Hudson helps Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale with their bid proposal

At Hudson Succeed, bid proposal support comes in the form of our most popular service, Tender Writing.

The Italian-based organisation, Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale, approached the team at Hudson Succeed to support them with expanding their services internationally. Formed in 2007, the company has strengthened its role as a multi-service cooperative. They provide services such as town cleaning, environmental hygiene and cemetery management. Their main goal is to provide employment opportunities in the facilities sector to vulnerable and disadvantaged people.

“The collaboration with Hudson has been interestingly fruitful for Barbara B as we were entering a new market and we needed more insight and somebody who would be able to help us in letting our long experience in the Italian market emerge in the UK tendering process. In Hudson we found very responsive and professional support, in particular given the difficulties of transferring/translating the value of our Italian social cooperative work into the bid writing process: language sometimes can a be a limit, but Hudson’s flexibility and creativity helped support our business.” – Filippo Enseki, Operations Manager at Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale.

Tasks and challenges

Research into the UK market

To assist Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale with their expansion goals, we provided them with both our Succeed and Procure services. In addition to supporting them with their bid proposal, our team also carried out research via our Hudson Procure division. This involved undergoing a thorough investigation by liaising with UK councils. Our findings were compiled into a detailed report, within the necessary timescales.

The bid proposal

As well as this insight, Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale also required support with their bid proposal. Their tender of choice was for grounds maintenance services, to be delivered across the UK.

When tackling the bid proposal, the team had to overcome translation issues. As with all clients, the first step for our bid writers is to extract information. This information then builds the foundations upon which the tender responses are crafted. Therefore, it is vital that these details are accurate.

Opportunity tracking

In order to help Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale futureproof their UK market strategy, we also assisted with opportunity tracking. Utilising our research findings, we were able to help the organisation identify the right opportunities for their business. This means that the company was able to prepare for future tender proposals, eliminating the risk of unexpected, reactive work.

Activities

Our bid writers begin every Tender Writing project by creating a bid plan. The plan clearly outlines what they will need from the client and what the client can expect from them. This helps us to set expectations from the outset. It means that both parties have a clear understanding of the project timeline and how we will deliver the work required. In this case, the bid plan was particularly important. Extra time had to be factored in for translating any documents required from Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale.

The Succeed team underwent detailed, industry-specific research throughout the project. This ensured that their tender responses were developed to the highest possible quality. Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale is an experienced provider of grounds maintenance services. It was crucial that the bid responses accurately represented the client’s capabilities.

With the bid plan in progress, the team were able to effectively communicate with the organisation throughout the project. This led to the timely submission of the grounds maintenance bid proposal.

As for the procurement research, the team developed and designed a detailed and intuitive report. As the client was new to tendering for work in the UK, the report outlined the best strategy for them.

Results

Due to the success of the first submission, where a 97% quality score was achieved, we continued to work with Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale. We have since helped the organisation to streamline their understanding of and approach towards procurement in the UK.

Our second tender submission was also a success, securing a four-year contract, totalling a value of c.£350,000.

Find more information about our work with Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale.

How we work

We maintain a client-first approach in everything we do. Communication and transparency are vital to our service delivery.

Clients utilise our services for many different reasons, such as:

- Support with an ad-hoc bid proposal;
- Help to get started with their first tender;
- Help to improve their internal bid success rate;
- Simply because they need a second pair of eyes before they submit a bid.

No matter the reason, their goal remains the same – to grow their business. That’s why we developed our four service offerings; to ensure that we can support businesses of all sizes.

Tender Writing


Our most popular service, Tender Writing, is an ad-hoc bid proposal solution if you need to submit a reactive bid. Our team of bid writers is trusted by over 700 businesses globally and proudly holds an 87% success rate.

Through this service, we support businesses who:

- Don’t have the time to tender;
- Are struggling with resources due to sickness or maternity leave;
- Don’t have the in-house skills required to submit a winning bid.

Tender Ready

Since launching the Tender Ready programme, we have helped numerous clients to take the first step on their tendering journey. We know that the tendering process can seem daunting. The programme was designed to help businesses who are exploring this avenue for the first time.

The package includes:

- The creation of the corporate literature you will need to tender for work;
- Three days of bid writing consultancy to develop your first bid proposal response;
- 12-months access to the Hudson Discover tendering portal of your choice so that you can continue to identify opportunities after the programme.

Tender Improvement

This package was created to help businesses who are already tendering for work but not seeing success.

In order to help you increase your win rate, the package includes:

- A full analysis of your previous tender responses and the identification of areas for improvement;
- The creation/redevelopment of your corporate literature to help you impress buyers;
- Three days of bid consultancy to either write your next tender response or guide you through the process yourself;
- A 12-month subscription to the Hudson Discover portal of your choice.

Tender Mentor

Our guide and review service has led to many successful submissions. This is the perfect final step if you have already written your bid proposal internally.

Our team will:

- Proofread your work, checking for any spelling or grammatical errors;
- Assess your responses against the specification to ensure that you are answering the questions effectively.

Once the content has been through our thorough proofing process, you can press the submit button with confidence.