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Tag: Building maintenance contracts for tender

What to Expect from Civil Engineering Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

Civil engineering tenders and where to find them

Civil engineering tenders are released by a broad range of organisations. Predominantly, they can be expected in the public sector and local councils are often procuring civil engineering works and services.

Civil engineering tenders can cover a broad scope of works and services. Often, they’re split into two broad categories:

  1. Minor Civils and building works

These are typically used for minor works that are small and uncomplex construction projects. This could cover both new and repair and renovation works that are below £500,000 in value. These civil engineering tenders could cover activities and works such as:

  • Footpath and cycleway improvements
  • Flood alleviation and land drainage improvements
  • Environmental improvements
  • Highway improvements
  • Hard landscaping
  • Construction of above and below ground structures
  • Drainage works.

  1. Major and complex works

These typically involve large one-off projects with a value over £500,000. Such civil engineering tenders often cover works such as:

  • Public buildings
  • Bridges
  • Coastal defences
  • Infrastructures such as drainage and flood defences.

RIBA planning and outline

Civil engineering tenders may require you to provide a RIBA Plan of Work outline for a certain stage. For example, this may be required for civil engineering tenders for new housing. This could include but isn’t limited to:

  • A detailed design of the work
  • Technical approvals
  • The main contract bid compliance checking
  • Works compliance and design checking
  • Design risk assessment
  • Full technical design and specification
  • Obtaining technical approval
  • Provision Sums for meetings
  • Project brief table
  • Health and safety.

Framework agreements

Civil engineering tenders can often be found as part of a framework agreement. Framework agreements are multi-supplier agreements often used within the public sector. The length of each framework agreement can vary from a few months to multiple years. Some even offer the possibility of extension. Due to this, securing a place on a framework agreement can be a lucrative opportunity for your business.

Framework agreements are split into different lots. Each lot can either be a specific good, service, work or geographical location. They allow suppliers to apply to be part of a wider contract without needing to supply all areas. The number of suppliers for each lot varies and can be anything from four suppliers for one lot to ten. Suppliers need only apply for the specific lot[s] they specialise in.

Depending on the buyer, suppliers may be able to bid on any or all of the framework lots available. This will be stated within the tender documents and tender specification released by the buyer. If this is an option, a supplier must be able to demonstrate that they’re able to undertake all works. They must have the appropriate capacity and resources to undertake the works across all selected lots. Civil engineering tender lots are typically split into geographical location and project value.

Past experience

Civil engineering tenders will likely require you to provide previous contract examples of work you have completed. They should be similar in complexity and scope and style. You may be asked for up to three examples within the last five years. They are often referred to as case studies and can strengthen your bid. Make sure you keep them relevant and include any challenges you overcame.

The contract will be awarded to the MEAT

As civil engineering tenders are frequent within the public sector, you should aim to be the MEAT. The MEAT stands for the most economically advantageous tender. This means the buyer is looking for a tender that provides the most value for money. A buyer will look at a combination of factors both individually and combined. These can include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

  • Innovation
  • Accessibility
  • Ability to deliver on time and within budget
  • Technical ability
  • Quality
  • Environmental and sustainable factors.

Social value

Local authorities civil engineering tenders now have a mandatory minimum 10% weighting on social value. It’s an important aspect of any public sector contract. The promises you make in the section can be contractually binding, so it’s not something you should gloss over. Social value is the social, environmental and economic aspects you plan to address during the contract. This could include:

  • COVID-19 recovery
  • Reducing waste
  • Creating new jobs and promoting skills
  • Tackling climate change and reducing carbon emissions
  • Paying employee National Living Wage to tackle economic inequality
  • The equal opportunities policies you implement.

 Company CVs

Construction contracts in the UK may require you to include detailed CVs of the team members proposed to work on the project. Contractors like to see that your employees are qualified, and you should demonstrate their suitability for the project at hand. Each CV should detail what the specific team member will be responsible for. You could include their:

  • Job title
  • Qualifications and accreditations
  • Experience.

You could include a professional and friendly-looking photo of each team member. This will allow buyers to put a face to a name and is a nice touch. CVs should be focused, as relevant and concise as possible while still being thorough.

Need assistance writing your next civil engineering tenders?

You may not always have the time or resources to write winning civil engineering tenders. If that’s the case, outsourcing it to bid writing specialists can help you secure your next bid.

Our sister company Hudson Succeed, are bid writing experts. They have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate.

They offer four bid writing support services that can help you win your next civil engineering tenders. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or need your bid response proofread before you submit – they can help.

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect civil engineering tender for your business, why not send it over to us? Our Bid Writers can take care of it all for you. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is perfect for those who have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to make sure you have everything you need in place to tender successfully. The 4-week programme offers your business:

  • A 12-month subscription to Construction Tenders
  • Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding professionals
  • An organisation-wide Bid Library, including 3 case studies, 5 CV’s and 8 policies
  • Additional flexible benefit options.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing the results you want, our Tender Improvement package can help. The Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents, working with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to Construction Tenders and additional tendering development services.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need someone to double-check it for errors, Tender Mentor can help. Our Bid Team will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They’ll also ensure that it’s in line with the specification before you submit.

