Section 01Who we are
These terms are issued by TenderLab Ltd, a private limited company registered in England and Wales under Companies House number 17184263, with registered office at 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. TenderLab is our trading name.
References to "we", "us" and "our" mean TenderLab Ltd. References to "you" and "your" mean the client identified in the engagement letter or the user of this site.
Email [email protected].
Section 02Acceptance and version
By using this website or engaging our services you agree to these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the site or our services. These terms are made available under the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002.
The version on this page at the date of your engagement applies for the duration of that engagement. Material updates affecting a live engagement will be notified to you in writing and require your written agreement to apply. For site visitors, the most recent version applies from the "Last updated" date at the top of the page.
Section 03Services we provide
We provide the following services for UK health and social care providers.
- Tender writing and bid writing for adult social care, children's residential, supported accommodation, supported living, complex care, Continuing Healthcare and other regulated and non-regulated services.
- Bid strategy and pre-submission review by an evaluator-perspective writer who has not drafted the bid.
- Lost bid debrief and rewrite plan against the published scoring feedback.
- Tender readiness audit against qualification gates (Ofsted, CQC, DBS, cyber, insurance, financials).
- Bid team coaching structured around CQC Quality Statements, the Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023, Care Act 2014 Section 42 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 five statutory principles.
- Pipeline tracking and tender alerts via our managed feed.
- Mobilisation support for newly awarded contracts.
- Tender retainer for ongoing bid programmes.
Service-specific scope, deliverables, milestones and fees are set out in your engagement letter.
Section 04Engagement formation
Each engagement follows a four-stage sequence. The contract is only formed when all of the stages below are complete.
Stage 1: Proposal. We share a written proposal with the prospective client setting out the scope of work, deliverables, timelines, named lead and the total fee.
Stage 2: Proposal acceptance. The client confirms acceptance of the proposal in writing (email confirmation is sufficient).
Stage 3: Issue of three documents. On acceptance, we send three documents together: (i) a deposit invoice for 50% of the total fee, (ii) an onboarding form requesting the information we need to start work and (iii) a contract incorporating these terms.
Stage 4: Three preconditions to commencement. We do not start work on any tender, bid or related deliverable until all three of the following preconditions are satisfied:
- (a) the deposit (first 50% of the total fee) has been paid and cleared in our bank account;
- (b) the completed onboarding form has been returned to us; and
- (c) the contract has been signed and returned to us.
If any one of (a), (b) or (c) is outstanding, work does not begin. We will not commence drafting, evidence gathering, pre-submission review or any other deliverable until all three are in place. Where a tender deadline is at risk because a precondition is outstanding, we will tell you in writing and the risk of late or non-submission sits with you for so long as the precondition remains outstanding.
Where the contract conflicts with these terms, the contract prevails. Where the contract is silent, these terms apply. Changes to scope are documented in a written change order that records the new scope, the impact on timelines and any change in fees.
Section 05Fees and payment
Fees are stated in the proposal and confirmed in the contract. The standard payment model is a 50/50 split.
Deposit (first 50%). Invoiced on acceptance of the proposal alongside the onboarding form and contract. Payable before work commences. Work does not start until the deposit is paid and cleared in our bank account (see Section 04 stage 4).
Balance (final 50%). Invoiced on delivery of the final draft to the client. Payable per the invoice terms.
Unless agreed otherwise in the contract:
- Invoices are payable within 14 days of invoice date.
- For retainers, fees are billed monthly in advance and the 50/50 split does not apply.
- Late payment is subject to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2013 amending the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Statutory interest accrues at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, alongside the statutory fixed-sum compensation for each qualifying invoice (£40 for debts under £1,000, £70 for debts £1,000 to £9,999.99, £100 for debts of £10,000 or more) and reasonable recovery costs.
- Quoted fees exclude VAT. Where we are not VAT-registered we will say so; if our position changes we will indicate VAT separately on invoices.
- Out-of-pocket expenses (portal fees, courier, regulator search fees) are charged at cost with receipts.
Title to work-in-progress. All drafts, content, working papers and other work-in-progress produced by us remain our property and copyright until the full fee (deposit plus balance) has been paid and cleared in our bank account. The submission-content licence in Section 07 transfers to you only on full payment.
We may suspend work on overdue accounts after providing 7 days' written notice. Suspension does not relieve you of the duty to pay for work performed.
Section 06Refund and cancellation policy
Our services are sold to businesses for purposes related to their trade. Statutory consumer cancellation rights under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 do not apply because you are not contracting as a consumer.
Refunds are calculated against the 50/50 deposit-and-balance structure set out in Section 05.
Cancellation before work commences. If the client cancels before we have commenced work, the deposit is refundable less a £250 administration fee. The fee covers proposal preparation, onboarding setup and contract issuance. Refund issued within 14 days of cancellation.
Deposit non-refundable once we have allocated time. Once we have allocated time to your project (booked the writer or reviewer, started the onboarding briefing or opened the drafting workspace) the deposit is non-refundable. This protects the allocated capacity we will not be able to resell at short notice.
Cancellation mid-engagement. If you cancel by written notice after work has commenced but before the final draft is shared, the deposit is treated as covering work already performed up to the cancellation date. Where the value of the work performed is less than the deposit paid, the unspent portion is refundable on a pro-rata basis at our discretion, calculated by reference to time recorded on the engagement at our standard hourly rate. We will deliver to you all draft content produced to the cancellation date.
