With EiB’s support, our client successfully secured a place on the SPaTS3 Framework as one of seven providers, maintaining their framework presence since 2018.
We provided guidance in strategic proposal development, collaborating closely with their in-house bid team to ensure compliance, refine responses and maximise potential based on innovation and lessons learnt.
The opportunity
National Highways re-tendered for a replacement to the current Specialist Professional and Technical Services Framework 2 (SPaTS2). Its successor, SPaTS3, will build on the success delivered under SPaTS and SPaTS2 to create an enhanced Framework model. National Highways were looking to appoint six suppliers for SPaTS3, to provide technical consultancy, engineering advice, research and innovation going into and through RIS3.
EiB approach and involvement
We integrated into the client’s bid team, bringing the EiB way to complement their processes and support in-house bid writing and management. We coordinated closely with the in-house bid team, overseeing proposal development to allow the bid manager to focus on other strategic areas of the submission.
We carefully reviewed extensive scope documents to develop a well-organised compliance matrix, so the bid team could refer to critical information throughout drafting and reviews. We provided strategic direction and led reviews at each key stage, from storyboarding to final draft. We consistently challenged their proposed solution, encouraging the team to stretch their capabilities and explore innovative approaches to meet National Highways’ needs.
We worked closely with in-house writers to assist in addressing feedback, refining the submission and ensuring all comments were captured. We provided bid writing capability to ‘polish’ responses, ensuring there was a one voice consistency throughout the submission and all elements of the question, including National Highways’ ambitions, were addressed.
We were able to mobilise additional, vital resource at short notice to provide hands-on support to the highest weighted response, efficiently reducing content without losing key methodology. We conducted a final page-turn and read-through for quality assurance, enabling upload to be completed ahead of programme.
Success and outcomes
This bid submission was successful, and our client was awarded a place on the SPaTS3 Framework as one of six providers. This achievement maintains our client’s presence on each iteration of the Framework since 2018, and continues our strong partnership, which began in 2014 and has delivered a win rate of over 80%.