Where can I source civil engineering tender opportunities?

Sourcing the right civil engineering tenders for your business can take hours out of your day. There are various portals and websites that require different login details and passwords. Keeping track of them all can turn into a full-time job! We have a time-saving tool that can optimise your tendering efforts allowing you time to focus on your business.

Construction Tenders is a portal that hosts all the live construction leads and tendering opportunities within the construction industry. Gone are the days of relying on inaccurate CPV codes! Our Opportunity Trackers source and upload exclusive, public and private sector opportunities from across the UK. You’re able to filter and search the results by keyword, budget, location and more.

Below are previous civil engineering tenders sourced on our portal:

Civil Engineering Enabling Works at Holborn, South Shields – to Include Extensive Maritime and Geotechnical Elements

South Tyneside Council- North East- Budget: Undisclosed

Civil Engineering Works Associated with Water Supply to Group Water Schemes Including Minor Environmental Works in County Donegal

Donegal County Council- Republic of Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

HCD0118 SC Engineering Services – HCD 0118 Provision of Structural & Civil Engineering Services

Donegal County Council- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Highways & Civil Engineering Materials

Newcastle City Council- North East- budget: Undisclosed

Minor Civil Engineering work for Warwick District

Coventry Council- Solihull – Warwickshire- West Midlands- Budget: £4,000,000

A subscription to Construction Tenders offers your business:

  • Access to all unique, private and public sector opportunities across the Construction industry.
  • An on-hand Account Manager to answer any questions you may have about civil engineering tenders.
  • A daily email bulletin sent straight to your inbox when new construction tenders are uploaded that day.
  • Discounted support from Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division.

The best way to venture into the tendering world is through booking a live demo of Construction Tenders.

We also source opportunities for services including;

Get in touch to find out how we can help your business grow.

Upgrade to Discover Elite

Upgrading to Discover Elite can save you even more time, helping you identify tendering opportunities even when you’re busy. Our two time-saving tools can improve your competitor awareness and bidding success rate. Each package can help save you even more time when searching for civil engineering tenders.

The Ultimate Time Saver package includes:

  • An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option best suits a business that overlaps two industries such as Construction and Logistics for example.
  • A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
  • Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
  • Buyer portal management including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid.
  • Weekly phone calls with your on-hand Account Manager to discuss viable civil engineering tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package includes:

  • All of the above.
  • Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
  • A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business.

The Fundamentals of Building Material Supply Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

Building material supply tenders and the impact of Brexit and COVID-19

Building material supply tenders are essential for any construction project be it in either the public or private sectors.

Building material supply tenders may be looking to procure a range of materials such as:

  • Heavy materials
  • Bricks, block, stone, cement
  • Electrical products
  • Flooring
  • Hire and purchase of plant, tools and equipment
  • Plumbing and heating
  • Building and construction tools and equipment.

Brexit and COVID-19 have had quite an impact on the construction industry, particularly regarding building material supplies. There has been a shortage of supplies of roof tiles and timber. This is due to high demand caused by a boom in the housing market and delays at some British ports. Timber prices have risen by 20% as a consequence and there have been escalated prices for shipping disrupting supply chains.

PAS91

Before you submit your building material supply tenders, you’ll often need to complete a PAS91. A PAS91 is a standardised form of pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) frequently used within construction. You’ll need to pass this in order to progress to the next stage of receiving an invitation to tender (ITT).

A PAS91 is essentially a box ticking exercise to ensure you meet the minimum criteria for the contract. You’ll need to answer questions on things such as:

  • Company information
  • Your economic and financial standing
  • Quality Assurance
  • Health & Safety
  • Environmental considerations
  • Equal opportunities & Diversity

If you’re an SME, the PAS91 is designed with you in mind, aiming to simplify and streamline the process. This is to encourage more SMEs to tender for work in the hope of achieving the government’s pledge towards SMEs. They aim to spend £1 in £3 with SMEs, meaning they’re actively looking to award contracts to smaller businesses.

Framework agreements

Framework agreements are a common form of procurement for building material supply tenders. They are used to establish a multi-supplier agreement for goods or services. Framework agreements often run for multiple years at a time and can be lucrative opportunities for your business.

Buyers often split framework agreements into ‘Lots’. These Lots means a supplier doesn’t have to deliver the whole contract. They need only apply to the area in which they specialise. For example, building material supply tenders framework agreement could have Lots for the following:

  • Lot 1 – Electrical Products
  • Lot 2 – Heavy Materials
  • Lot 3 – Timber and Joinery
  • Lot 4 – Small Tool Hire
  • Lot 5 – Paint and Solvents

Lots could also cover regional location if the project is to be carried out in multiple locations. For example:

  • Lot 1 – Birmingham
  • Lot 2 – Newcastle
  • Lot 3 – Cardiff

You can often tender for one or multiple Lots, depending on the services your organisation offers. You also need to consider if you have the resources in order to carry out multiple services and locations.

