Negotiating Price After Tender Submission: Staying Viable Without Undercutting Quality
After submitting a strong tender, the commissioner comes back with a question: “Can you improve your price?”
Welcome to post-tender pricing negotiations—a delicate stage where social care providers must balance commercial reality with service integrity.
💷 Why Pricing Gets Revisited
Even in quality-weighted tenders, cost matters. Commissioners may have limited budgets, new internal priorities, or face pressure to reduce spend. They may approach several top scorers to test pricing flexibility. But that doesn’t mean you have to cave.
🛡️ Know Your Boundaries
- Cost out the contract again: Double-check your assumptions on staffing, travel, overheads, and inflation. What’s your true minimum viable price?
- Factor in risk: If TUPE is likely or if service users have complex needs, cheapening the offer could create future problems.
- Document your position: If you agree to a discount, specify whether it’s time-limited, conditional, or linked to certain volumes.
🧩 Alternatives to Reducing Your Price
- Repackage the offer: Can you slightly reduce scope without compromising outcomes?
- Propose efficiencies: Suggest shared resources, digital tools, or partnership models that improve value without dropping quality.
- Offer a stepped model: Start with a leaner option, scaling up over time as budgets allow.
🤝 Negotiation, Not Capitulation
Price discussions are not about cutting corners—they’re about exploring ways to deliver excellent outcomes sustainably. Be confident in your value, show flexibility where you can, and walk away if needed. A contract that isn’t viable will cost more in the long run.
💼 Rapid Support Products (fast turnaround options)
- ⚡ 48-Hour Tender Triage
- 🆘 Bid Rescue Session – 60 minutes
- ✍️ Score Booster – Tender Answer Rewrite
- 🧩 Tender Answer Blueprint
- 📝 Tender Proofreading & Light Editing
- 🔍 Pre-Tender Readiness Audit
- 📁 Tender Document Review
🚀 Need a Bid Writing Quote?
If you’re exploring support for an upcoming tender or framework, request a quick, no-obligation quote. I’ll review your documents and respond with:
- A clear scope of work
- Estimated days required
- A fixed fee quote
- Any risks, considerations or quick wins
🔁 Prefer Flexible Monthly Support?
If you regularly handle tenders, frameworks or call-offs, a Monthly Bid Support Retainer may be a better fit.
- Guaranteed hours each month (1, 2, 4 or 8 days)
- Discounted day rates vs ad-hoc consultancy
- Use time flexibly across bids, triage, library updates, renewals
- One-month rollover (fair-use rules applied)
- Cancel anytime before next billing date
🚀 Ready to Win Your Next Bid?
Chat on WhatsApp or email Mike.Harrison@impact-guru.co.uk
Updated for Procurement Act 2023 • CQC-aligned • BASE-aligned (where relevant)