A health or social care tender can arrive as a dozen documents, each with its own vocabulary. Knowing what every document is for helps you read the pack in the right order, find the requirements that decide the score and plan your response before the deadline starts to bite. This guide explains the documents and terms you are most likely to meet, from the invitation to tender to TUPE.
What is an Invitation to Tender (ITT)?
The invitation to tender is the commissioner's guide to the whole procurement. It explains what is being bought, the contract length and value, the timetable, how bids will be scored and exactly what you must submit. Read it first and keep it open while you write: a missed instruction can cost marks or even rule a bid out.
Under the Procurement Act 2023 you may see the same material described as the tender notice and the associated tender documents, but most commissioners still call the pack an ITT. Look for:
- The background: why the service is being commissioned, who uses it today and any data on the local population or demand.
- The contract: its length (for example three years with the option to extend), the value or price ceiling and how payment will work.
- The timetable: deadlines for clarification questions and submission, and the planned dates for evaluation, award and the service start.
- The evaluation model: how marks are split between quality, price and social value, the scoring scale and any minimum score a question requires.
- The submission rules: word and page limits, file formats, the portal to use and the checklist of documents to return.
What is a service specification?
The service specification sets out what the commissioner expects the provider to deliver: the outcomes, the service model, staffing, quality standards, reporting and performance measures. It is the yardstick for your quality answers, so read it line by line and confirm you can meet every requirement before you decide to bid.
Mark each requirement as one you meet today, one you can meet by the contract start or one you cannot meet. A gap is not always a reason to walk away: a partner organisation, a subcontractor or a recruitment plan may close it, but your bid has to show how and when.
When you write, use the specification's own language and section references so evaluators can match every claim to a requirement. Evidence persuades more than assertion: outcomes you have achieved, inspection ratings, audit results and feedback from the people who use your services.
What is a clarification question?
A clarification question is a formal request for more information, sent through the procurement portal before a published deadline. Commissioners answer in writing and normally share every question and answer, anonymised, with all bidders, so everyone competes on the same information.
Use clarification questions to resolve genuine uncertainty: figures that differ between documents, requirements that could be read two ways, or missing data such as current activity levels. Many commissioners provide a template, often a spreadsheet, for sending them.
Because the answers go to every bidder, word your questions with care. A question that reveals your delivery model, a planned partnership or your pricing approach hands that insight to your competitors. Check the published log regularly as well: answers to other bidders' questions can change what you need to write.
What is a Selection Questionnaire (SQ) or PSQ?
The selection stage checks that your organisation is eligible and capable before your bid is scored. Under the previous rules this was the Selection Questionnaire (SQ). For procurements under the Procurement Act 2023, your core details are held on the Central Digital Platform and each tender adds a shorter Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ).
Both cover the same ground:
- Who you are: legal form, ownership and company details and, under the Act, your connected persons.
- Exclusion grounds: declarations about matters such as fraud, bribery, insolvency, unpaid tax and professional misconduct.
- Economic and financial standing: accounts or other evidence that you can sustain the contract.
- Technical and professional ability: examples of similar contracts, qualifications, accreditations and insurance.
Much of this is the same for every tender. Keep your Central Digital Platform record up to date and hold a library of current policies, insurance certificates, accounts and contract examples, so the selection stage takes hours rather than days.
Old and new terms at a glance
| Old term or rule | What you will see now |
|---|---|
| Selection Questionnaire (SQ) | Core supplier information on the Central Digital Platform, plus a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) |
| Notices on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender | Notices on the Central Digital Platform (Find a Tender) |
| Award decision letters | An assessment summary for each bidder |
| Standstill period of 10 calendar days | Standstill period of 8 working days |
| Health and social care services under the light-touch regime | Healthcare services arranged by NHS bodies and local authorities in England: the Provider Selection Regime (since 1 January 2024). Social care: light-touch contracts under the Act |
What is a non-collusion declaration?
A non-collusion declaration, sometimes called a certificate or statement, is a signed confirmation that you prepared your bid independently. You confirm that you have not shared or agreed prices with other bidders, persuaded anyone not to bid or offered anything to influence the outcome.
It is usually a short form signed by a director or another authorised person. Take it seriously: bid-rigging and price-fixing break competition law and can lead to exclusion from procurements as well as legal action. If you are bidding as part of a consortium or with subcontractors, make sure the arrangement is declared and that the form reflects it.
