Pagabo Bid Writing for Frameworks

Does your Small Medium Enterprise (SME) value sustainability and social inclusion? Perhaps you are searching for ways to add social value to your current service offerings? Or you are looking to win contracts with companies that genuinely care and share your core values? If so, look no further than the Pagabo procurement framework!

Putting the ‘public’ back into ‘public procurement, Pagabo is a framework that champions building social value and local benefits into EU and UK contracts, maximising real value for money to build better, safer, and more sustainable sectors.

Offering opportunities for contracts valued from £250,000 with no upward cap, Pagabo is positioned to help SMEs understand the benefits that public procurement can provide. Actively measuring the social, economic, and environmental impacts of projects over the long term, Pagabo helps suppliers find contracts that match their core values and offer the opportunity to inject positive social impact into their local area.

Currently offering 11 national frameworks and listing 230 suppliers, this framework is smaller than the likes of the Crown Commercial Service [EH1] and easier to navigate than Contracts Finder. This makes it easier than ever to find relevant contracts that can give back to your community.

Demonstrating the positive impact of the Pagabo framework, since its launch it has contributed to:

• Safeguarded jobs: 23,703
• Work placements: 1,923
• Apprentices: 1,559
• New jobs: 5,925
• Workforce productivity
• Total value: £43,627,405

What is the Pagabo framework trying to achieve?

A pioneering member of Social Value UK, [EH3] Pagabo is a leading force in channelling money and opportunities created by public procurement back into the communities that are affected by contracted works. For example, by upskilling local areas affected by construction works, working with local councils to meet green targets, or by donating money to help local charitable causes.

Encouraging buyers and suppliers to channel the value of contracts down to the local communities and end-users they serve, Pagabo aims to rethink what public procurement offers to the public.

Why should I sell my services through Pagabo?

Pagabo has over 400 buyers who use their frameworks to procure goods and services. Writing a winning bid for a place on their framework offers your SME exposure and free advertising to buyers looking to spend money.

The UK Treasury reported a 17% increase in public sector procurement spend to £327 billion in 2020/2021, with no sign of slowing down. Imagining a system where investment into the social well-being of local communities was prioritised by the procurement system, Pagabo seeks to emphasise the impact that such growth could have on the UK public.

An innovative offering, Pagabo offers its buyers and sellers the services of the social value experts at Loop. This accurately calculates participating organisations’ social, economic and environmental impact and the financial value of that impact that can be reflected when bidding for contracts.

Top tip: When using ‘added value’ in your bids, this is a value that demonstrates how your company can add value to a buyer’s project in ways that aren’t purely financial. By using Loop to calculate the value of your social commitments, such as hours spent volunteering for local charities, or the number of apprentices employed per year, you can tailor your social value commitments to meet buyers’ expectations and exceed the likely offerings of your competitors.

Providing you with a financial figure, using Loop can also prevent you from overcommitting and being unable to financially afford the added social value commitments made if awarded the contract.

A professionally recognised service, Pagabo has over 100 years of experience in UK procurement. Fully compliant with UK and EU procurement law and best practices, Pagabo is a regulated framework that only accepts legitimate suppliers and buyers. This means that you can search for contract opportunities that no matter how good they seem, cannot be too good to be true!

What is a framework?

A selection of pre-selected opportunities and suppliers, frameworks are collections of tender opportunities for which suppliers can bid to be put on a list of ‘approved suppliers. What this means is that successful suppliers are awarded a place on a closed list of approved suppliers from which buyers can choose who to buy their goods/services.

This can be done through ‘direct award’, meaning a supplier is directly selected by a buyer, or through ‘further competition’, where approved suppliers bid for the buyer’s contract. See our blog on how to win work on frameworks here.

Listed opportunities are taken from the UK Government’s websites Contract Finder and Find a Tender, though note that frameworks will choose which opportunities to advertise based on the requirements of their buyers.

For free access to a complete database of current and upcoming opportunities, head to Tender Pipeline.

Covering a broad selection of sectors, Pagabo lists opportunities 12 months before expiry across:

Note: Some frameworks are split into ‘lots’. This means that there is more than 1 contract available per advertised opportunity, meaning that more than 1 supplier may be successfully awarded a contract.

