If you’re required to submit tenders you really should understand social value and it’s growing importance as part of any tender you submit.

We’re holding three workshops during November to help you understand social value, become tender ready and communicating impact. All sessions will be delivered by social value guru Claire Louise Chapman of The Shared Value Business Ltd.

4^th November – Introduction to social value – 9.30am to 11am – online

• Social Value legislation across the UK – what this is, where it came from and how it is being applied
• Procurement Policy Notes – commissioners in scope of legislation, and those out of scope (and why they might be doing it anyway)
• The Social Value Model – the methodology being used to procure for social value
• How other Social Value metrics are being applied
• 121 Surgery following the presentation: Six pre-bookable 15min 121 surgeries for attendees who want guidance on live documents they may be currently working with, or to discuss existing or planned strategy, metrics and/or reporting.

11^th November – Becoming Tender Ready: Doing Business with Public Sector – 9.30am to 12.30pm – online

• Why public sector uses tendering as a tool to purchase goods and services, i.e. the requirement for transparency and equity of access to opportunity
• Challenges for very small and start-up businesses in accessing tender opportunities, for example turnover, financial history, references, insurances
• How public sector ‘buys’ small value contracts outside tendering processes, for example Request For Quote, Approved Supplier Lists and Dynamic Purchasing Systems
• How to build relationships to enable access to these less formal, lower value contracts as part of a growth strategy
• Where public sector advertises opportunities and how to register on a tender portal and set up alerts (practical example)
• Practical examples of Request For Quote opportunities
• How to register on a Dynamic Purchasing System (using a practical example)
• Understanding Tender Documentation – discussing Pre-Qualification Questionnaire content
• Understanding Tender Documentation – discussing the structure and content of a Tender document, recognizing critical PASS/FAIL elements and evaluation scoring
• Identifying key actions to become tender ready, for example the creation of policy documentation and/or required accreditations.

25^th November – Communicating Impact: Designing a High Impact Response in Bids and Tenders – 9.30am to 12.30pm – online

• Provision of a clear process to ensure clarity of structure and relevance of responses. Use of bid examples throughout to ensure this is a practical rather than theoretical session
• Understanding the importance of policy context using practical examples, including (but not restricted to) nuclear and health sector as key Cumbrian sectors requiring social value commitments
• Understanding socio-economic data, how to obtain this and use it within a response to determine appropriate impact commitments
• Provision of a structure to ensure commitments are high impact, i.e. are specific, measurable, deliverable and accountable

All of the above are free to businesses in the Cumberland area (old Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland), businesses from Westmorland & Furness are welcome to attend but will need to pay a small fee.

To book any of the above email info@cumbriagrowthhub.co.uk