Your Stories Matter

Your Stories Matter: Why Authenticity Wins in the New Procurement Landscape

The UK procurement landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. With the new Procurement Act in February 2025 and companies experimenting with large language models (LLMs or “generative AI”) in bid writing, buyers are changing how they design and assess tenders in a way which creates challenges and opportunities for organisations looking to secure new contracts.

A New Procurement Reality

The new Procurement Act focus on "Most Advantageous Tenders" rather than lowest cost, with greater emphasis on social value and SME accessibility. Simultaneously, LLMs have infiltrated the bidding process, producing generic content or making mistakes that compromise buyers’ ability to identify capable, safe providers delivering quality care.

How Councils Are Responding

The procurement landscape is evolving rapidly as councils implement innovative strategies to ensure they partner with genuinely capable care providers. These approaches go far beyond basic anti-plagiarism software and disclosure requirements.

Councils in the Southwest and Midlands have completely redesigned how they ask care tender questions by focussing on real world experience. One by requiring all responses to be written as anonymised real life case studies; and another by asking you to respond to questions in the context of pre-supplied pen portraits. Bidders must demonstrate professional judgement and capability through actual examples of care delivery, contract management, reporting, and safeguarding. This approach forces organisations to showcase genuine experience rather than theoretical approaches, provides practical insight into personalised care methods, and makes it nearly impossible to use AI-generated content.

We’re also witnessing more presentation-based assessment, both in-person and pre-recorded. This approach is powerful as it allows councils to hear directly from those running contracts, removing reliance on generic written content, leverages widely available smartphone technology for accessibility, and provides authentic insights into an organisation's culture that simply can't be replicated by AI.

Some councils are placing greater emphasis

on CQC ratings and inspection results for quality validation. While this approach has merit in externalising assessment to professional inspectors, it comes with limitations. Current backlogs in initial inspections and reinspections mean data isn't always current, newer organisations may be disadvantaged, and overly strict requirements could exclude innovative providers who bring fresh approaches.

What This Means for Care Providers

The implications for care organisations are clear and compelling. In this new procurement environment, your authentic stories and experiences are your most valuable assets. Whether responding to case-study based questions, providing evidence of past delivery, or creating video presentations, the truth about how you deliver care is what will win you contracts.

The combined changes from the Procurement Act and council responses to AI mean that storytelling is an essential part of submitting a compliant bid. Organisations that can effectively communicate their real-world experiences, problem-solving approaches, and care philosophies will thrive in this new landscape.

To successfully navigate this evolving environment, focus on authentically representing your capabilities and share meaningful examples of your work. This will position you for sustainable success in securing the contracts that allow you to deliver highquality care.