Freelance Consultant: Bid Review and Tender Strategy (Estates and Property Services)

About the role

City Estate Solutions (CES) delivers estate, property and facilities management services to public sector and social housing clients, alongside group companies operating in related sectors.

Our Tender Department manages a live pipeline of competitive public sector opportunities across local authority, housing association and wider public estate commissioners, primarily in property management, responsive repairs and maintenance, and facilities and estate services.

We are seeking a freelance consultant who has sat on the other side of the table.

You will have been employed by a UK public sector estates or property client organisation, such as a city, county, unitary or district council (property, estates, asset management, housing or corporate landlord functions), a registered provider of social housing or ALMO, a combined authority, or a central government property body such as the Government Property Agency, Homes England or the Crown Commercial Service, and will bring an evaluator's perspective to our bids before submission.

• Scope
• Review draft bid responses through an evaluator's lens, scoring them against the published criteria, and identifying where an answer could be tailored to maximise score.
• Advise on bid strategy at key decision points: win themes, lotting and pricing strategy (schedule of rates, fixed fee, percentage of rent roll or measured term), and how a submission will read against likely competitors, including larger property management and FM incumbents.
• Strengthen our understanding of what estates and property clients weight in practice: mobilisation and TUPE, statutory compliance (gas, electrical, fire, asbestos, water hygiene and building safety), KPI and SLA regimes and performance deductions, tenant and occupier experience, social value, accreditation gateways, turnover thresholds, insurance and financial standing.
• Advise on effective use of clarification questions and, where relevant, feedback and standstill processes.
• Support post-outcome reviews of both won and lost bids, translating client feedback into repeatable improvements.
• Provide occasional input on procurement mechanics, including the Procurement Act 2023, construction and FM frameworks (for example Crown Commercial Service Estate Management Services, Fusion21, LHC and Procurement Hub) and JCT, NEC and TPC contract forms, as they affect bid positioning.

Essential

• Previous employment by a UK public sector or social housing client organisation (local authority, registered provider, ALMO, combined authority or central government property body) in a role involving procurement, commissioning, contract or supplier management, or bid evaluation for estates, property, repairs and maintenance or facilities services.

This is a prerequisite; applications without it will not be considered.

• Direct experience of evaluating or moderating supplier bids, or of drafting specifications, pricing schedules and evaluation criteria, for property, estates or maintenance contracts.
• Working knowledge of UK public procurement frameworks and their practical application.
• Ability to give direct, evidenced, actionable feedback to short deadlines.

Desirable

• Client-side track record in local authority corporate landlord or commercial estate management (lettings, lease consultancy, mixed-use property management) or in social housing repairs and maintenance (responsive repairs, voids, planned and cyclical works, compliance servicing).
• Familiarity with schedule of rates pricing (NHF or M3), measured term contracts, framework and DPS mechanics, and open-book or KPI-linked payment models.
• Understanding of the regulatory landscape affecting public estates, including the Building Safety Act 2022, the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and Awaab's Law, the Regulator of Social Housing consumer standards, and RICS property management standards.
• Experience advising SMEs bidding into the public sector, particularly against larger FM and property management incumbents.
• Engagement terms
• Freelance contract for services at an agreed day or half day rate, engaged ad hoc around live tender deadlines.

Volume will vary month to month; availability at short notice may be required.

• Fully remote, with review sessions held online. All work is subject to a confidentiality agreement.
• Probity and conflicts of interest

Applicants must declare any current or recent relationships with public sector estates clients, registered providers or their procurement functions that could give rise to a conflict of interest.

The consultant will not be asked for, and must not share, confidential information obtained from any client organisation, and will recuse themselves from any opportunity where their former employer is the contracting authority and a conflict would arise.

All advice must be consistent with the fair and transparent conduct of public procurement.