Sustainability

Building material supply tenders within the public sector will often have a section on sustainability. You may have to detail how your business will manage the following:

  • Environmental Management

An accredited ISO 14001 or equivalent will be needed here. You’ll need to state what your Environment Management System is. You’ll need to explain how it controls and mitigates the environmental impact of operations.

  • Government Buying Standards

When applying for a government framework agreement within construction, you’ll need to demonstrate how you comply with government standards. You will need to supply evidence of compliance if requested. Your business should provide products that meet Government Buying Standards best practice specifications wherever possible.

The Government Buying Standards are updated every now and again. It’s important that you keep up to date with any changes to ensure you meet the requirements. It’s worth noting that all timber or timber related products must comply with the United Kingdom Government Timber Procurement Policy. They must be purchased from legal and sustainable sources and demonstrate this by fall chain of custody evidence.

  • Sustainable Product Offering

When possible, businesses should look to use materials and products that are from recycled and renewable sources. Government building material supply tenders will be looking for suppliers who are pursuing general sustainability and good practice.

Generally speaking, a business should seek to provide sustainable product alternatives within their Base Offering where possible. Buyers will appreciate when a business indicates there’s alternative goods that’ll provide greater sustainable benefits over the goods lifetime.

  • Waste

You must comply against all relevant waste legislations, keeping an eye on any updates, amendments or changes. If anything does change throughout the life of the contract, you must update your policies. Most building material supply tenders will require the insurance that waste is taken to authorised sites for treatment or disposal. Your business will then be expected to undertake regular checks to ensure that it’s disposed of properly.

  • Giving back to the local community

The sustainability sector within your tender should focus on social values. As with all public sector tenders, it’s important to demonstrate how you will be giving back to the community. You must consider the social, economic and environmental aspects while fulfilling the contract.

Depending on the buyer, you may be asked how your business is working to deliver rehabilitation work, for example. The government wants to see more prisoners working as part of the rehabilitation of offenders. It’s worth considering how your business would provide the opportunity to learn new skills and prepare for employment on release.

  • Supply chain

Even if you are an SME yourself, the public sector likes to see the inclusion of other SMEs where possible. Your construction bids may need to evidence the use or increase the use of any SMEs within your supply chain. This could be measured through Management Information or when detailing any sub-contractors in your building material supply tender response.

How we can help you win building material supply tenders

Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, are experts in bid writing. They have 60 years bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. If you’re not seeing success from your tendering efforts or are completely new to the process – we can help!

We offer four bid writing services that can help you with your next construction contract. 

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own building material supply tenders and want someone to double-check for errors, Tender Mentor can help. One of our Bid Writers will proofread your response and point out any grammar mistakes. This allows you to submit an error-free tender response.

Tender Improvement

Our Tender Improvement package is for those who are already tendering but aren’t seeing the desired results. During the course of the programme, our Bid Writers will go over your supporting documents and previous submissions. They’ll provide you with feedback and work with you to create improved content. This will help improve your chances of winning your next tender.

Tender Ready

Tender Ready is a programme designed for those who are completely new to tendering and procurement. This programme works with you to ensure you’re on the right track to tender successfully.

Tender Writing

Have you found a building material supply tender you want to go for, but don’t know where to start? Why not send it over to us and our Bid Writers will write the response for you. They’ll let you know what they need from you and give you a full Tender Writing breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf!

You now know what to expect from building material supply tenders and know how to write one. You may be wondering where exactly you can find them?

Our Construction Tenders portal can help

Construction Tenders is an opportunity tracking platform where we source all construction leads from across the UK. Our Opportunity Trackers source live tenders from thousands of sites, saving you countless hours.

A subscription with Construction Tenders offers you:

  • Access to all unique, public and private sector opportunities in the UK.
  • No reliance on CPV codes, allowing you access to 100% of building material supply tenders.
  • The ability to filter results by keyword, budget, location and more.
  • A dedicated on-hand Account Manager to answer any questions or queries you may have about the tendering process.
  • Discounted bid writing support from Hudson Succeed.
  • 20-minutes free consultancy every month with our bid experts.

Here are just a few examples of building material supply tenders we source:

All Wales Framework: Managed Service for the provision of Building Materials and associated products

Adra (Tai) Cyf – Wales- Budget: £500,000,000

23-09-2020 

BTS Building Materials Contingency Supply requirement 2

Luton Council- Eastern- Budget: £560,000

13-11-2020

Building Materials

NEPO- North East- Budget: Undisclosed

06-01-2020

ITT for the Supply of Building Materials

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing- North West- Budget: Undisclosed

05-02-2021

Newport City Homes Building Materials Supply

Newport City Homes Limited- Wales- Budget: Undisclosed

14-12-2020

Procurement Hub Building Materials Framework

Places for People Group Limited- North West- Budget: £200,000,000

03-08-2020

Supply and Delivery of Building Materials and Aggregates

UK Power Networks Ltd- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

25-03-2020

Book a Demo with Construction Tenders

The best way to venture into the tendering world is through booking a live demo of Construction Tenders.

