Tendering for Care (TfC) is the trading name of a suite of support services which have been developed by Project Development and Support Ltd. The Company was incorporated in 1998 to help health and social care charities who wished to seek funding from European, Lottery and similar sources.

Tendering for Care held its first training courses in tendering during the summer of 2005. It has continued to provide these and a wide range of tendering support services since that time.

The Company's Privacy Policy, Website Terms of Business, and other relevant terms and policies can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

TfC has been designed to meet the needs of providers of all types of health, medical and social care service providers as well as housing associations and RSLs when tendering or re-tendering for public sector contracts. Those companies benefitting from the support and/or the training which TfC offers, encompasses organisations from very small to the largest health and care providers in the country. The smallest company to receive our help and tender successfully in 2010 had an annual T/O in the region of £200,000 whilst the biggest turned over £200 million. We also provide training and support to the public sector - the "purchasers". This includes managing the public procurement process to ensure Regulatory compliance; providing training courses for Commissioners; and participating in tender appraisal.

Customers can purchase services on a one-off basis.  Please click on the heading TfC Tendering Support Suite.

Alternatively there is an option to become a Member of TfC based on an annual Subscription. Membership offers a Menu of Benefits from which the customer may select the most appropriate for their organisation. Membership can be cost-effective solution to securing professional help with tendering as substantial discounts are available. In early mid 2009 the Membership of TfC passed the 300 mark and continues to grow. Details can be found by clicking on the heading TfC Membership.

Mission

To build the capacity of companies and provider organisations in the HEALTH, MEDICAL, SOCIAL CARE, HOUSING and SUPPORT SECTORS to tender effectively for contracts to deliver services on behalf of public sector purchasers. These may be Local Authorities, Central Government Departments, Government Agencies, CCGs, the NHS, etc.

How we do this

By providing a wide range of information, training and support services, on a menu basis, each service being capable of being tailored to the needs of companies, organisations and individuals.

Companies and other providers across the UK, both large and small are loosing contracts - often to deliver their core business - because they do not understand how the purchasing of public services now works. They, and often other consultancies offering advice and training on tender preparation, do not fully understand the requirements of the public sector purchaser. These are different and much more highly regulated than tendering to private sector purchasers. Tendering to the public sector is not selling in the sense that pretty, well produced documents are a requirement. Indeed it is often the plain but clear and easy to read document which wins. Public Sector tendering is much more about compliance, capacity, due diligence, standards, policies and procedures. On the other hand very large, sometimes American or European private companies are chasing and winning health, medical and social care contracts through the tendering process. The pattern is similar for housing and other support services. There is now evidence of companies and providers are being forced to close, sometimes facing bankruptcy simply because they do not understand how the new tendering and procurement processes work.

The first and most important questions to ask of any company offering tendering advice, support, training or writing services is "does your company meet the minimum standards required in public sector purchasing?" These include:

• Do you hold the ISO 9001:2008 management standard?
• Do you have in place Health and Safety; Equality and Diversity and Environmenal policies which meet the requirements of the minimum scoring standards?
• Is your credit rating at a level of 80 or higher?

Unless a company is working to these standards it is very difficult, if not impossible, for it to truly understand the requirements of the public sector purchaser and how the required level of compliance can be practically demonstrated in the tender. The services offered by TfC help providers to develop this understanding and act upon it to be awarded contracts.

We blog as "Care Tendering" at http://www.care-tendering.com/home.html

You can contact us by telephone at: 07871372370