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Grant bid writing tips

𝟭. Write at an 8th grade level. 𝟮. Delete half, delete again. 𝟯. Open with the outcome. 𝟰. Use bullets, not blocks. 𝟱. Make sentences short. 𝟲. Say it once, not twice. 𝟳. Bold key messages. 𝟴. Be clear, not clever. 𝟵. Cut all the jargon.

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P &A consulting Bid Writing workshop 11th July 2023

Notes on PA Consulting’s Tender Readiness Workshop The session was jointly run by 5 staff from PA consulting. The workshop touched on both bids and grants. It was split up into 3 break out sessions covering the following areas:
  • Networking with commissioners and funders
  • Finding Tenders and Gov Databases/Grants
  • Understanding the language. The group was split into 3 breakout rooms and the workshop leaders for the above 3 areas swapped round the groups – each 20 mins duration. Each workshop started with a scenario. Mix of SEs i.e., some start up and some grow its.
  • Networking with Commissioners and Funders
  • The scenario was an invite to a local NHS networking event locally and how you would prepare. There were several questions relating to this, and the group then discussed.
  • Some of the points raised:
  • Who do you talk to connect with? – those who are working in your ventures space.
  • Display a genuine interest and curiosity when meeting with commissioners/funders.
  • Build a relationship get to know them, what they do, the funding/commissioning priorities.
  • For some this process can seem daunting – support in building relationships.
  • Good to come out of our comfort zone – use notes and have clarity about your ventures purpose, what it does and how it does it (clarity on Purpose, values, and ToC – the elevator speech) why you do what you do.
  • Speak with authenticity, naturally, with passion about the social issue your venture is addressing. Towards the end of the session the workshop leaders asked if the SEs would use a hashtag for such events and this sort of got us sidetracked a little but was useful input from one of the SEs children on how to use hashtags and why they can be of value.
  • Finding Tenders/Gov Databases/Grants Initial discussion was about should it be a grant or a tender – so the whole moving from grant dependency to traded income. Because the SE audience was at mixed stages this was an interesting discussion and may again have confused a couple of people. Tender V Grant Opportunities to allow your organisation to profit from the purchase of your goods/services. Non-profit 2funding opportunities for projects
The session then covered how to access and register on:
  • Find a grant (https://www.find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/)
  • Contracts finder(https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder) – over £12K There were a couple of SEs from SWINI team and so they asked if the above applied in NI and Scotland and the leader was not sure, but they did find out and clarified that there are different funder/contract finder sites. Rest of session focused on registering and setting up filtered alerts appropriate to the ventures focus however both sites can sometimes send a lot of inappropriate leads, can confirm this to be the case so having clarity as to aims and objectives is helpful starting place. Some good tips: Keep copies of any grant/bid submissions you make because many will ask for the same basic and generic information especially the PQQs/ eligibility checks. Someone asked if it is better to bid for larger contracts as part of partnership/consortium ( I know that this is how some of the NHS and mental health contracts are now being run) – the answer was yes but that there does need to be someone to ensure consistency of responses if different organisations are coming together ( this did raise a few questions for me around working in partnerships and legal / informal working agreements) Somone else said that they are a very small SE and so would feel overwhelmed by some of the big contracts – many are broken down into lots, but suggestion was that to start with look for smaller more discreet contracts. Also, a question about feedback when you submit a bid and it was confirmed that most do.
3.Understanding the Language I found this the most difficult session to follow. It felt quite rushed and complicated. There was a lot of information but some of it was useful. Scenario was a copy of a bid specification for an NHS trust. Went through:
  • Difference between a restricted and open procedure – restricted means there is a 2-stage process with a PQQ.
  • Open means you go straight in to the bid.
  • Tenders often in Lots and so you need to look through which lots you want to bid for you do not need to bid for them all.
  • Note the closing date.
  • Will be done via a tender portal.
  • Important to look at tender timetable and he showed the example in the spec.
  • Make use of time to submit clarification questions but bear in mind these will be published to all bidding.
  • Read carefully the Instructions to Bidders – e.g. font size, ink colour etc – they do mark down if instructions are ignored.
  • Watch the word count – again mark down points.
  • Tender evaluation method will describe how they will assess the bids submitted, weightings points etc based on your submission. Not always lowest price/VFM.
  • Look at the grade label description to understand overall grading of bid submission links to feedback for future submissions.
  • Identify ‘WIN Themes’ – start form customer perspective and what matters to them…. How you plan to deliver ….. to do what?…so what…… Some questions asked about costs and main feedback was around not submitting artificially low costs – they will question this.
Jo 11/07/23

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Downloadable Resources

  • [BLF Report Responsive funding summary 1218](/funding/assets/BLF Report - Responsive_funding_summary_1218.xlsx) Excel
  • [UK Grant Funders List + Sales and Grants Tracker](/funding/assets/UK Grant Funders List + Sales and Grants Tracker.xlsx) Excel
  • [UK Grant Funders List](/funding/assets/UK Grant Funders List.xlsx) Excel