Etio

Preparing for Success in Future Public Sector Tenders through Social Value Excellence.

Client Intro

Etio is a forward-thinking organisation dedicated to driving meaningful social, economic, and environmental benefits through its work within the public sector. Guided by a mission to create positive and lasting impact, Etio aligns its approach with government priorities, such as widening participation, levelling up, and advancing social mobility. At its core, Etio strives to ensure opportunity for all, breaking the link between background and success through evidence-based practice. Committed to delivering more than compliance, Etio seeks to lead in social value by ensuring that every engagement delivers tangible benefit.

Recognising the evolving requirements of public sector procurement—particularly in light of the Procurement Act 2025 and the introduction of the latest Social Value Model—Etio engaged our expertise to critically review its previous social value proposal responses and prepare its team for greater success in future public sector tenders. This case study outlines how our engagement provided a comprehensive review and recommendations, and delivered a bespoke, all-day training workshop designed to ensure Etio’s Business Development, Sales, and Bid Writing teams are fully equipped and confident to respond to upcoming public sector opportunities.

Engagement Objectives
This engagement focused on the following key aims:

• To conduct a thorough review of Etio’s recent public sector social value proposal responses, with an emphasis on learning and improvement for future tenders.
  
  
• To develop a detailed recommendation report, outlining clear, actionable strategies for consistently achieving top scores in public sector procurements that assess social value.
  
  
• To deliver an intensive, interactive workshop to upskill Etio’s Business Development, Sales, and Bid Writing teams, preparing them specifically for the challenges and expectations of future public sector bidding.
  
  
• To embed a culture of social value leadership and strategic alignment with government missions and policy outcomes, ensuring sustainable success in all forthcoming tenders.

These objectives were defined with the future in mind, ensuring that Etio’s bid teams would not only respond to current requirements, but would be well-prepared for the evolving priorities and evaluation methods shaping upcoming public sector tenders.

Comprehensive Review: Methodology and Findings

The first phase of the engagement involved a structured review of Etio’s previous social value proposal responses. Our approach included:

• Analysing past submissions against the latest Social Value Model and Model Award Criteria (MACs) introduced by the UK Government, with a focus on trends likely to influence future tenders.
  
  
• Benchmarking Etio’s responses against best practice examples and high-scoring submissions from comparable public sector competitions.
  
  
• Interviewing key team members to identify process strengths and areas for development, ensuring recommendations would be relevant for future opportunities.
  
  
• Assessing the alignment of commitments with current and emerging government priorities, such as economic growth, fair work, sustainability, and inclusion.

The review highlighted Etio’s authentic commitment to social value and its history of effective community engagement. Nonetheless, several opportunities were identified to further enhance future tender responses: clarifying and measuring commitments more precisely, evidencing impact robustly, and explicitly linking initiatives to both local and national policy outcomes.

Feedback from previous submissions underscored the importance of delivering beyond minimum expectations, providing compelling delivery plans, and demonstrating value-added initiatives—key differentiators in future competitions.

Training Workshop: Preparing Teams for Upcoming Public Sector Bids

The engagement concluded with an interactive, full-day training workshop, specifically tailored to prepare Etio’s Business Development, Sales, and Bid Writing teams for success in future public sector tenders. The workshop covered:

• An overview of evolving procurement requirements and the practical impact of new social value models on bid responses.
  
  
• Insights into best practice responses and how to exceed minimum requirements in upcoming bids.
  
  
• Guidance for constructing robust, future-ready social value responses and developing frameworks for flagship and flexible programs that anticipate changing government missions.
  
  
• Scenario-based group exercises to strengthen skills and confidence for responding to future public sector opportunities.
  
  
• Action planning to ensure teams are equipped for forthcoming tenders.

The workshop was highly practical and collaborative, empowering Etio’s teams with the confidence, tools, and strategic mindset required to thrive in the changing landscape of public sector procurement.

Client Testimonial
“Our experience with transformacy has been excellent to date – they understood the brief rapidly, mobilised swiftly, and brought their significant experience and expertise to lay out a clear pathway that will enable us to develop our own social value strategy effectively.  Social Value is a much misunderstood dimension for organisations like ours who bid into central government frequently, and transformacy were brilliant at explaining it in simple language, and helping us understand where and how we should differentiate our offering”. — Gordon Carver, Managing Director UK&I, Etio

Outcomes and Impact
The engagement resulted in tangible improvements and future readiness across Etio’s bid development process and strategic orientation:

• Teams acquired expert understanding of new procurement models and evaluation criteria, positioning them for excellence in future tenders.
  
  
• Bid responses were restructured to be evidence-led, locally relevant, and impact-focused, all with a view to future procurement success.
  
  
• Internal governance and reporting mechanisms were strengthened to support continuous improvement and future bid credibility.
  
  
• Etio is now better equipped than ever to secure top social value scores, enhance its reputation with public sector clients, and deliver meaningful benefits to communities through forthcoming tenders.