At Construction Tenders, we source construction leads and opportunities for;

Get in touch to find out how we can help your business grow.

A Guide to Finding the Best Construction Bid Sites

Posted on by John Hudson

How to Choose the Best Construction Bid Site for Your Business 

Using the best construction bid sites is a vital step in finding relevant tenders and growing your business.

You might be wondering, what is tendering? And why is it important to the construction sector? You’re not alone – many construction businesses miss out on construction leads simply by not utilising the tendering process. In short, tendering is the most common way in which a buyer finds the most appropriate supplier for goods or services. Including tendering in your business strategy allows you to secure contracts from buyers you may never have connected with otherwise. This is invaluable when it comes to growing your business sustainably.

If you’re new to tendering, finding the best construction bid site can seem like a daunting task. What exactly should you be looking out for, anyway? When you search ‘best construction bid sites’ in Google, the results can be overwhelming. Plenty of sites will provide you with reams of opportunities from countless buyers. Job done! Right? Not quite.

You’ll often find yourself wading through tenders with requirements that don’t suit your business in the slightest. Finding a construction bid site with tenders that are specific to your business can become a stressful and fruitless process. Unless you know exactly where to look!

What to Look for In Construction Bid Sites?

What should you be looking out for to find the best construction bid site for your business? We’ve created a quick and comprehensive guide so you can rest assured that you’re looking in the right place: 

Here are the top 7 things you should look for to find the best construction bid site and secure relevant contracts:

  1. The portal doesn’t rely on CPVs.

There’s a fundamental problem with the way most construction bid sites source tenders for businesses – CPV codes.

CPV stands for Common Procurement Vocabulary. A CPV code is an 8-digit code which allows buyers to classify what they are procuring in a succinct way. In theory, suppliers should be able to use CPV codes to source perfect business opportunities quickly and effectively.

Sound too easy to you? You’re right. In practice, this doesn’t happen.

Studies show that close to 30% of CPV codes are tagged inaccurately. It’s easy to make a mistake when tagging a tender with a complex 8-digit code. Many buyers also don’t understand the requirements of CPV codes and so they use them incorrectly, or not at all.

So, what does this mean for your business? Well, this is particularly harmful in a sector as varied as construction with such a broad range of sub-sectors. On most construction bid sites, clients are not finding all of the tenders that are relevant to their specific services. Even if you’re searching via relevant CPV codes, you’re missing out on countless contracts that could grow your business.

For example, imagine an Architecture firm registers to a portal that tracks tenders via CPV codes. To use the portal effectively, the firm would need someone in their team with a comprehensive understanding of CPV codes. Even then, up to 30% of the results they come across could be tagged incorrectly. They could end up trawling through tenders for contracts such as the supply of bedding plants or website development services. Obviously, these tenders would be completely irrelevant to the Architecture firm’s services. This ultimately defeats the purpose of a tracking portal which should save you time when sourcing new business opportunities.

  1. The portal uses manual tracking.

The best way around the shortfalls of CPV codes? Manual keyword tracking.

At Construction Tenders, we don’t rely on CPV codes to source tenders for our clients. Instead, our dedicated team of Opportunity Trackers manually search thousands of sources every day. They read the requirements of every buyer and manually tag each tender with the correct industry-driven keywords. This avoids the problem of sub-sectors being mislabelled with the wrong CPV code. It also eliminates the need for someone in your firm to comprehensively understand CPV codes. We handle all of that for you.

When you sign up to Construction Tenders, you can simply enter the keywords that best describe your services. Search these keywords and you’ll be able to access relevant opportunities instantly. It’s that easy. Every tender you see on our portal is manually tracked, and therefore relevant to the services you offer. No exceptions.

Ultimately, our manual tracking saves you countless hours of searching through irrelevant tenders and gives you instant results.

  1. The system focuses on your industry.

Most bid sites source tenders for all industries so there’s always a high chance of seeing irrelevant opportunities. You could find plenty of tenders for video production, but this is no good if you’re a roofer.

With Construction Tenders, every opportunity is sector-specific. Our focused approach is the most effective way to provide you with relevant tenders.

Our Opportunity Trackers source specific opportunities for a range sub-sectors, including:

  • Refurbishment
  • Building Works
  • Civil Engineering
  • Surveying
  • Demolition
  • Masonry, and many more.

  1. It allows for remote working in teams.

Remote working has changed the way businesses operate in a lot of ways. Tendering remotely is a lot easier when you have access to a portal which allows you to work in teams.

We’ve designed our tendering portal specifically to make remote working easier. Our portal allows you to give multiple colleagues access to your business account. Each colleague can then assign tasks and add tenders to their favourites page.

