How Pointer Helped Inclusive Futures Secure an Important University Contract
Earlier this year, the Pointer Consultancy team were proud to support Inclusive Futures, a Bristol-based non-profit focused on improving social mobility through inclusive coaching, in securing an important contract with the University of York.
Having successfully delivered the pilot programme, Co-Founders Jess Woodsford and Rose Sellman-Leava were keen to expand their impact and continue empowering these students through their inclusive coaching programme. That's where the bid management team, Becca and Devanshi, stepped in to provide expert support to help write, manage and submit a winning proposal.
The result? A successful bid that was so strong that the University skipped the next stage of procurement and awarded Inclusive Futures the contract outright. Explore how we did this below.
Understanding the Challenge
Like many small purpose-driven organisations, the Co-Founders faced a common dilemma: how to balance day-to-day delivery with additional time and effort required to craft a compliant and compelling bid.
At Pointer, we help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and charities overcome this challenge through tailored bid management support - combining strategic planning, storyboarding and collaborative check-in sessions. These areas are explored in the following sections:
1. Strategic Planning
The first step in drafting a successful bid response is carefully analysing all the bid documentation. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the eligibility requirements, delivery specifications and scoring structure will help you allocate resources where they’ll have the most impact. With Inclusive Futures' busy schedule in mind, we quickly become familiar with their service offering and planned tasks and reviews around their availability. This enables us to have clarity early on in the process, to make sure every hour spent on the bid added maximum value to the response.
2. Building a Strong Storyboard
Gathering all of this information in the early stages set the direction for the entire engagement and allowed us to enter the kick-off meeting with a clear storyboard. A storyboard is the backbone of the bid-writing process that acts as a framework but also highlights details such as word counts, visual ideas and key metrics. This storyboard also mapped out key messages, win themes and assigned responsibilities for each section, ensuring that the bid responses stayed on track and got handed in on time.
This approach helped the response to be cohesive and articulate Inclusive Futures' key strengths - so that they could stand out from the competition. For example ensuring that factors such as a client's innovative approach, reporting process and/or clear cost advantage are highlighted throughout is a important when creating a compelling submission. This combination of strategic structure and practical detail was greatly appreciated by Inclusive Futures as it provided clarity, alignment and momentum throughout the process.
3. Collaborative Check-In Sessions
Bidding for work within short timescales can be high-pressure, often creating unwanted stress. To help Inclusive Futures manage this and avoid last-minute panic, Pointer scheduled regular check-ins to allow for expert reviews of both the high-level narrative and the detailed framing of each response.
Jess and Rose particularly appreciated the flexibility of these sessions. The check-ins were designed as opportunities to “pick the brains” of our consultants and get advice on how best to articulate their value. This collaborative and bespoke approach enabled Inclusive Futures to maintain ownership of their bid content while gaining valuable resources, structure and skills to apply in future bids.
The Outcome
The final bid response was cohesive, compelling and fully aligned with both the tender requirements and the university’s broader priorities. It's strength was reflected in the outcome; the bid was so successful that the procuring body chose to remove the planned next stage of procurement altogether. Here is what Inclusive Futures Co-Founder Rose said about her experience working with us:
“Pointer’s contribution helped us win the bid outright, and our responses were so strong that we were offered the contract without needing to attend in-person interviews. Pointer are a no-brainer organisation for us to work with for bid support. They are local, friendly and incredibly professional, with a great reputation. Pointer will always be our first choice for bid support and we recommend them to anyone looking for similar support.”
Partner with Pointer
At Pointer, our mission is to help organisations stay competitive and confident bids that demonstrate your impact. If your organisation is preparing a competitive tender and is short on bid-writing capacity, or simply needs a fresh pair of eyes on an existing response, our team can help.
Contact us at enquiries@pointerconsultancygroup.co.uk or learn more about our bid management service, here.