Writing tenders, bids and proposals in the healthcare industry can be a challenge, particularly given the level of regulation in the  sector. Whether you are a health services provider or product distributor, you will more than likely have had to submit a tender at least once in your company’s history, particularly if you need to secure a government contract.

For larger organisations, you will more than likely be tendering on a monthly or even weekly basis – and a quality bid library will become critical. It’s important to respond to each RFP, RFT or RFI comprehensively and make sure that you submit a compelling and persuasive response that is written in a clear, concise manner. Our team of writers have strong experience in writing healthcare tenders and bids spanning across:

• Healthcare
• Aged care
• Pharmaceuticals
• Human services.

How we can help you win health industry bids

Our experienced healthcare industry bid and tender writers will help with:

• Reviewing your bid or tender and providing feedback to you on how to improve it and where you haven’t provided a comprehensive and compelling response. This is useful as a first draft review to ensure have a comprehensive submission and that the document develops in the right direction. When we review your bid, we provide constructive solutions on what to improve to help you win it. We’ll also point out where your writing is exemplary, so you can keep it up in future tenders. We don’t simply criticize your writing. We write text, produce examples, and design infographics that you can incorporate and copy. We will transfer all the knowledge we have to you to help you improve your bid and win.
• Project manage the tender response from start to finish including writing the response and communicating with key stakeholders in your business to gather the necessary information and documentation. Healthcare, pharmaceutical and aged care bids are often highly complex. Especially when it comes to writing bids to Defence or other national and complex organisations with set procurement rules in place. We can take the ‘stress’ our of managing the bid writing process so you can focus on your day-to-day responsibilities. It’s what our bid writers do – make life easier for you and work to win you contracts.
• Write your tender from start to finish. Our team will help you write your bid. We will need you to take care of pricing. However, with input from your subject matter experts, we are able to write the rest. Whether you are bidding for a medical product supply contract to a government health department or aged care sector, or you are an allied health services provider bidding for a remote or regional contract, we can assist. Our writing consultants take the time to understand your business and showcase your expertise, resource and capabilities.
• Manage international bids. Provide strategic advice and arrange for translating key documents. This is often required for companies with head offices overseas such as in France who have documentation in other languages. If you are a large corporation with an overseas head office, we can help you and will communicate with your head office if necessary. We are careful in navigating and internal political issues in our client organisations.
• Incorporate win themes throughout the content and formulating and implementing a strategy for success. This includes coordinating with logistics companies and other entities to arrange quotes for logistics solutions should they be required. Health, pharmaceutical and aged care tenders are generally highly competitive. If you want to win a contract in any state or territory across Australia, you need to write a quality submission that is consistent with bid writing best practice. Win themes need to be interwoven throughout your bid, the visual layout needs to be outstanding and you need to incorporate infographics throughout. Our consultants include a graphic designer who will ensure your bid stands out from the crowd.
• Draft and develop supporting documentation where required such as quality assurance plans. Nearly all health industry bids require some kind of supporting documentation. Whether it is a Quality Management System or confirmation of registration with the TGA, supporting documentation is generally a pre-requisite for many health and pharmaceutical sector RFPs. Our team will work with you to develop the supporting documentation requested if you don’t already have it in place.
• Provide Bid/No Bid advice. As most businesses are well aware, tendering consumes a large amount of internal resources so the idea that you have to be in it to win it doesn’t always apply. You need to carefully select the tenders you wish to bid for to ensure you have the best prospects of success. Ensure your skills and experience align with the opportunity and you can meet the mandatory requirements for the bid.

