Hospital Tenders

Each year, billions in public funding are spent on the procurement of goods and services to hospitals. The patchwork of organisations and trusts that make up the NHS procure a variety of resources from private suppliers to provide critical and high-quality care to patients in the public sector.

Last year, it was estimated that there were around 215 hospital trusts and 10 ambulance trusts that manage and oversee all NHS hospitals in England. This provides a valuable opportunity for private companies and suppliers of goods and services to submit a winning bid for government hospital tenders available in the healthcare sector.

However, due to increased demand, hospital tenders and healthcare tenders have become increasingly competitive. With a network of providers scattered across the United Kingdom, private sector suppliers will need to harness a competitive edge, provide high-quality services and goods, and meet all the specified criteria to ensure they’re successful when submitting a hospital tender. 

Types of hospital tenders

Private hospital tenders cover a variety of services and goods, and depending on the needs of local authorities, each tender may hold different requirements. For suppliers, this provides both procurement opportunities and perhaps the challenge of knowing which healthcare tender is best suited for their business. 

The types of healthcare tenders include: 

Hospital cleaning tenders

Any cleaning-related services to hospitals, such as staff, cleaning equipment and products will be categorised as a hospital cleaning tender. These tenders are mainly for the provision of cleaning services and typically have a designated time of service delivery. 

Private hospital tenders 

Hospitals and healthcare facilities that operate independently of the NHS often publish tenders or contracts for private suppliers to supply goods and services, including various medical and non-surgical equipment. 

Government hospital tenders

Suppliers of goods and services, including medical and non-surgical equipment, and other maintenance service providers can apply for government hospital tenders. A government hospital is an entity which is funded, operated and managed by a government-supported trust or organisation. 

Hospital furniture tenders

Other types of tenders include hospital furniture tenders, which allocate funding for the procurement and supply of various office furniture equipment to hospitals. 

Hospital pharmacy tenders 

Hospital pharmacies are often funded by a diverse stream of income, which often allows them to purchase a variety of goods and services from private suppliers. These tenders may often require a broad range of services, including the provision of pharmacists, medical devices, and the preparation and storage of medicines within a hospital pharmacy. 

Benefits of participating in hospital tenders

Participating in hospital tenders can provide businesses with fair and transparent business opportunities, allowing them to scale, and further leverage the potential to provide high-quality services to a variety of constituents. 

Providing essential goods and services 

Perhaps the most rewarding benefit is the ability to provide essential goods and services to various hospitals around the world. These tender opportunities are not only concentrated in one location, and often suppliers of goods and services may be allowed to conduct business with private and public hospitals in other parts of the world. 

Opportunity to increase brand awareness and market share 

Growing your business is one of the biggest, and perhaps most important factors. With hospital tenders, you will have the opportunity to increase your brand awareness among a variety of hospitals, clinics and pharmacies. This could further lead to more competitive business strategies, and the ability to capture a larger portion of the market share. 

Ability to build new relationships 

Not only is scaling your business important but having the chance to foster new relationships with people can help increase your business’s footprint and overall brand awareness. By building new relationships, you are actively working towards finding new clients, and assisting in the process of improving public and private healthcare services for patients. 

Opportunity to gain valuable feedback on products and services

The best way for any supplier to know whether their products or services are meeting the desired standards is through building relationships with new clients, and requesting feedback to ensure delivery is on par with the expected quality. Having this channel of open and transparent communication will allow you to make improvements to existing products and services, and improve on future innovations. 

Potential to negotiate favourable pricing and contract terms

Favourable pricing ensures that your business will have the opportunity to improve cash flow and income streams, while buyers have access to cost-effective structures that best suit their financial needs. Finally, contract terms will be dependent on the hospital tender, but longer-term contracts tend to be more profitable for suppliers. 

How to win hospital tenders

Putting together a well-written and detailed tender is only part of the process of winning hospital tenders. On top of this, you will need to ensure that you: 

Carefully review the tender requirements

As mentioned, each tender will have a variety of requirements and specified criteria. Business owners will need to carefully review all the specified criteria, as this could help improve the overall quality of the tender bid, and help to establish your business as a more experienced supplier. 

Provide evidence of qualifications and experience 

By including supporting documents, such as qualifications, experience, customer reference and industry certifications, you are able to construct a more competitive tender bid application. This would also help to support your ability to supply necessary goods and services and showcase your expertise in the field. 

Offer competitive pricing

One of the best ways to stand out against competitors is to provide more robust pricing structures. This would include a potential budget and forward-looking expenditure of tender funds over the tender period. The better your prices are aligned with the desired requirements of the tender, the better chance you may have of being awarded a hospital tender. 

Be responsive to inquiries from the tender issuer

As part of the process, make sure that you are responsive to all follow-up inquiries by the tender issuer. There are multiple cases, where a supplier might have a winning tender proposal, but due to a lack of effective communication, and insufficient transparency, tender issuers will often dismiss these applicants. 

Submit a well-written and persuasive tender proposal

Finally, make sure that you have constructed a well-written tender proposal. Each piece of your tender should have captured your expertise and qualifications, including previous tenders, projects or any supporting information that can help improve your chances of winning a hospital tender. 

The takeaway 

Hospital tenders oversee the provision of hospital equipment, goods and services. These tenders ensure that hospitals and healthcare facilities have the necessary equipment to deliver high-quality services to all constituents. 

By carefully considering the tender requirements and specified criteria, suppliers can build a winning tender proposal that highlights all their experience and expertise. As part of the tender proposal, suppliers will need to include competitive pricing, and fund allocations, and be effective communicators. 

By following these steps, and delivering high-quality goods and services to tender issuers, suppliers can draw on the multiple benefits that come with participating in hospital tenders and the wider procurement process.