From Pressure to Precision: powering a winning Dfe submission

The Challenge

Our client faced a highly competitive submission for the DfE CF25 Framework, a complex tender with limited design and tight deadlines. With limited internal resources and significant commercial risk, they required rapid, reliable bid support to produce fully packaged, market-tested pricing across four regions.

Our Approach

We developed a structured deadline strategy, breaking down the DfE’s bill of quantities into trade packages and utilising our well-established supply chain network, resulting in a robust set of benchmark rates to support our client’s framework bid, ensuring quality data for their submission.

We overcame the risk of securing subcontractor engagement for a non-live tender by sticking to our strategy alongside ensuring strong communication and clarity around assumptions.

Each return was thoroughly reviewed for accuracy, consistency, and realism. For higher-risk packages such as groundworks, we introduced a standardised assumptions document to align all pricing and
minimise ambiguity. Throughout, we worked closely with our client’s team to ensure our outputs integrated seamlessly into their bid.

The Outcome

We delivered a comprehensive, audit-ready pricing package
featuring:

• Regional rate comparison schedules by trade
• Groundworks breakdowns with prelims and uplift analyses
• Comparative commentary for piling, fencing, landscaping, and street furniture
• Clear inclusions, exclusions, and market insights.

All presented in our client’s approved format, concise,
consistent, and ready for submission.

The Result

Our support freed the client’s internal team to focus on bid strategy and compliance, while we ensured pricing was market-aligned, defensible, and risk-aware. The outcome was a confident, commercially strong submission ready for negotiation or award.