For UK MedTech companies
Your product is stronger than the tender result suggests
NHS contracts are decided long before submission day. Without tender intelligence and pre-engagement, even superior medtech loses to competitors who understood the brief earlier, and structured their bid accordingly.
Two minutes. Solva follows up with specific bid improvement options.
- Receiving low scores on 'quality' or 'social value' sections of tenders
- Frequent disqualification due to technical non-compliance with tender requirements
- Consistently losing to competitors with seemingly inferior products but superior bids
- Lack of clear feedback or understanding of why tenders are lost
- Inefficient allocation of sales and marketing resources
- Demoralised sales and bid teams due to repeated failures
- Loss of significant revenue opportunities, potentially millions annually
- Increased operational costs due to inefficient sales cycles
- Delayed patient access to innovative MedTech solutions
- Suboptimal patient outcomes due to less effective technology
- Perception as a less competitive or capable supplier within the NHS
- Difficulty attracting top talent to sales and business development roles
- Structural root causes include the increasing complexity and regulatory demands of NHS procurement.
- Behavioural causes often stem from a reactive approach to tenders, focusing on submission rather than strategic pre-tender engagement and continuous improvement.
- Systemic issues involve a lack of dedicated resources or expertise in bid writing and tender management within MedTech companies.
Professional bid writing services achieve a success rate in excess of 85% across various sectors, including public sector contracts (Executive Compass, 2026)
How to fix it
Build a tender management capability: subscribe to NHS tender alert services (Contracts Finder, Find a Tender), engage with procurement teams during the market engagement phase before ITT publication, and invest in professional bid writing support. Review every lost tender for lessons.
Frequently asked questions
Why does this problem persist?
NHS procurement tenders are won or lost on preparation, not just product quality. Companies that don't invest in tender intelligence, pre-tender engagement with procurement teams, and professional bid writing consistently underperform against competitors who treat tendering as a core commercial capability.
What is the cost of leaving it unaddressed?
Improving tender win rates from 20% to 40% for 10 annual NHS tenders at an average contract value of £150,000 could generate an additional £300,000 in annual revenue (Executive Compass, 2026)
This is exactly what I do with UK private practices. Answer the few questions above and I'll come back personally with where to start. Paul.