Our bid writing experience in the healthcare sector

We have extensive experience writing bids, tenders, proposals and grant applications in the healthcare sector. We have written bids across all industry sectors including pharmaceutical, medical and aged care.  Examples of the broad range of Government Departments and private sector organisations we have written bids to include:

• Australian Government Department of Health: For a range of bids including a number of contracts associated with the Covid-19 Epidemic. This included for the supply of vaccines as well as medical products.
• NSW Health: This has included helping our clients win a number of speech pathology contracts as well as equipment supply for NSW Government hospitals. In addition, we have also worked on a number of bids through the Covid 19 epidemic.
• Department of Human Services: We have helped clients achieve success for a number of allied health services bids.
• WA Health: We’ve helped our clients respond to RFQs for the supply of medical equipment as well as the operation of medical establishment.
• Department of Health and Human Services Victoria: For a range of medical industry bids including equipment supply.
• South Australian Department of Health and Wellbeing: We have helped businesses win contracts in the allied health sector as well as medical.
• Queensland Health: Including for IT, services and a range of other equipment and services supply contracts not associated directly with healthcare, however, procured by Queensland Health.
• Defence Health: Including for IT services and other software related projects associated with Defence Health.
• BUPA: This has included the provision of furniture, optometry, and other services associated with the operation of aged care sectors.
• CSL: We have helped our clients win contracts for the provision of laboratory equipment as well as pharmaceutical services.
• Ramsay Health Care: For the provision of a range of health services including medical,
• Sonic Healthcare: For a range of contracts and services including the provision of IT services.
• St Vincent: For the provision of medical products, wound care products and other medical equipment supply.
• Healthscope: We have worked on many different tenders for small and medium businesses bidding to supply services to Healthscope.

Our experience in this sector isn’t limited to helping health professionals or suppliers secure contracts. We have helped IT companies secure healthcare industry contracts and product suppliers secure short, medium and long term product supply contracts. We have also worked on cleaning contracts, security and other facilities management contracts for businesses and organisations in the health and allied health sector.

Our writers have helped companies based internationally, to secure their first contracts. This sometimes involves working with local lawyers on their business establishment, as well as coordinating their registration and tender response.

Our experience writing medical industry bids and tenders

We are experienced in writing and coordinating bids for medical contracts across Australia and New Zealand. Whether it be the supply of product to Queensland Health, or the delivery of psychology services to rural WA, we’ve got the expertise, capabilities and knowledge to ensure you submit a compelling response. We also draw on our general tender and bid writing knowledge to ensure we implement best practices throughout the tender process and in the submission itself.

Our service extends to assisting:

• Doctors
• After-hours doctors
• Medical centre operators
• Physical, occupational and speech therapists
• Medical social services
• Nursing providers
• Nutritionists
• Dermatologists
• Radiologists
• Optometrists
• Ophthalmologists
• Pathologists

We understand the complexities of putting together a large medical tender and the rapidly changing nature of the market. From government medical tenders to private tenders such as the provision of medical evacuation services, we know how to identify your key points of difference and align them to your target clients. Our team of writers are experienced in drafting tenders in the medical industry and will work with you to update your current content where required.

We have completed medical tenders for the supply of medical equipment and the provision of medical services for a range of clients spanning small businesses to large corporations. As tender writing consultants, we incorporate win themes and introduce graphics where appropriate, and know-how to answer the questions that often appear in medical tenders these days, and aren’t really related to the medical industry at all.

Examples of successful medical tenders we have completed include:

• Writing a bid for a client who owned and operated a number of GP clinics. This was for the provision of after-hours doctor services in a regional and remote location in Western Australia. The service combined the operation of a GP in a regional and remote area as well as on-call and door-to-door GP services as required. This was a comprehensive bid which involved putting an experienced team forward as well as a large focus on practice management and reporting given it was a government contract.
• Writing a bid for the provision of psychology services in remote Queensland. This was a highly complex bid whereby psychology services were to be provided to indigenous and other at-risk groups in regional areas. There were two key aspects to the bid. The first was the ability, qualifications and depth of resources to provide the services. The second was the ability to provide the services efficiently to regional and remote communities. We helped our clients comprehensively cover both points in order submit a winning bid.
• We wrote a bid for the supply of syringes and other medical equipment to a private Sydney-based hospital. They hospital had undertaken a comprehensive procurement process with a highly complex pricing question which accounted for exchange rates and rises and fall in demand. We assisted the client in not only writing their proposal, but also in interpreting the pricing question and putting forward a response.

