Considerations for Housing Development Agency Tenders

Published1st February 2021 AuthorJohn Hudson

The top 3 things to consider before bidding for housing development agency tenders

Housing development agency tenders are the most common way for buyers to discover suppliers who can undertake a housing project. But what exactly is a housing development agency tender?

The basics

In short, a tender is a notice that a buyer would like to procure goods, services, or works. These buyers often don’t have the skills or capacity to deliver the requirements themselves. In order to obtain these goods, services, or works, the buyer offers third-party suppliers a contract.

Due to the nature of tendering, buyers must select suppliers fairly, openly, and transparently. This is done in the form of a bidding process where suppliers will submit their individual bids. These bid responses will outline the specific advantages of using their business as a supplier. From here, the buyer can then begin to evaluate the responses. In most cases, the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) will win.

What is there to consider when bidding for a housing development agency tender?

Knowing the basics of tendering is the first hurdle to seeing success. The next is knowing which housing development agency tenders are suitable for your business. It can be quite tempting to jump in and want to go for all available tenders. However, if you follow our Hudson Insight Series, you will know tendering can be a time-consuming process. Before beginning the bidding process, you will need to have an idea of the tender’s suitability for your business. Make sure you have a process in place for qualifying opportunities. This can help you to avoid wasting time and effort and give you a greater chance of success. We know there is a lot to consider when tendering for work. So, here is a breakdown of the top 3 things to consider before bidding for a housing development agency tender.

  1. Budgets

A vital part of tendering is pricing. Although pricing is typically weighted less than quality on construction tenders, pricing that is too high may lose important marks. Make sure you look at the pricing guidance if this is available. This guidance will be the key to understanding if the opportunity will be suitable for your business. Is there enough money in this? Will you make a profit? Is it financially worth bidding for?

Buyers will often require that potential suppliers meet their financial threshold. This is often referred to as your economic financial standing. A general rule of thumb is to aim for opportunities that are half your turnover or lower.

If no budget is established with the buyer, then assess workloads as per the specification. This will provide an approximation as to how much is to be delivered (cost-wise). Ideally, you want to aim for the lowest price, that still makes a profit. 

  1. Evaluation Scope 

The most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) is the most common way for buyers to assess their potential suppliers. Each section of the response will be weighted in the form of a percentage of the overall tender score. The most common sections which are required from the buyer are quality and pricing.

Pricing describes the cost of the contract. As we have explained, you will submit your best price for the project. This will then be weighed against your competitor’s pricing.

Quality indicates your capabilities to deliver the contract.

Here the buyer can ask:

  • Pass/fail questions which cover the most essential requirements. If these questions are failed, you will likely be excluded from the next stage.
  • Your experience in the form of case studies.
  • How you plan to deliver the contract.
  • Your technical experience.
  • Your staff’s capabilities and CV’s.

Once you have submitted your tender it will be scored against the buyers weighting with the highest score winning.

An example

A buyer publishes an ITT. In your response, they will weight pricing as 30% of the overall tender score. Quality is weighted at 70%. This information tells you that in your response you should focus on your quality and technical expertise. The lower value of pricing says you can afford to be more competitive, however, you must have the quality to back this up.

  1. Scope of work

Another important factor when identifying housing development agency tenders is the delivery of your services. The scope of work gives you an idea of what is expected of you. When looking through this, you will need to consider:

  • The location- Are you close enough to this site to deliver the contract effectively? Will you need staff based in multiple locations? Will the buyer accept remote working where possible?
  • Your pipeline- Do you have any work lined up which will affect your delivery of this contract? Are there any possible extensions with this contract? If the work will not commence until a later date, will you have enough work in the meantime?
  • Staffing- Do you have enough available staff to deliver this contract? Do your employees have the necessary experience?

Having this checklist to hand can help you effectively identify opportunities to suit your business.

Is there still a need for housing development agency tenders?

In the UK’s current climate, it can be easy to assume tendering opportunities across all sectors will be limited. Between the pandemic and its aftereffects, Brexit, and recessions, is the economy able to justify new housing development agency tenders?

The good news is, in spite of everything that’s going on, the construction industry has been consistently releasing tenders.

An update from the National Housing Federation has revealed:

Ahead of publishing its consultation response in the spring, the government has advised that any policy changes and reforms arising from the Planning for the Future proposals will take time to implement, and that planners should not delay their delivery of local plans.

MHCLG has advised that it will publish its response to the Planning for the Future White Paper consultation in the spring, setting out its decisions on the proposed way forward including preparing for potential legislation in the autumn. The response will focus on developing the next level of policy detail, after having considered the feedback provided. Read our response to the consultation.

The reform set out in the white paper will take a few years to implement, and the government is therefore advising planning authorities not to delay their preparation regarding local plans. Planners are encouraged to progress the approval of development management decisions, including S106 agreements and the delivery of affordable housing through this means.

Where can I find these tenders? 

We can see there is still a need for housing development agency tenders. The next question is where can you find these tenders?

Construction Tenders is an opportunity tracking portal designed to be a time-saving tool for your business. We source from thousands of sites every week, making sure you have access to 100% of housing development agency tenders.

A subscription to Construction Tenders offers you:

  • A team of Opportunity Trackers sourcing public and private security bids from 1000s of sites.
  • A dedicated Account Manager on-hand to answer technical or tendering queries you may have.
  • No reliance on CPV codes or algorithms. Our team manually upload each tender, making sure that you have access to all public and private security bids.
  • The ability to filter bid opportunities by sector, keyword, budget, and location.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.
  • 20-minutes of free live bid consultancy every month with our bid experts.

Here are some recent examples of housing development agency tenders we have sourced:

Proposed Housing Development at Convent Road, Doneraile, Co. Cork

Cork County Council- Republic of Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

27-10-2020

Construction of Five Flats and associated Works on Oakfield Road, Stapleford

Broxtowe Borough Council- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

26-10-2020

South and Mid-Wales Residential Construction DPS

LHC for the Welsh Procurement Alliance (WPA)- Wales- Budget: £5,000,000,000

25-10-2020

New Development at Great Chesterford, Essex

Uttlesford District Council- South East- Budget: £1,900,000

02-10-2020

Better Homes – Affordable Housing & Supported Living Provision

Scarborough Borough Council- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

02-10-2020

How do you secure a housing development agency tender? 

Now you know how to find and identify your perfect tender, how do you succeed in securing a construction contract? Bid writing can be a daunting process. The process requires having CV’s, policies and case studies at the ready, and also answering some in-depth quality questions. It’s not uncommon to wonder if you need some extra support. Many successful suppliers look to outsource this process to the professionals to ensure maximum chances of success.

Hudson Succeed can help.

Hudson Succeed is our bid writing division. They support businesses who are:

  • New to tendering.
  • Struggling to see success from their tendering efforts.
  • Requiring assistance from expert Bid Writers through ad-hoc support for important construction bids.

Our team hold an 87% bid success rate. They have secured direct contract wins totalling over £300million for our clients.

Here are some examples of the services we offer:

Book a free demo with Construction Tenders

The best way to find all the best housing development agency tenders is through Construction Tenders. Why not contact us today to find out more about how Construction Tenders can benefit your business.

At Construction Tenders, we actively source construction leads and tenders for the following sub-sectors:

Contact us today and allow us to help you grow your business with Construction Tenders.

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