  1. You’re supported by an account manager.

If your business is new to tendering, we understand that you might need some extra support. With the right support, scouring the web for the best construction bids becomes a much less daunting task.

Via access to an account manager, you will always have on-hand advice and guidance to help you find relevant opportunities. You might waste time applying for a tender that isn’t right for you or that you’re unable to carry out. You might miss opportunities that are perfect for your business by questioning your ability to win a bid. This can all form a stressful process.

But it doesn’t have to be.

With our Construction Tenders portal, you will be assigned a dedicated account manager throughout your subscription. It’s their job to answer any questions you might have, regarding tendering, while using the portal.

An account manager will support you in a range of ways;

  • Maximising the way you use our tendering portal;
  • Advice around tendering and procurement;
  • Connecting you to other Hudson support services;
  • Queries around a bid that you require support with;
  • Alerting you when exclusive opportunities are published that are perfect for your business, and;
  • Ensuring you receive an email alert when new, relevant tenders, are uploaded.

Clients can always contact their dedicated account manager by phone or email, at any time throughout their subscription. This means you’ll always have a solid understanding of where you stand throughout the tendering process.

  1. You have access to virtual learning.

Great! You’ve found the best construction bid site and, consequently, the perfect contract to bolster your business. You now see that the buyer has asked for a technical and in-depth response. Bids can sometimes require over 10,000 word responses with stringent requirements. Even if you have time to do this – which, let’s be honest, who does? – can you show why you’re irrefutably the best business for the job? Do you know how to write a winning bid?

If not, don’t worry. We’ve created Tender VLE specifically to eliminate the confusion around tendering and procurement. Tender VLE is a free service which gives your business expert advice on the ins and outs of tendering. Through video masterclasses, fact sheets, blogs and templates, you’ll learn how to create a winning tender and secure the best contracts.

  1. You can outsource bid writing if needed.

Some people just aren’t natural-born writers. A good bid writer can transform the way buyers view your business – and give you exponential results.

We have developed Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division, to carry our clients through the bidding process every step of the way. Our team are exceptional Bid Writers who assist businesses in multiple sectors to write compelling and technical narratives. With the help of Hudson Succeed, countless construction sector companies have grown their businesses effectively. The team holds an 87% bid success rate and are trusted by over 700 businesses, globally.

How do I get started?

If you’re looking to secure construction contracts UK, Construction Tenders can save you countless time and money that you’d spend manually searching. You’ll instead gain new business opportunities that are specifically relevant to you. Unlike other construction bid sites, we’ve humanised tendering at every level – from manual tracking to account management. This high level of attention to detail secures the best results for your business.

You will receive daily alerts when tenders are released for services in your sector as well as 24-hour access to our Construction Tenders portal. Book a free live demo of the portal today and see how the portal can help your business grow with construction leads. You’ll see all of the current opportunities available and understand how the system will work for your business.

Below are previous construction bids sourced on our portal:

Fender Pile Replacement Works

Fenland District Council- Eastern- Budget: £90,000

Dunnikier Business Units, Kirkcaldy – Steelworks, Roof and Wall Cladding Works Package

Fife Council- Scotland- Budget: Undisclosed

Communal Floor Replacement

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council- Eastern- Budget: Undisclosed

Asbestos Removal Services

Yorkshire and Humber Police Procurement (Y&HPP)- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: £1,500,000

Roofing Repairs (Framework)

Nottingham City Council- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

We source tenders for services including:

Local Road Maintenance Contracts – £100million invested into local roads

Posted on by John Hudson

Local Road Maintenance Contracts – could your business benefit?

Local road maintenance contracts are expected to be announced as the government announces a prolonged £100 million investment into local road conditions.

“As the country begins the recovery from COVID-19, we need to get on the front foot and invest in infrastructure in every region to reignite the economy, helping better connect people with opportunities in the future.  

“By investing £100 million in local roads and reaffirming our commitment to better connecting communities, we are not just talking about levelling up – but making it happen.” – Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary.

The projects

A total of 29 projects will benefit from the investment. These projects will range from fixing deteriorating road surfaces to flood mitigation works and bridge repairs. The aim of the projects is to make a long-lasting improvement to the quality of local highways throughout the UK.

High-quality road surfaces lie at the heart of the public’s ability to travel for both work and leisure. By making these improvements, the aim is to encourage the economic boost needed to help the UK recover from the COVID pandemic.

The listed projects include some of the UK’s most important A-roads, stretching from the A58 in Bolton to the A38 in Somerset.

You can expect to see local road maintenance contracts for;

  • The repair of two bridges in Sandwell;
  • Key routes in Liverpool;
  • Swanswell Viaduct;
  • Tadcaster Road, York;
  • Footpaths in Sheffield
  • And the A15.

Where can you find local road maintenance contracts?

