Public sector contracting in depth

For charities and social enterprises in England actively seeking government contracts, this deep dive will help refine your processes and increase your chances of success.

“We’ve spent the last year restructuring the team, ensuring systems and processes are in place and rebranding to be able to scale and magnify delivery.”
SSE procurement programme student

Having done the preparatory work, you’ll hone your approach to winning public procurement tenders. In four half-day workshops over six months, you’ll gain expert insight and the support of a group of peers.

Answer yes to all the below and the Contracts Wins Programme is right for you:

Available dates

Choose one of the scheduled dates below

Contract wins – May
Wednesday 8 May 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Wednesday 22 May 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Wednesday 12 June 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Wednesday 19 June 9.30 am – 1.30 pm

Contract wins – September
Thursday 5 September 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Thursday 26 September 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Thursday 10 October 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Thursday 24 October 9.30 am – 1.30 pm

Contract wins – October
Wednesday 23 October 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Wednesday 6 November 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Wednesday 20 November 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Wednesday 4 December 9.30 am – 1.30 pm
Apply

You’ll have the chance to talk to commissioners about the specifics they look for in a winning bid. Professionals from voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) succeeding in procurement will share their journey to winning government tenders. The longer format allows you to ask questions to gain value from this expertise. 

We’ll sharpen your skills for opportunity mapping and bid writing, and work with you on business strategy and development. You’ll refine your communication to help commissioners understand how you deliver social value, and you’ll learn about maintaining these strong relationships through contract delivery. 

 

“This is a brilliant and exciting breakthrough programme for any charity or social enterprise that wants to break into public sector contracting.

We dispel the myths, hear from commissioners and successful bidders and help you to maximise your chances of success in this growing and important space for charities and social enterprises.”
Craig Dearden-Phillips, Facilitator

Who should attend?

This course is aimed at VCSEs already bidding for government tenders and wanting to improve their success rate. Your charity or social enterprise should be operating and registered in England and have a turnover between £250,000 and £10m, including consortiums with a combined turnover between this £250k – £10m threshold. 

For charities and social enterprises wanting to prepare for government contracts, look at the Government Contract Ready course. If you have little or no experience with public procurement, try our introductory webinar – Government Contracts Revealed.

We welcome bookings from people of all faiths, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, economic circumstances and backgrounds. We encourage bookings from people who are from racialised and minoritised communities¹, are disabled, including non-visible and learning disabilities, and d/Deaf, or work in low-income areas. Support with the booking process is available. Get in touch with Sarah to see if we can help: call 01872 306130 or send us a query.

We want to support social or environmental impact in all areas, and particularly welcome organisations addressing:

• health and social care
• employability
• disability
• homelessness
• domestic violence
• sexual abuse

If you’d like to ask about any of these courses get in touch with Sarah on 01872 306130 or send us a query.

No educational qualifications are needed to join this Webinar.

Eligible Organisations

We encourage you to apply and your application will be assessed. Your organisation must be a:

• Registered charity, or
• Social enterprise (or is unincorporated with aspirations to register as a social enterprise)

Social enterprises that are unincorporated are also welcome to book, provided that they operate and register in England when they incorporate. By social enterprise, we mean a diverse range of organisations including (but not limited to) Community Interest Companies (CIC), Community Benefit Society (CBS), Registered Charity, Cooperatives, and in some cases a Limited company.

Your social enterprise must also meet the following criteria:

• Have a social and/or environmental purpose
• Earn (or aspire to earn) at least 50% of your income from trading
• Reinvest or donate at least 50% of profits towards your social and/or environmental purpose

Apply

Accessibility 

If this content or process is not accessible to you, please call Sarah on 01872 306130 or send us a query so we can share an accessible version. 

VCSE Contract Readiness Programme Privacy Policy

The VCSE Contract Readiness Programme

This programme is a partnership led by SSE and funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. We’ve teamed up with Social Enterprise UK and Voice4Change England to enable charities and social enterprises – otherwise known as voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) – to  compete alongside other organisations for public sector contracts. We share the aim of diversifying the government supply chains and delivering greater social value for public spending.

The government spends approximately £290 billion on goods and services each year². Charities and social enterprises play a vital role in delivering public services – and are uniquely placed to create social value.

This programme provides a real opportunity for charities and social enterprises to increase their impact.

 

¹We know that language about identity is personal and these terms won’t feel right to everyone. We mean people who may identify as Black, Brown, bi- or multi-racial, being from a diaspora, having Asian/African/Caribbean/Latinx/Middle Eastern/Indigenous heritage, as a “person of colour”, Jewish, and/or from a white ethnic minority such as Gypsy, Roma, Traveller. We have consulted our community to shape this language.

²assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/990289/National_Procurement_Policy_Statement.pdf