Split into 7 regions, Pagabo offers its buyers and suppliers dedicated regional managers to discuss contract requirements. More information on the regional splitting and requirements of regions can be found on the Pagabo website.

Demonstrating the social value impact that Pagabo contacts have delivered to these regions, check out the map below to see how much value Pagabo has contributed to your local area.

Pagabo bid writing top tips

Having completed contracts totalling £3.125 billion and contributed £5.218 billion in social value within the UK, winning a place on the Pagabo framework is the best way to ensure that public procurement maximises its benefits in your local area. However, this is easier said than done. Below are 5 top tips for Pagabo bid writing, putting you in the best position to start winning contracts. For more advice, speak to a member of our team.

1. Research the social value needs and commitments of the buyer: Demonstrating that your ethos and company values align with those of the buyer is a great way to score highly on social value quality questions. Provide examples of how you have previously delivered social value of the types requested by the buyer and go above and beyond to show how you will deliver similar types on your Pagabo contracts.
2. Apply separately for each lot: You may find that you are wanting to apply
3. for multiple lots from the same buyer. To do so, you will have to apply for each
4. lot individually. This will mean writing responses for each lot that are bespoke
5. to the differences of lot requirements. To save time, you can reuse relevant
6. information in responses, but make sure that at every stage you tailor this info
7. to the requirements and question asked.
8. Contracts are awarded to the supplier who presents the best value for money: As public procurement uses money from the public purse, buyers are consistently required to award the ‘Most Economically Advantageous Tender’ (MEAT). This means that winning bids must demonstrate being the best value for money. This doesn’t necessarily mean being the cheapest option. Using Pagabo tools such as Loop to put value to your social commitments, value can be added to your responses through showing the buyer how economically advantageous procuring your goods/services could be to the local area and help to boost their own social value statistics.
9. Keep up to date with upcoming opportunities: A common procurement issue faced by SMEs is struggling to keep up to date with upcoming tender opportunities. Using services such as Tender Pipeline and MyPagabo where opportunities are collated and easy to refine, you never have to worry about missing out on another contract again.
10. You aren’t just selling your service/goods, you are also selling your company: As a progressive framework, Pagabo and its buyers want suppliers to buy in to its social value ethos. This means that your bid should demonstrate what your SME is already doing to meet the requirements of the buyer both in terms of specification compliance but also their charitable/sustainable measures. Align your service offering with the tone of the buyer and impress then with how closely aligned your company is to their own interests and goals.
11. Take a look at Pagabo’s other service offerings: Unlike frameworks that are set agreements of a specified length, Pagabo offer Dynamic Purchasing systems for suppliers to supply works/goods of up to £1 million. These are active tenders that suppliers can join and leave at any time. For more services offered by Pagabo, you can read about their Dynamic Purchasing System here[EH6] , and Pagabo for Business here.[EH7]

Common bid requirements for the Pagabo framework

Writing bids for winning contracts since 2009, below are examples of common Pagabo bid requirements that we encounter when bid writing.

1. Innovative service deliveries score well: Demonstrating your innovative approach to delivering social value is a great way to boost your quality scores on Pagabo bids. For example, if bidding for a spot on their Civil and Infrastructure bid, demonstrate your commitment to using/investing in alternative fuels/provide detail on how your SME promotes greener infrastructure innovations.
2. Make sure you are appropriately qualified for the contract: Read through framework specifications in full before deciding to bid. For example, we have found that Pagabo requires all bidders for their Demolition and Land Preparation framework to be members of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors.
3. Register early: You will be required to register your company details on the Pagabo intend portal before being eligible for/being able to submit your bid. Set time aside to register your company and receive an access PIN from Pagabo for each framework that is brought to tender. By registering early, you are ensuring that you have enough time to submit and that you won’t be caught out by any potential delay on Pagabo’s end.

Using Thornton and Lowe for Pagabo tender support

We know that our clients have what it takes to win, and we champion the SMEs that make it happen. With a success rate of 75% and 90% client retention, get in touch and let us be the voice that helps you to secure your Pagabo framework award today.