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At Executive Compass, our team of bid and tender writers have extensive experience and knowledge in all aspects of gas servicing contracts and can add significant value to your tender submissions.

Due to the competitive nature of the gas and heating industry, the expectations and pre-requisites for gas servicing tender submissions have never been so high. Having an understanding of what buyers are looking for, and an in-depth knowledge of industry specific tender criteria is crucial in successfully securing the right contracts for your business.

With extensive experience in the gas and heating industry, our specialist team of bid writers can add value to your tender submissions by ensuring the responses reflect the requirements of the commissioning authority.

Gas servicing and heating contracts are offered by a broad range of organisations such as councils and housing associations, but are typically be divided into two main categories; domestic and non-domestic.

  • Domestic – typically local authorities, councils and housing associations, who routinely manage tens of thousands of residential properties which are rented by tenants. This is the dominant market, as landlords have a duty under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 to ensure gas appliances, fittings and chimney/flues provided for tenants are safe. This means regular servicing, annual safety checks and provision of a record that these checks have been carried out.
  • Non-domestic – typically public and private sector organisations with significant property portfolios, including education, healthcare and civic buildings through to university accommodation and commercial offices.

Whilst the services performed are similar in both categories, due to differing requirement, legislative compliance, and working environment, domestic and non-domestic/commercial are typically procured separately. As such, the types of questions asked in a domestic and non-domestic tender differ. For example, domestic gas servicing contracts typically require for a supplier to outline their approach to resident communication, with domestic focussing on how disruptions will be minimised.

Our team at Executive Compass have experience in tendering for both domestic and non-domestic gas servicing contracts, having successfully helped clients secure gas and heating servicing contracts for over ten years.

The sector is dominated by SMEs and a handful of national providers, with contract values ranging anywhere from £100,000 to £5 million plus over a typical three-to-five-year contract duration.

As well as legislative compliance for landlords, the market is driven by the need for clients to deliver ongoing asset renewal and planned preventative maintenance programmes, with contracts generally requiring one or a combination of the following services:

  • Breakdown and repairs – which often includes a 24/7, 365 emergency call-out service with prescribed response times and may include reactive installations. Inspection, servicing and maintenance – involving regular servicing, annual safety checks and issuing of Landlord Gas Safety Certificates and provision of a record that the required checks have been carried out.
  • Planned replacement programmes – covering replacement of boilers or the entire heating system, as well as fuel-switch programmes, for example from electric storage heaters to a gas boiler, with work taking place in both void properties and occupied properties, which can add significantly to the challenges faced. In addition to this, some local authorities have carbon reduction targets and strategies to alleviate fuel poverty amongst tenants which, as well as driving renewal and upgrade programmes, places a greater emphasis on energy-efficient solutions.

In addition to these core areas, we also regularly support clients bidding for one-off contracts for the replacement and associated works of large central/community heating and boiler plant.

Writing tenders for gas servicing and installation

As you would expect from the diverse range of organisations commissioning gas servicing and installation providers, needs and priorities can vary significantly, and this is reflected in the types of responses and supporting evidence required during the tender process for gas servicing contracts. Our team of writers has extensive experience and knowledge in all aspects of gas servicing and installation contracts and are well-placed to add significant value to submissions by ensuring the responses reflect the requirements of the commissioning authority.

The gas servicing tender process

Like most public sector procurement exercises, the tendering process follows a two-stage process:

  • Stage 1: Known as the selection questionnaire, SQ, or PQQ this stage focusses on the provision of company information, compliance checks (e.g. providing Gas Safe certification), and experience.
  • Stage 2: only reviewed where bidders have passed stage 1, the process typically focusses on how the bidder will deliver the service, focussing on key service areas/concerns such as engineer’s training, call-out times, and compliance procedures.

To maximise efficiencies, the process is regularly conducted as one procurement exercise, with stage 2 only reviewed when a bidder is successful at stage 1.