Our experience writing Aged Care tenders

Our experience helping clients with aged care industry bids and tenders is extensive. We understand all aspects of the industry from the medical side of it to the construction and property side of it.

We have helped a number of organisations win aged care tenders through developing a compelling value proposition, clearly and concisely communicating your key points of difference and why your organisation should be appointed to provide the product or service. The sector is highly regulated, and it is important to submit a bid that complies with the requirements and assures the reader of your credibility and capability to deliver.

In addition to navigating the complex regulation in place in the aged care tender, you need to provide appropriate supporting documentation for your tender response, and ensuring it complies with ISO or other requirements.

Our consultants will help you compile a bid that is compelling and will convince the reader not only of your capability to deliver but also your experience, expertise, and know-how to deliver. We have assisted businesses that work in the aged care sector including suppliers of products and operators.

We help you win aged care sector tenders by:

• Showcasing your insight and understanding of the industry. When writing a bid to the aged care sector, it’s important to demonstrate and understanding of the challenges they are faced with. Your product or service solution needs to meet the requirement of the bid, as well as align with their thinking. Demonstrating an understanding of the sector will help your bid substantially.
• Ensuring your values align. This is critical especially for not for profit aged care operators. You need to show that you share their values and focus on care for the elderly. All of your communications, including any training of your personnel must align with this.
• Ensuring you focus on the complete service delivery. Because regardless of if you are providing optometry services to an aged care sector, or new beds, you need to demonstrate that you will follow through. For example, with bedding, installation and providing clear operating instructions and product usage and training is crucial. The aged care nurses need to know how to operate the bed and with often high staff turnover, the training will need to occur often. Having a program in place (videos, other training sheets) is beneficial and demonstrates your ability to deliver over the long term.

Types of ages care tenders we have helped businesses write and win:

Federal Government Aged Care Tenders: These are mostly (however, not always), issued by the Department of Health and Aged Care. This Department is responsible for aged care in Australia and issue a broad range of tenders. We have helped our client write tenders and bids to the Department of Health and Aged Care to provide services such as:

• Providing consultancy services to undertake research activities and projects to drive aged care policy and regulation.
• Providing aged care and ancillary aged care services in remote and regional areas.
• Delivering capital assistance programs to residential aged care services.

In addition to the Federal Government, we have also helped clients write bids and tenders to state and territory governments. These are generally region focused, and we have helped clients write bids to the NSW Government, Northern Territory Government and Queensland Government.

Private sector aged care tenders: With a large private sector (including the not-for-profit sector) operating in the aged care sector, our experience extends to assisting our clients write bids and secure contracts with private sector organisations. For example, we have written tenders to Private Sector organisations (such as aged care facilities operators) for:

• Construction, maintenance and other renovation projects at aged care centres (these often require specialised knowledge in dust supression systems).
• The supply of medical, healthcare and other consumables used commonly used in aged care facilities. This expands from medical equipment and pharmaceuticals to specialist aged care bedding and furniture.
• The provision of different services to the aged care sector. For example, we have assisted catering companies to win bids for the provision of catering services as well as labour hire, recruitment and entertainment providers to win contracts to and service aged care providers.
• Care services tenders. These often include providing permanent and respite care as well as in-home care under the home-care services regulation to seniors who are living independently.
• Provision of highly specialised medical services to care centres. From optometrists to dementia care, physiotherapists and podiatry, we help medical practitioners break into the sector and win contracts with major aged care providers.

We’ve assisted or clients to write tenders to a range of organisations including:

• BUPA
• Alliti
• Estia
• Opal
• Regis
• Japara

Examples of success nursing home and aged care tenders we have written include:

• A tender for the supply of nursing home beds to three major nursing homes. This was a highly competitive tender with all the usual players submitting bids and the features of the beds being somewhat similar. Aside from price, it was difficult to differentiate our clients products with their competitors. One key point was installation and usage. In order to submit a winning proposal, we provided a detailed methodology statement about the installation and proper usage process including how we would provide lessons for usage to nursing home staff and clear and concise instructions. This support was critical to tender success and helping our clients win.
• We wrote a tender for our client, a major nursing home supply company for the provision of CCTV monitoring services with a focus on fall detection. This was a relatively new field and we changed the style of writing to be more educational than writing to win. The buyer had limited knowledge of the applications of the technology and how it would deliver value to their organisation. We used infographics and simple, concise and clear writing to clearly demonstrate the benefits of the technology in order to help our client win.

