Monthly Bid (Tender) Writing Support Retainers

Many NHS and local authority buyers are reshaping their procurement plans ahead of full implementation of the Procurement Act 2023 and Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) scoring. That means activity may feel “stop–start” between now and early 2026 — but when pipelines reopen, well-prepared providers will move fastest.

The Monthly Bid Support Retainers give you a flexible way to access expert bid support every month, at a discounted day rate — so you can plan ahead, respond calmly, and keep your tender pipeline and bid library MAT-aligned without over-stretching internal teams.

🎯 Who this is for

• Learning disability, autism, supported living, reablement, home care and complex care providers.
• NHS-commissioned and local authority–commissioned providers (ICB, NHS Trust partnerships, CHC, UCR, community health and integrated pathways).
• Organisations running regular tenders, frameworks, DPS and mini-competitions who want consistent, specialist external support.
• Teams needing flexible help across strategy, drafting, library updates, bid triage, debriefs and renewals.

Ideal if you want reliable bid capacity “on tap” each month — without having to find and brief new consultants every time a tender lands.

🧠 What your monthly retainer can cover

Each “day” is 8 hours of consultancy time per month (used flexibly — a number of hours across several days, half-day blocks, or full-day blocks) and we work collaboratively to mix and match how that time is used in a way that works best for you, for example:

• Live tender support — clarifications, structure, drafting of key responses.
• Bid triage and opportunity assessment for new procurements.
• Updates to your tender library, core method statements and social value evidence.
• Contract renewal and extension planning, aligned to MAT and Procurement Act principles.
• Review and feedback on in-house drafts before submission (using track changes and comments, editing to word count limits if required).
• Light-touch strategic sessions for pipeline planning and internal team coaching.

Time can be delivered via Microsoft Teams / Zoom, tracked edits in Word/Docs, or comments and mark-up on your existing materials.

💡 How the monthly retainers work

1. Choose your plan (1, 2, 4 or 8 days per month) and subscribe securely online.
2. Onboarding — we set up a simple shared plan for how you want to use time (e.g. pipeline reviews, live tenders, library refresh, renewals, training).
3. Monthly cadence — we agree core touchpoints (e.g. monthly pipeline review call + in-month support on live opportunities).
4. Rollover — unused hours can roll over for one further month, up to the cap for your plan (see below).
5. Review & adjust — we can refocus each month as your pipeline, capacity and priorities change.

The aim is simple: predictable access to specialist support, without losing flexibility as the market shifts.

Start anytime: Retainers can be purchased on any date. Your monthly allowance and billing cycle begin on the day you subscribe, so there’s no need to wait until the start of a month.

💸 Discounted day rates (subscription-only)

My standard consultancy rate is £600 per day. These monthly retainers offer stepped discounts for providers who commit to regular support, while keeping the flexibility to cancel month-to-month.

These reduced day rates are only available for subscription orders placed online and may be adjusted for future cohorts.

📌 Rollover rules (fair use)

• You can carry over unused time into the next month, giving you extra flexibility when workloads fluctuate.
• You can carry over up to the number of days in your plan (e.g. a 4-day plan can carry over up to 4 days).
• This means you may have up to double your plan allowance available in any given month (e.g. 4 days → up to 8 available).
• You can maintain this higher availability across several months by simply using at least your base plan allowance each month.
• Rollover acts as a simple “one-month buffer”: any days carried into a month need to be used during that month.

Example (4-day plan): Month 1 → You use 0 days. All 4 carry into Month 2 (giving you 8 days). Month 2 → You use 4 days. You can carry the remaining 4 into Month 3 — keeping 8 days available again. You can continue this pattern for future months as long as you use at least your base 4 days each month.

⚡ Limited slots to protect delivery quality

To maintain high-quality delivery and dedicated support for every client, monthly retainers are capped at:

• 1 × Starter available (1 day / month)
• 1 × Focused (2 days / month)
• 1 × Core (4 days / month)
• 1 × Strategic (8 days / month)

Once a tier is full, it will temporarily show as unavailable until capacity reopens.

🧾 Typical use cases

• Steady flow of tenders: you want a calm, planned approach to frameworks, DPS call-offs and mini-competitions.
• Upcoming Procurement Act changes: you want MAT-aligned wording, evidence and social value coverage built in over time.
• Internal team under pressure: you want to protect BAU and operations while still submitting high-quality bids.
• Mixed in-house and outsourced bids: you want external support that can flex between drafting, review and strategy.

🤝 Cancellation and changes

• Subscriptions are billed monthly and can be cancelled at any time before the next billing date.
• If you cancel, we’ll honour any remaining time in the current billing period and confirm what’s left in your banked hours.
• You can move up or down a tier (subject to availability) to match changes in your tender pipeline.

🔗 Related support

• Bid (Tender) Library Refresh Packages — one-off library audits and rewrites.
• Bid Triage & Opportunity Assessment Packages — structured bid/no-bid tools.
• Contract Retention & Outcomes Evidence Support — build the evidence base that underpins MAT and renewals.

🧾 Terms (summary)

• Service delivered remotely; no physical goods are shipped.
• Each “day” is 8 hours of consultancy time, scheduled by agreement.
• Time is tracked and shared in a simple log so you can see where support is being used.
• Rollover is limited to one further month and capped at your plan’s number of days; any time not used within a 2-month rolling window then expires.

Questions before you subscribe?
Email Mike.Harrison@impact-guru.co.uk or chat on WhatsApp and we can sense-check which plan fits your pipeline and capacity.