At Executive Compass, our team is highly experienced in supporting organisations at both stages with bid management, compliance checks, and full bid writing support to ensure a high quality, competitive submission.

Common topics in gas servicing tenders

Some of the common themes that providers looking to tender for gas servicing, heating and installation contracts should be aware of across the industry include:

  • Customer focus – a strong emphasis is placed on residents and building occupants and ensuring their needs are accommodated and disruption minimised. Your lead bid writer will work you to identify effective processes you use internally to manage this, and will frame them in a manner that demonstrates the benefits it provides to the buy. For example, by offering flexible appointments, safeguarding training to engineers or user-friendly handover sessions we can demonstrate the functionality and effectiveness of the bidder, in line with the buyer’s requirements.
  • Competent, well trained and qualified staff – buyers often want providers to evidence the competency of those who will deliver the service, including their industry qualifications and additional training such as asbestos awareness. By drawing parallels between comprehensive engineer training, and the associated intrinsic benefits such as enhanced quality our writers convey to the buyer not only how training is delivered, but how it will apply to their contract and benefit them.
  • Robust reporting and management systems – given the scale of many contracts, and the need to show compliance with legislation, for example through the issuing of Landlord Gas Safety Certificates, authorities expect comprehensive management and reporting tools and clear audit trails of the work undertaken.
  • IT integration – increasingly providers are being asked about the ability to provide integrated IT solutions, whereby their internal contract management systems integrate with the client’s asset database and provides seamless, real-time updates and bespoke reporting. Our writers all have a comprehensive understanding of GDPR, and inline with your working practices will produce content that demonstrates enhanced efficiencies through IT integration, whilst also conveying an understand of data security measures.
  • Opportunities to add value – whether through additional services, for example assisting clients to develop renewable energy and technology strategies or providing analysis of alternative heating system options, client are looking for where you can deliver above and beyond the specification. Our writers are trained to review specifications and tender documents to identify where the buyer has conveyed issues, challenges, or opportunities for innovation and work with our clients to respond directly to this in their tender responses.
  • Social value – housing associations and local authorities in particular often have well-developed social value strategies, and they look to service providers to support them in the delivery of these. Increasingly an integrated, multi-stranded approach is required, with clear, demonstrable benefits.Having worked on a variety of gas servicing tender submissions across the UK, our team at Executive Compass have an in-depth understanding of the identified themes and can effectively tailor your tender responses to effectively address these themes. See our writing a gas servicing tender article to find out more about the common themes.

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Request a callback with a member of our Bid Team or contact us by telephone on 0800 612 5563, direct to mobile 07739407746 or via email info@executivecompass.co.uk

    Our Gas Servicing and Servicing Experience

    At Executive Compass, we have worked on hundreds of SQ and tender submissions across the gas servicing and installation sector, including notable contracts for a range of high profile buyers, such as:

    • Hanover Housing Association: planned domestic heating installations, servicing and breakdown
    • Bristol City Council: domestic heating installation contract
    • Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing: air source heat pump contract – service and issue of Landlords Safety certificate, responsive repairs and installations, planned installations
    • Bristol City Council: Gas and heating services
    • Guildford Borough Council: domestic gas servicing and repairs
    • St Albans City and District Council: gas servicing and supply
    • Stonewater: gas servicing including reactive maintenance
    • Loughborough University: gas appliance servicing and maintenance
    • Rural Stirling: upgrading of electric storage heating.

    Advice from professional bid writers

    At Executive Compass, we recognise the challenges faced by organisations when bidding for gas servicing contracts, and our team of full-time writers is well versed in the completion of SQs and PQQs and the tendering process for the servicing and installation sector. We can provide expert consultancy and guidance and advice on your tendering needs.

    Our services include a ‘bid, no bid’ advisory stage, and if we believe a gas servicing and heating contract is not right for you, we will always advise you before you choose to bid for the opportunity. In addition, we are well-placed to look out for suitable construction services opportunities for your organisation and to support you at each stage of the tendering process.

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