Pharmaceutical Tenders

The pharmaceutical industry is highly competitive and extremely regulated. At a retail level, pharmacists and pharmacies compete for supply and service contracts, whilst on a wholesale level three are tender for supply of medicines and other products. We work with you to identify suitable tenders and grants, and are able to act as a temporary resource should your bid and tender team have an overflow.

Our writers understand what it takes to win government and private sector Pharmaceutical contracts. We know the importance of IP, how to identify win themes, and how to consistently deliver results.

We have been involved in tenders with and to:

• GSK
• Amgen
• Novartis
• Sanofi
• Johnson and Johnson
• Pfizer
• IPSEN

Different types of pharmaceutical RFQs our bid writers have experience working on

Our team of writers have worked on a range of different types of Pharmaceutical industry tenders across the country. We have worked on bids from Perth to Sydney as well as in Darwin and regional and metro areas. These have included:

• Drug and Medicinal Supply: We have helped clients write tenders for the supply of prescription and over the counter medications. This includes the bidding for the operation of community pharmacies and other drug supply contracts.
• Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: We have helped clients win bids for the supply of machinery and other equipment required for the production of pharmaceuticals. Our team has also been involved in international bids associated with pharmaceuticals production.
• Pharmacy Services: We have helped pharmacists across Australia win contracts for the operational of retail pharmacies as well as the provision of hospital pharmacy services.
• Distribution and Logistics: We have worked with logistics companies specialising in the healthcare sector who bid for contracts for the storage, transportation, and distribution of pharmaceuticals.
• Research and Development: Our grant writing team, which is a separate division from our tender writing team, assists with research and development funding applications and grant applications.

Examples of tenders we have worked on include:

• The supply of a range of medicinal and pharmaceutical products to the NSW Department of Health. This was a challenging situation for our client who had an existing contract for a drug which was about to go generic. They were of course concerned about generic competitors entering the market and taking market share (and their contract / supply agreement). We responded to the RFP comprehensively and put forward a compelling argument as to why our client should be reappointed to the contract for an additional three years.

Features of our service

Our team will:

• Gain an understanding of your business quickly to understand how we can help. We will help you conduct a bid/no bid analysis to make sure the tender is worth bidding for. We will also work with you to develop a strategy to win your tender including reading between the lines of the RFT. Our writing consultants will then incorporate any key issues raised into your strategy and response as win themes.
• Become an extension of your team. We will work seamlessly with your team and will fit in with any and every team culture. We can quickly develop relationships with SMEs, HR and other departments and key Directors to gather the correct information for your bid.
• Write the bid response – we take care of the actual writing. You can write the content yourself, or provide us with notes in order to write content based on that. We can deal directly your internal SMEs and simplify language as required.
• Follow up and project manage the process so that you get it in on time. This is usually the hardest part of the tender response process as it involves a lot of moving parts and multiple stakeholders. We create a checklist to monitor the tender progress and project manage the development of the main document as well as all of the supporting documentation such as WHS, QMS and Environmental plans.
• Help for a few weeks or a few months – We’re flexible. Sometimes clients have their in-house tender writer go on maternity leave and need us to fill in. Other clients outsource absolutely all of their work to us. Either way, we can help and will provide you with a flexible service to suit your needs.
• Develop a tender library for you. A comprehensive bid library can save you hundreds of hours in the tender and bid preparation process. We can help you develop a bid library, and potentially use AI-assisted tender response programs, to store all of your core information and ensure future tenders are easier to put together due to having a comprehensive content library in place.
• Help you hire a full-time tender writer if you need. This is an area we specialise in. We know what it takes to be a good bid or tender writer and apply our understanding of the profession to the recruitment process to find you a suitable recruit.

