Big Sister has launched Framework Growth Managed, a new outsourced framework development service designed to help health and social care providers turn public sector framework appointments into active commercial opportunities.
Healthcare and social care organisations invest significant time, money and resources securing positions on public sector frameworks, Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) and Dynamic Markets.
But winning a place is only the beginning. Too often, organisations successfully complete the procurement process, announce their framework award and add it to their credentials – only to find that the volume of work they expected doesn’t automatically follow.
Big Sister’s new Framework Growth Managed service has been developed specifically to address that gap.
The service provides providers with access to an outsourced Framework Development Team focused on understanding, monitoring and developing the commercial opportunities available through frameworks they have already secured.
From Framework Win to Framework Growth
Many health and social care providers now hold positions across multiple NHS, local authority and public sector frameworks.
Internally, however, responsibility for those frameworks can easily become fragmented.
The bid team wins the appointment. Operations focuses on delivering existing contracts. Business development searches for new customers. The framework itself can be left without anyone actively responsible for developing it.
Framework Growth Managed changes that. Big Sister begins by reviewing a provider’s existing framework portfolio and examining how each appointment works commercially, including its lots and services, geographical coverage, eligible buyers, call-off mechanisms, direct award provisions, further competitions, pricing requirements and known procurement activity.
The team can then map eligible buyers, investigate procurement and award activity, monitor upcoming opportunities and help providers prioritise the frameworks with the greatest potential.
Following the Opportunity
Rather than focusing solely on the advertised value of a framework, Big Sister looks at what is happening underneath it. Where reliable information is publicly available, this can include investigating who is buying, what they are buying, which suppliers are securing contracts, how much is being awarded and when existing arrangements may return to market.
Ongoing monitoring can also identify further competitions, mini competitions, call-offs, requests for quotation, procurement pipelines, market engagement, contract awards and approaching contract expiries. The aim is simple: give providers greater visibility of what is happening across their framework portfolio and, importantly, what they should be doing next.
Jill Hudson, Founder of Big Sister, said:
“We speak to so many providers who have done the hard bit. They’ve competed for a framework, passed the evaluation and secured their place – sometimes on several major frameworks – and then six or twelve months later they’re asking why they haven’t seen the work they expected.
“The answer is that winning a framework and developing a framework are two very different things.
“A framework appointment gives you a route to market. Someone still needs to understand who can buy from you, how they’re buying, where contracts are being awarded, when opportunities are coming and what your business should be doing to position itself for them.
“That’s why we’ve created Framework Growth Managed. We’re effectively becoming an outsourced Framework Development Team for our clients, bringing together procurement intelligence, research, monitoring, buyer engagement and our existing bidding expertise to help them get much more proactive with the frameworks they’ve already worked incredibly hard to win.”
Three Levels of Support
Big Sister has launched three levels of framework development support.
Framework Activation, starting from £1,000 + VAT, provides a focused review for organisations that have recently secured a framework or have an existing appointment that isn’t generating the opportunities expected. Providers receive a practical 90-Day Framework Activation Plan.
Framework Growth, starting from £1,250 + VAT per month, provides ongoing intelligence and monitoring across a defined portfolio of priority frameworks.
The flagship Framework Growth Managed service starts from £2,500 + VAT per month and is designed for providers holding multiple public sector framework appointments. Support can include portfolio auditing, framework prioritisation, buyer mapping, procurement and spend intelligence, competitor monitoring, opportunity monitoring, contract expiry intelligence, pipeline development, buyer engagement planning and ongoing strategic support. And when a framework does generate a formal further competition or mini competition, clients already have access to a team that understands their organisation, their framework and the opportunity, with additional bid support available where required.
For Big Sister, the new service represents an expansion of its role beyond helping providers secure access to public sector markets towards helping them actively develop those markets once they are there.
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You’ve won your seat at the table. Now it’s time to do something with it.
