessibility
• Customer service
• The ability to deliver on time. 

Social Value

It’s important to note that there is a compulsory 10% weighting on social value for government contracts. One some contracts, it can hold a weight of up to 30%, so it’s not something to be overlooked. This will focus on the wider, positive impact your business will provide when delivering the contract. Organisations will be assessed on the economic, environmental and social aspects.

Public sector buyers wants you to demonstrate that your business is committed to a sustainable future. You may get extra points for aligning them with their own social values, so there’s no harm doing some research. Although bear in mind that they want to see you making pledges that you can actually keep.

Some examples of social value policies you could include in your government flooring contracts are:

• How your business supports COVID-19 recovery.
• How you’re creating new skills or jobs to help tackle economic equality.
• The equal opportunity policies you implement.
• The environmental considerations your organisation takes to fight climate change and reduce waste.

How we can help win your next government flooring contracts

Here at Hudson, we are tender writing experts. Our Bid Writers at our sister company, Hudson Succeed, have 50 years bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. We offer four tender writing packages to help you with your construction bids. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or aren’t seeing any success in your own tendering efforts – we can help!

We have created four bid writing services that can help you see success with your next tender.

1. Tender Mentor

If you’ve written previous government flooring contracts, but aren’t seeing any success, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Writers will assess and proofread your response in line with the spec. They’ll notify you of any errors or inconsistencies you may have before you submit.

2. Tender Writing

Have you found a government flooring contract but don’t know where to start? You can send the specification over to our Bid Writers and they’ll take care of it all for you. They’ll write the response and even submit it on your behalf! They’ll also provide a full Tender Writing breakdown. This allows you time to focus on the more important things.

3. Tender Improvement

Have you been tendering for government flooring contracts, but aren’t seeing any success? Our Tender Improvement package can help. During the course of the programme, our Bid Writers will assess your previous responses and supporting documents. They’ll provide you with guidance and improve literature where necessary.

4. Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is designed for businesses who have never tendered for work before. This programme works with you, ensuring you have everything in place to tender successfully. You’ll have access to an expert Bid Consultant who can help your business grow.

Our Tender Ready and Tender Improvement packages include a 12-month subscription to our Construction Tenders portal.

Where can I find government flooring contracts?

You may be wondering where you can find government flooring contracts for your business. You likely don’t have time to trawl through hundreds of sites every day. Luckily for you, we have a solution.

Construction Tenders is an opportunity tracking platform that hosts hundreds of live construction leads from across the UK. We don’t rely on inaccurate CPV codes, our Opportunity Trackers manually upload opportunities to our portal. You’re then able to filter the results by keyword, budget, location and more.

A subscription with Construction Tenders includes:

• Discounted bid support with Hudson Succeed.
• Telephone support with Hudson Helpline.
• Access to all private and public sector opportunities in the UK.
• Daily email bulletins with government contracts uploaded that day.
• A dedicated account manager on hand to answer any of your tendering questions.
• And much more!

Here are just a few examples of government flooring contracts we sourced recently:

Aldersley Leisure Village Sports Hall Flooring

Wolverhampton City Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

22-01-2021

Flooring Contractor

North Star Housing Group LTD- North East- Budget: £45,000

25-01-2021

Hall Flooring

Marks Tey Parish Council- Eastern- Budget: £4,000

15-01-2021

MTC for Soft Flooring

Belfast City Council- Northern Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

29-01-2021

Pencoedtre High School – Soft Flooring Package

Bouygues UK- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

29-01-2021

Provision of Replacement Flooring to Bushfields’ Sports Centre

Peterborough City Council- Eastern- Budget: Undisclosed

05-02-2021

Book a demo with Construction Tenders

At Construction Tenders, we source opportunities for;

• Flooring Tenders
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• Refurbishment Tenders
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• Masonry and many more.

Book a free live demo to find out how we can help your business grow.