We provide fixed pricing, a highly responsive 24/7 service, and the comfort of knowing you have an experienced consultant assisting with your tender submission. Our consultants are able to work as part of your team or provide our service remotely.

We will work with you to help you draft a winning response, and will take the time to understand your organisation, the competitive landscape and what key win themes you are putting forward in the tender. Our team will identify your key strengths, work to them, and develop a tender database as part of the tendering process for your future reference.

You need to keep your audience in mind, and use simple English where appropriate. The industry is vast and includes a range of adjacent industries such as equipment supply and recruitment. Our Healthcare tender writing team has drafted successful tenders to private and public healthcare organisations such as the Prince of Wales Private Hospital and Uniting Care, as well as state and federal government departments. We are well resources and have the skills and expertise to assist with your next tender.

How will we help you win?

We help businesses in the healthcare industry across Australia and New Zealand, including in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart. Larger healthcare, pharmaceutical and medical companies benefit from our experience in national and multi-national bids.

Our team of bid writers can help you:

• Understand the aged care, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors from a tendering perspective and provide guidance on what you should and should not bid for.
• Prepare the required supporting documentation for the tender.
• Review your tender document if you have written your proposal internally.
• Project manage the tender process from start to finish.
• Provide guidance on how to respond to complex pricing challenges. This often applies to equipment supply tenders which have exchange rates involved.

Our team of tender and bid writers that specialise in the healthcare sector

Both our Director, Jason Cooney, and Senior Writer, Paula Kelly, specialise in the Healthcare sector.  Jason has written hundreds of tenders to aged care operators, health departments across Australia, and the federal government over the years. He is a trusted advisor to a number of large industry operators, many of whom have in-house tendering and bid writing teams, but still rely on Jason to review their bids and provide expert feedback. Jason’s experienced extends to writing bids and tenders for healthcare clients in regional and remote areas.

Our Senior Bid Writer, Paula, spends 60% of her time writing healthcare industry bids. Whether it is for the provision of pathology or speech therapy services in a regional area, or a government bid for a large pharmaceutical contract, she is dedicated to helping her clients win. Paula is well regarded by our clients for her knowledge of healthcare industry terminology as well as what clients are looking for in bids and tenders.

Helping with international healthcare bids

We work closely with our partner offices in Europe, the UK and New Zealand to help you expand your business globally through business development and bids and tenders. We also work with smaller businesses looking to bid for their first government contract. This includes businesses across Australia and we have experience writing tenders to the private and public sector including privately run hospitals. We understand the methodologies that private sector procurement departments adopt and how they differ from those in the public sector.

If you need help with, want to win more, or are looking for a consultant to help you win a pharmaceutical, medical or healthcare tender we are here to assist.

Client testimonials

We are a healthcare and aged care product supplier based in Newcastle, NSW. We have worked with Jason and the team at The Tender Team to help with our government tenders to Victoria and New South Wales health. They are very good tender writers. They are reliable, they answer their phones, they meet deadlines and their written responses are great. I am very happy with them. They can quickly and easily explain how to answer complex questions and they work well with all our team members. They understand the medical supply industry and know how to answer all the questions on modern slavery, product training etc. I would highly recommend them to any business in the health sector that needs help winning tenders.

Tom C | Medical and Healthcare Equipment Distribution and Manufacturing | Newcastle, NSW

Jason and The Tender Team assisted us with writing a bid to the state government for the operation of a GP clinic. There were very complex questions on practice management and IT systems that as doctors we don’t normally have to attend to or answer. The Tender Team helped us write compelling and comprehensive responses that helped us win. They know what to write and they know what the government wants to hear. They gave us ideas about what we can write about and how to include evidence in our response.

Overall we have a very positive experience.

Reginald T | Medical Practice | Queensland State Government – Health

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find Australian government health tenders?

You can search for Australian Government health tenders on TenderLink or AusTenders. The individual states also have tender notification services which you can sign up to. Here at The Tender Team, we provide a tailored tender notification service to health industry clients to assist you in idetnifying suitable tender opportunities.

What is the difference between an open tender and a limited tender in healthcare procurement?

