Winning a UK Government £350m Health Assessment Services Contract

Services provided:  
Work Winning strategy & Pre-bid Capture Support
,  
Bid & Proposal Writing & Bid Management

£2bn+ programme

National DWP investment in welfare and disability assessments

£350 million

Value of South West and South Central Lot

12-month bid cycle

Multi-stage process included dialogue and BAFO

Overview

Functional Assessment Services (FAS) is a £multi-billion DWP programme underpinning welfare and disability reform. After identifying the opportunity to expand its presence within this market, our client approached 50 Degrees for support with win strategy and solution development and bid production in order to strengthen its competitive position.

Challenge

The FAS procurement was divided into regional Lots, each worth around £300m, and ran over a year-long process. Procurement was broken down into multiple stages, comprising initial bids, dialogue, Best and Final Offer (BAFO), and commissioner presentations. In order to succeed in this highly competitive procurement landscape and compete with experienced incumbents, the client needed to present clear win themes and differentiated solutions aligned to the commissioner’s requirement for the integrated delivery of clinical quality, operational resilience and digital innovation.

Strategy

50 Degrees assembled a specially-selected team of DWP specialists, clinical SMEs, solution designers, and bid writers. We worked collaboratively to enhance the client’s overall offer, including refining win themes and value propositions; co-designing assessment pathways, workforce models, and digital tools with medical directors; and preparing leadership teams for commissioner dialogue. Our hybrid approach, which combined face-to-face workshops with iterative writing and graphics support, enabled us to produce high-quality and innovative proposals throughout the 12-month bidding cycle.

Results

Our client was awarded a £350m Lot and is now delivering the service. Our support shaped a clinically credible, digitally enabled, and operationally robust solution that resonated with evaluators and reinforced commissioner confidence in the organisation’s ability to deliver welfare and disability assessment services at national scale.

  • Secured £350m Lot, expanding delivery footprint within the UK’s national welfare and disability assessment programme.
  • Shaped clear win strategy and value proposition, centred on operational scale, clinical quality, and digital-enabled service innovation.
  • Provided end-to-end bid management over a 12-month cycle, combining workshops and remote delivery to produce consistent, compliant, and persuasive submissions.

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