Don’t worry about keeping track of hundreds of sites, waiting for contracts to be announced. Our team at Construction Tenders do this daily. They manually search through thousands of sources to ensure you never miss construction leads. Once they have identified new tenders, they are uploaded to our dedicated portal and tagged with industry-driven keywords. This means that you can simply log into the portal, select the keywords with relevance to your business and instantly find new construction contracts in the UK. Not only that, you can also use the location filter to easily find the most recent contract opportunities in your area.

Don’t have time to log in? We’ll send you an email alert each time a relevant opportunity is uploaded to our system.

Below are previous local road maintenance contracts sourced on our portal:

Mini competition – A6 Chorley Road Junction

Salford City Council- North West- Budget: Undisclosed

Installation of new pop-up Cycle Paths within Hull City Centre – Expression of Interest

Hull City Council- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: Undisclosed

GB-Braintree: Cemetery Embankment Works

Braintree District Council- Eastern- Budget: £100,000

Road Recycling Works Within the Municipal District of Athlone and Moate

Westmeath County Council- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Area 10 M65 Junction 2 Safety Scheme GPR, Trial Pits, Asbestos and Lighting

Highways England- North West- Budget: £25,000

We offer a free live demo of our portal. The demo allows you to access the system, tour the functionality and understand how the portal can help your business.

Book a free demo

We source construction leads  for services including;

Need support responding to tenders?

Our team at sister company, Hudson Succeed, have vast experience with construction bids. They offer five dedicated services to ensure that businesses of all sizes have an equal chance at seeing success from their tendering efforts.

The team proudly hold an 87% bid success rate and they support over 700 businesses, globally. Get in touch to speak to a consultant today about construction contracts.

Building Maintenance Contracts for Tender

Posted on by John Hudson

Building Maintenance Contracts for Tender

There’s a sure-fire chance that if you live, work or own a building of some kind that it will need maintenance to some degree, regardless of whether your building is an old property in need of a major refurbishment or a brand-new build.

Fortunately, the public sector does too – leading to thousands of building maintenance contracts for tender going live each day. This is where you come in.

So, what can we do?

Typical building maintenance contracts for tender will cover, say, a council’s domestic or commercial properties. Both come with their own unique considerations, which are more than likely going to be reflected across the tender questions.

Councils may put out to tender for the likes of:

Not all public sector buyers are the same

Public sector procurement may follow the same guidelines – namely the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 – however buyers differ, and as such there can be a massive variety of contracts to choose from. Buyers can break different maintenance trades down into individual contracts and tenders or as large, overarching contracts or frameworks.

Larger contracts, usually covering many trades are typically released as frameworks, hereby a proportion of the top scoring tenders will be added to the buyer’s approved suppliers list. Thereafter, they are contacted on a call-off basis, where the top scorer is called first, the second called afterwards and so on.

Larger opportunities

Some larger contracts may be split into lots, in which you can bid for the separate services under the same contract. This is often great news for smaller firms or those who simply wish to cherry pick the services they wish to deliver – as such, you could opt to deliver gas servicing and painting and decorating for a local council as part of a much larger maintenance package.

Make sure it’s worth bidding for

Once you’ve found an opportunity that you’re interested in, it’s time to make a bid/no bid decision. Important things to consider when you’re interested in a bidding maintenance contract for tender is whether you:

  1. Meet the minimum financial criteria and stability to bid
  2. Can feasibly deliver the maintenance across the geographical area
  3. Satisfy any other minimum eligibility criteria

Sometimes, buyers will require as a minimum, certain accreditations to be held by yourselves or your subcontractors to be eligible to bid – this has included the likes of GasSafe, NICEIC and even ISO accreditations, such as ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015.

Building construction contracts for tender

Most tenders in the construction industry will name the form of contract under which you will operate within the tender documentation. Hitting the ‘control’ and ‘f’ keys will help you to discover which one will most likely be used.

Upon successfully tendering for a building construction contract, you will have to sign it and adhere to it. It’s important therefore to have a working knowledge of the types of contract you may have to undertake.

Contract notices

A contract notice provides information about building construction contracts for tender. In short, this is an advertisement for current tenders and therefore upcoming contracts. These are published on OJEU, and you can utilise the Government’s Contracts Finder tool to search for building construction contracts for tender. This is one of hundreds of websites where notices are published. Details often include:

  • Type of contract
  • Approximate/estimated value
  • Contract duration
  • Any lot-specific information.

Similarly, a prior information notice (PIN) flags up any upcoming procurement runs. PINs let potential bidders know that they can expect the release of a tender typically within the coming 12 months. This process is optional – it merely serves to accelerate the tender timetables, as bidders have had advance notice of a tender’s release.

It’s worth keeping an eye on contract notices and PINs so that you can be sure you’re ready for when desirable building construction contracts for tender are released.

Standard forms of contract

Everyone knows a contract sets out the relationship and expectations between two parties. Critically, building construction contracts for tender outline the allocation of risk and price. Contracts will make the most sense when read alongside certain tender documents such as terms and conditions, and/or the specification.

