Course description

Contracts with councils, schools, housing associations and businesses can give a small firm or charity steady, planned work. Winning them takes more than good service: you need to find the right opportunities, decide which ones are worth the effort, and write a bid that answers exactly what the buyer asked. This course shows you how, step by step.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons. You follow the owner of a small commercial cleaning company in Middlesbrough through her first five months of bidding: she registers for alerts, keeps an opportunity log, loses her first school bid, studies the feedback, wins a business contract and then a three-year council contract. Every section has a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and ready-made templates, checklists and spreadsheet workbooks.

What you'll learn

• Finding and choosing work: where UK public contracts are advertised, setting up alerts, reading a notice, frameworks and lots, and a go/no-go score for every opportunity.
• Reading the tender pack: the specification, scoring and weightings, pass or fail requirements, clarification questions and a compliance matrix.
• Planning: a bid timetable, roles in a small bid team, win themes, answer plans and a content library you can reuse.
• Writing answers that score: answering the question asked, evidence rather than claims, word limits, plain English and case studies.
• Pricing: costing a service, overheads and margin, pricing schedules, contract terms, TUPE and risk.
• Social value and compliance: measurable social value, carbon and environment, health and safety, quality and the policies buyers ask for.
• Submitting and learning: reviews, final checks, portal submission, the standstill period and using feedback to win next time.

Who it's for

Owners and staff of small businesses, charities and social enterprises, and anyone starting out as a bid writer. No experience needed. It covers the Procurement Act 2023 rules for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with notes on Scotland. It ends with a final project: plan a bid in your own field, then write, review and score one full answer.

What will I learn?

• Find public and private contract opportunities and keep an opportunity log
• Decide whether to bid with a simple go/no-go score and a clear rule
• Read a tender pack, the specification and the scoring criteria, and spot every pass or fail requirement
• Plan a bid with a timetable, roles, win themes and an answer plan for every question
• Write answers that answer the question, give evidence and fit the word limit
• Cost a service, build a bid price and complete a pricing schedule
• Write social value, environmental, quality and health and safety answers buyers can score
• Review, submit and learn from every result, and build your own twelve-month bidding plan

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