What is a social value template?
A social value template is where you set out the additional economic, social and environmental benefits your contract will deliver beyond the service itself, usually as measurable commitments with targets. Social value is scored in most health and social care tenders, so the template can carry a meaningful share of the marks.
Public bodies must consider social value when they commission services, under the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, and NHS guidance expects a minimum 10% weighting for social value and net zero in NHS procurements. Typical themes include:
- local employment, apprenticeships and training;
- spending with local businesses, charities and community organisations;
- fair work, wellbeing and inclusion for your own staff;
- reducing carbon emissions and other environmental impacts.
Commissioners often ask for these commitments in a spreadsheet, and some use an external platform to measure and track them during the contract. Only promise what you can deliver, measure and report, because your commitments become contract obligations. A Carbon Reduction Plan can support the environmental side of your offer.
What is TUPE?
TUPE is the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. When a service moves from one provider to another, the staff assigned to it usually transfer to the new provider automatically, keeping their existing terms and conditions and their continuous service. In re-tendered care services, TUPE shapes both your costs and your mobilisation plan.
Whether someone transfers depends on whether they are assigned to the service, which looks at how their role and working time are organised; it is not a simple percentage test. The new provider takes on their contracts, including pay, holiday and most contractual benefits, along with liabilities such as outstanding claims. Pensions need specialist attention, particularly for staff in the NHS Pension Scheme or the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Tenders that involve TUPE often include a question on how you will manage the transfer: consultation, communication with staff, due diligence and how you will keep and support the team. If TUPE is new to your organisation, take advice from an employment law or HR specialist before you price the bid.
What is a TUPE list?
A TUPE list, also known as employee liability information, is an anonymised summary of the staff who may transfer to the new provider. It usually shows each person's role, contracted hours, pay, length of service, pension arrangements and other benefits, so bidders can cost a realistic staffing model.
The current provider prepares the list and the commissioner releases it, often only after you sign a confidentiality agreement and sometimes later than the rest of the tender pack. Request it early and leave time to analyse it: the hours, grades and pay rates it contains drive your workforce costs and may differ from the model you would design from scratch.
Treat the figures as provisional. Staff join and leave during a procurement, and the outgoing provider must give the new employer up-to-date employee liability information at least 28 days before the transfer.
What is a confidential information form?
A confidential information form lets you identify the parts of your bid you consider commercially sensitive, such as pricing, methods or staff details, and explain why. Public bodies are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, so the form tells the commissioner what you would want withheld if someone asks to see your bid.
Marking information as confidential does not guarantee that it stays private. The commissioner decides each request under the Act and applies exemptions, such as the one for commercial interests, only where they fit. Be specific: name the page or section, give a reason and say how long the information stays sensitive, rather than marking the whole bid. Under the Procurement Act 2023, commissioners also publish more about awarded contracts, including copies of contracts worth more than £5 million, with sensitive details redacted.
Even when nothing in your bid is sensitive, you will often be asked to sign and return the form to say so.
What are technical and quality questions?
Technical or quality questions ask you to explain, in writing, how you will deliver the service. Each answer is scored against published criteria, often on a scale such as 0 to 5, and usually within a word limit. In health and social care tenders quality often outweighs price, so structure and evidence matter as much as content.
Typical topics include:
- Service model: how the service will work day to day, from referral or assessment through to review or discharge.
- Mobilisation: your plan, timeline and risks between contract award and the service start, including any TUPE transfer.
- Clinical and care governance: how you assure quality and safety, learn from incidents and meet regulatory standards.
- Safeguarding: your policies, training and escalation routes, and how you work with local safeguarding partners.
- Workforce: recruitment, retention, training, supervision and how you will cover absence.
- Engagement: how the people who use the service, their families and carers shape it, and how you handle feedback and complaints.
- Continuous improvement and innovation: how you measure performance, use data and introduce better ways of working.
Answer the question that is asked, in the order it is asked, and mirror the evaluation criteria in your headings. Draw on evidence from your current services and make every answer specific to the commissioner's area and population.
How can My Solutionz help?
We help care providers plan, write and review tenders, from reading the pack to the final compliance check. Our tender and bid writing service drafts your quality answers, an expert review checks your draft against the specification and scoring criteria before you submit, and opportunity identification helps you find the right contracts to bid for. See how we work with healthcare and social care providers.