If you are bidding for a tender where there are TUPE considerations because a contract is being retendered you may experience some challenges in getting accurate workforce data.

TUPE regulations as updated in 2014 require an outgoing contractor to pass on accurate employee liability information not less than 28 days before the transfer.  Sounds fine in theory but your tender process may be taking place many months before any potential transfer date so unless a company’s existing contract demands they provide such information during the tender process many try to play games with the data to put off competitors.

Games played can include:

• Including staff who will not transfer to bump up the perceived costs and make you bid too high
• Making data difficult to reconcile with a contract situation by providing it in hard to assess formats or unclear language
• Only providing minimal data and making you work out what is missing
• Putting in lots of figures that simply don’t add up when you do the calculations

Why play such games?  Well their job is to win the contract again and make you lose.

To counter such tricks you need to get the organisations running the tender process on-side by raising questions that bring into play elements of the TUPE regulations, the public procurement regulations if relevant, and most importantly showing how the lack of transparency is affecting the chances of the buying organisation getting the best deal with their new contract.

The key thing is to jump on the situation early and get the tender process to be a level playing field.  If you need assistance in winning any contract or tender, TUPE or not, just get in touch.