We have listed here the most popular building construction contracts for tender within the UK:

  • JCT (The Joint Contracts Tribunal)

JCT forms of contract are the most commonly found within the sector. It is a limited company which produces contracts and other supporting documentation, such as sub-contracts and forms of tender. JCT contracts cover the construction of all buildings, including but not limited to:

  • Standard and intermediate building contracts
  • Minor and major works contracts
  • Design and build contracts.

  • Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)

The CIOB developed the Complex Projects Contract in 2013, but it was renamed to the Time and Cost Management Contract in 2015. Its primary aim is to organise time management in complex construction and engineering projects. Buyers may use this contract because it caters for BIM. This contract form entails close collaboration between multiple parties involved in the project. This is because of the contract’s aim to mitigate time and cost risk. Ultimately, this contract pushes for early completions of complex projects.

  • FIDIC (Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseil)

This is a membership organisation with a suite of contracts at its disposal for works in:

  • Construction
  • Design and build
  • Turnkey projects.

The organisation’s primary aim is to promote the strategic goals of the construction industry. The contract forms here are internationally recognised, as you may have guessed from the French name.

  • NEC (The New Engineering Contract)

NEC4, the latest version of the NEC suite of contracts, became available in June 2017. NEC contracts have been available for over 20 years, and thus NEC4 is the culmination of feedback from the use of the contracts in practice. The NEC4 contract aims to streamline:

  • Contract administration
  • Risk management
  • Key terminology.

There are various changes between the NEC3 and the NEC4 contracts. These changes all have the purpose of promoting and facilitating collaboration between all parties.

There will be other forms of building construction contracts for tender, but these are far less commonly used.

Bespoke contracts

Some companies, usually private sector organisations, will use bespoke contracts which are written specifically for the project at hand. These are riskier than signing standard forms of contract and tend not to cover as many eventualities. As the contractor, you normally have little choice about the contract you sign. As such, it’s worth considering which formats of building construction contracts for tender you are willing to bid for.

CIC BIM Protocol

CIC BIM Protocol is an additional legal agreement that can be added to construction contracts, suitable for all Level 2 BIM projects. Its main purpose is to establish obligations, limitations and liabilities which support Level 2 BIM construction projects.

Components

But which documents might these types of contracts contain? Possibly all, or a combination of, the following:

  • Article of agreement and conditions of contract (what needs completing)
  • Drawings
  • Bills of quantities
  • Schedules of work
  • Specification(s)
  • Adjustments schedule (any changes agreed following the tender process)
  • An information release schedule
  • A model enabling amendment and/or BIM protocol (for BIM projects).

So, we can bid – what now?

Tender exercises of this nature will either follow the open or closed procedure. The former allows you to jump straight into the tender questions, often submitted with a pricing schedule and a selection questionnaire.

The latter however follows a strict two-stage process, in which potential bidders are vetted through a pre-qualification or selection questionnaire, which evaluates you on a basis of what you have done previously that is relevant to the contract you’re bidding for.

These are usually marked as pass/fail, rather than the scoring system in the latter invitation to tender (ITT) exercise.

The PAS-91

Being an area of construction, it’s entirely possible that the pre-qualification stage for a maintenance contract could entail the completion of a PAS-91, or “Publicly Available Specification 91”. These are becoming increasingly common in the construction sector, working as standardised, elongated PQQ.

The workloads associated with completing PAS-91s will vary depending on the accreditations you hold, which in turn will exempt you from completing certain sections. Should you be fortunate to hold Constructionline – particularly gold level – you should be in good stead to avoid most sections. See our lowdown on PAS-91s here.

The ITT exercise

Should you pass the selection questionnaire stage, it’s now a matter of explaining and selling your approach to delivering maintenance across the building(s) the client requires. As is standard practice for writing any bid, first make sure you have:

  • Read the specification, and as such understand what the client needs you to deliver on
  • Broken down each question and cross-referenced these with the specification
  • Have the time and resources to complete the questions fully.

The specification is often a good idea as to what the client is looking for in each response, and as such it’s worth breaking down your responses to cover the relevant information in the specification to cover as many marks as possible.

Themes and why…

Not only that, but the specification – and indeed the question sets – is a great way to break down the theme of a bid. The ‘theme’ of a bid, in this case, hints to certain areas where buyers may have had issues in the past. As such may award or prefer tenders that reference this point – we’re all human after all. Simple giveaways of themes can include:

  • Multiple questions regarding a specific subject (e.g. out of hours service)
  • Disproportionate weighting to certain sections
  • Extensive coverage in the specification.

By ascertaining the theme of the bid, you can then start to identify how you can appeal to the buyer’s needs and create a positive impression – a happy evaluator is likely to be a more generous one.