An open tender invites / allows all businesses to participate and bid. In a limited tender, it’s generally invite only for a certain number of preselected organisations to bid.

What are the key differences between state and federal health tenders in Australia?

State health tenders generally apply to the provision of services in or to a specific state. For example, a tender to Victoria Health. Federal health tenders are to provide services to the federal government or federal government agencies.

Are there specific requirements for small businesses bidding on medical tenders?

Generally speaking no. Here at The Tender Team, we have helped many small businesses write tenders to and bid for medical tenders and have never had to adhere to any specific requirements.

What is AusTender and how do I use it for health tenders?

AusTender is a government portal that released Australian Government tenders. You can sign up to it and receive notifications for health industry tenders and other medical tenders. You use it to identify opportunities and also to upload tenders and responses. Our bid writers at The Tender Team can help you with this process.

How do I write a competitive tender response for a health service contract?

Some strategies to write a competitive tender or RFT response are to:

• Include evidence throughout the tender
• Localise your bid
• Include testimonials
• Detail your expertise
• Comprehensively respond to each question
• Write in a concise manner with a positive tone
• Ensure you comply with the requirements.

Contact Jason Cooney from The Tender Team if you require further guidance and/or assistanct.

How do I demonstrate value for money in a healthcare tender proposal?

You demonstrate value for money by:

• Putting forward measurable initiatives.
• Quantifying your initiatives or services throughout your bid.
• Putting a dollar value on your services throughout your bid where possible.
• Clearly defining the services or products you will provide.
• Providing whole of life cost analysis and clearly explaining the benefits of your service or product.

What are the common pitfalls and mistakes to avoid when responding to a medical RFPs and RFTs?

Some of the common pitfalls clients make when respond to medical and healthcare RFPs and RFTs include:

• Not responding directly to the question and answering the question they want instead of the question that is asked.
• Focusing on themselves when assessing the competitive landscape and not their competitors.
• Writing general responses that are not tailored.
• Bidding for any and every tender and not being selective and only bidding for tenders they have a chance of winning.
• Writing a generic response that is not tailored to the project, service or product.

Call Jason Cooney from The Tender Team for assistance with winning (or not losing) your next medical or healthcare contract.

How do I tender for mental health services in Australia?

It depends on the tender and who you are tendering to. It also depends on the nature of the tender or bid and what questions have been asked as well as what services are requested. Our team of bid writers here at The Tender Team have worked on many mental health and allied health tenders and are able to assist.

How do I tender for ambulance or patient transport services in Australia?

It depends on the specific questions and criteria in the bid or RFP documents. The steps normally include:

• Bid identification and bid/no bid analysis
• Check the mandatory criteria to ensure compliance
• Create a compliance checklist
• Write the initial draft
• Collect supporting evidence
• Finalise the draft and submit

For assistance with writing ambulance and patient transport services tenders call The Tender Team on 0410 448 770.

Where can I find professional assistance with medical tender writing in Australia?

The Tender Team has offices across Australia and a team of bid writers who are experienced in writing medical and allied health industry tenders and bids. Jason Cooney, Director, has over twelve years experience helping medical, pharmaceutical and aged care businesses across Australia write tenders to all levels of government include federal, state and local. Their professional writing service offers assistance to businesses of all sizes to write and win tenders and contracts across Australia. We are one of the leaders in medical industry tender and bid writing in Australia. Contact our team here.

Are there government resources available to help with medical tenders?

Yes. Some useful government links are provided here and here. You can also call our team of expert medical and health sector bid and tender writers for help with your bid. At The Tender Team, we will guide you every step of the way through your journey no matter where you are based in Ausrtalia.

How do I get feedback on my unsuccessful tender submission?

The process differs slightly depending on the government department. However, generally speaking, once you have been notified that you were unsuccessful you can:

• Request a debrief.
• Ask questions in the debrief about why you were unsuccessful.
• Request and review the results and how you scored based on the weighting criteria.

Call us on 0410 448 770 to discuss how you can improve your prospects of tendering success or email us at info@thetenderteam.com.au with your documents for a quote.