You should consider:

  • Method statements

Most buyers will want to understand your approach to delivering your services and their requirements. As such, you may have to respond to questions asking about:

  • Your proposed resourcing – qualifications, experience and training of staff
  • Your proposed approach and how this complies with the specification and/or industry regulations
  • Mobilisation – how you intend to ensure that the contract is ready to commence on the buyer’s stipulated date
  • How you comply with certain legislation/regulations
  • Quality assurance – such as minimising defects
  • How you minimise environmental impacts
  • Health and safety and/or risk management
  • Social value – how you can contribute to the social and economic wellbeing of the local community.

As part of these method statements, you may be asked to (or choose to) submit supporting documentation. This could be policies, procedures, accreditations, or CVs for your staff members. If there is a question about resources, it’s possible you’ll also have to attach copies of staff’s qualifications/certifications to prove their competency.

Tender documentation may often state the importance of the claims you make in your method statements. Some or all of the content could be inserted into the contract and therefore form legally binding commitments. It’s important to bear this in mind when creating your responses. However, this shouldn’t mean that you scrimp on demonstrating your ability to provide added value and deliver the services.

  • A pricing schedule

You will have to complete a pricing schedule as part of your tender response. Make sure you price your services competitively without making a loss.

Those releasing building construction contracts for tender will be similar to other public procurement buyers. Organisations could include:

  • Councils
  • Housing associations
  • NHS Trusts or CCGs.

Most buyers will have preferred contract forms – so for example, Durham County Council may only use NEC4 contracts. It might be worth considering which contract forms buyers use and bid for those with which you already have experience where possible.

Managing your resources

For any construction contract – there is a very high chance a buyer is going to want to you to demonstrate how you manage your resources. Questions can vary and can cover the likes of:

  • Staff allocation
  • Managing planned preventative maintenance schedules
  • Contract delivery teams
  • Resources and managing across the local area.

It’s best here, if you have one, to talk about any workflow management software you may have, which allows you to allocate staff based on certain criteria, such as proximity and skillset. Always consider also how you prioritise certain jobs, and the policies and procedures in place to ensure continuity in the event of peaks and troughs in workload.

Buyers will be looking for organisations who can demonstrate their ability to allocate resources effectively and efficiently, with the systems in place to manage multiple properties (in the case of social housing contracts), across difficult geography.

Health and safety

You are likely to score higher marks with formally recognised health and safety accreditations or management systems, for example, ISO 45001:2018, OHSAS 18001:2007, CHAS or SafeContractor. A formally recognised body will instil confidence in a buyer, and as such lead to higher marks.

Regardless, you are often required to answer health and safety questions regarding the likes of:

  • Operative health and safety competency and training
  • Risk assessments, method statements and safe systems of work
  • Ensuring staff and resident/building user safety out of hours
  • Compliance with statutory requirements and legislation, and how this is maintained.

Health and safety responses follow best practice, and as such reference to ISO 45001:2018 standards, for example, will be a good place to start. Areas of recent interest, especially following the introduction of the said ISO include considering employee mental health and a culture of behavioural health and safety across an organisation – not just a top-down approach.

Staff competence

Buyers, naturally, will want reassurance that the engineers conducting PPM for their gas boilers, for example, are being serviced by competent staff, recognised and registered with appropriate bodies, such as GasSafe. As such, training and competence questions may ask how your organisation:

  • Monitors and records staff training and accreditations
  • Ensures compliance with the latest legislation and best practice
  • Promotes staff retention and development.

Appointment process

Another area of consideration may be your approach to managing appointments. This could easily link to questions regarding resource management, with typical question areas including:

  • How do you monitor appointment times?
  • How do you mitigate no-access appointment?
  • How do we enable flexibility regarding appointments, around the needs of the customer?

The best approach here is to consider how you put the residents/building users in control of the appointment process, in a manner that is most convenient for them. Customer service is something that clients value, and even some statistics to back up your responses, such as customer satisfaction rates, will be good to put down here.

How can we help?

If you want to take out all of the hard work of sourcing building maintenance contracts for tender, why don’t you leave it to us by signing up to Construction Tenders.

Construction Tenders is your one-stop-shop for all your tendering needs. Updated by our opportunity trackers daily, the portal will allow you to filter down through the hundreds of tenders uploaded each day to identify the ones most relevant to your business, with refining fields from budget, to scope, to location.

Below are some building maintenance contracts sourced on our portal:

General Building Maintenance Work

Nottingham City Council- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

Building Maintenance and Cleaning Services

Herefordshire Council- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

Building Maintenance of Council Owned Buildings

Copeland Borough Council- North West- Budget: Undisclosed

Maintenance of Building Maintenance Units, Roof Top Safety and Fall Arrest Systems

Procurement and Logistics Service- Northern Ireland- Budget: Undisclosed

Provision of a General Building Maintenance Service

Northumbria Police- North East- Budget: £250,000

Get in Touch with Construction Tenders:

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Further Support

Alternatively, if you’ve found an opportunity already, why not check out our Tender Writing services, in which we can work with you and produce a winning submission from scratch. If you’ve already written your construction bid and would like a second pair of eyes, try our Tender Mentor service.

Contact us today to see how we can help you grow your business.