Balance. The balance is invoiced on delivery of the final draft. Once the final draft has been shared with you, fees for the balance are non-refundable, save where we have committed a material breach you have notified us of and we have failed to remedy under Section 13.
Cancellation of a retainer. Either party may cancel a monthly retainer by written notice with effect from the end of the next full calendar month. Retainer fees are not refunded for the notice period.
Refund of tender outcomes. We do not refund fees on the basis that a bid was unsuccessful. Tender outcomes depend on factors outside our control. See Section 10.
Refund route. Refunds are made by bank transfer to the originating account within 14 days of the refund event.
Section 07Intellectual property
Submission content. On full payment of fees, you receive a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable licence to use the submission content we produce for the procurement it was written for and any directly related re-bid.
Our underlying assets. We retain ownership of our underlying frameworks, templates, methodology, the TenderLab Quality Gate, the case-example library and the bid coaching curriculum.
Reuse of patterns. We may reuse and adapt content patterns we develop, provided we do not disclose your confidential information and do not reuse client-specific evidence without your consent.
Your inputs. Materials you supply (logos, case examples, policies, photographs) remain your intellectual property; you grant us a limited licence to use them for the engagement.
Section 08Confidentiality
We treat all client information as confidential. We do not disclose your engagement, your bids, your pricing or any commissioner-specific evidence to third parties except as required by law or by our hosting and infrastructure providers acting on our documented instructions.
We expect the same in return: do not share our methodology, the TenderLab Quality Gate or draft content with competitors or third parties without our written consent.
Confidentiality obligations survive termination for 7 years.
Section 09Conflicts of interest
We do not draft competing bids against an existing client for the same lot or geography in the same procurement window. Where a potential conflict arises we disclose it in writing and either decline the second engagement or proceed only with informed written consent from both parties.
We do not share commissioner-specific intelligence between competing clients.
Section 10Warranties and disclaimers
We warrant that we will perform the services with reasonable care and skill in accordance with industry standards for tender writing and bid consultancy.
Where we cite a 92% win rate across 200+ submissions, this refers to the aggregate of bids where the full submission was written or quality-gated by us and the commissioner has issued a final scoring decision. Failed PQQs we did not draft, withdrawn bids and bids still awaiting outcome are excluded. The win rate is a historical statement, not a contractual warranty of future outcomes.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Tender outcomes depend on factors outside our control, including price competition, evaluator interpretation, commissioner internal processes, your CQC or Ofsted rating, your financial standing and the quality of evidence you supply.
Except as expressly stated, we exclude all other warranties to the maximum extent permitted by law.
Section 11Limitation of liability
Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for: death or personal injury caused by our negligence; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; breach of statutory duties that cannot be excluded under English law.
Subject to that:
- Our total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with any engagement is limited to the fees paid by you for that engagement in the 12 months preceding the claim, or £25,000, whichever is greater.
- We are not liable for loss of profit, loss of business opportunity, loss of contract, loss of anticipated savings, loss of goodwill or any indirect or consequential loss.
- We are not liable for outcomes that depend on factors outside our control.
Section 12Indemnity
You indemnify us against all claims, losses, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:
- Any breach by you of these terms or the engagement letter.
- Inaccurate or unverified evidence you supply for inclusion in a submission.
- Misrepresentation of your service to the commissioner.
- Misuse of our methodology, the TenderLab Quality Gate or our intellectual property.
- Your infringement of any third-party intellectual property right in materials you supply to us.
We indemnify you against claims that the submission content we drafted infringes the intellectual property rights of a third party, subject to the liability cap in Section 11.
Section 13Termination
Either party may terminate an engagement by written notice with 14 days' warning, or immediately if the other party commits a material breach that is not remedied within 14 days of written notice.
On termination:
- You pay for all work performed up to the termination date, including reasonable wind-down work.
- We deliver to you all draft content produced to the termination date.
- Sections 06 (refund), 07 (IP), 08 (confidentiality), 10 (warranties), 11 (liability), 12 (indemnity) and 17 (governing law) survive termination.
Section 14Force majeure
Neither party is liable for delay or failure to perform caused by events outside reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, pandemic, government action, prolonged failure of internet or hosting infrastructure or industrial action. The affected party will notify the other promptly and resume performance as soon as the event ends.
Section 15Data protection
Personal data is processed under our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these terms. Where we act as a data processor for personal data you share with us (for example, service user evidence inside bid drafts), we process it only on your documented instructions and apply the security measures set out in the Privacy Policy.
Section 16Anti-bribery, modern slavery, equality
We comply with the Bribery Act 2010. We do not offer, give, solicit or accept bribes. We expect the same of our clients.
We comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We do not use forced labour, hold staff documents or tolerate slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain.
We comply with the Equality Act 2010. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic in delivery of our services or our employment practices.
Section 17Governing law
These terms and any non-contractual obligations arising under them are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes.
Before commencing court proceedings, the parties agree to attempt resolution by senior-level meeting within 14 days, and where that fails, by mediation under the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) Model Mediation Procedure.
Section 18Changes and contact
We may update these terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page records the most recent change. For complaints, raise the issue with your engagement lead first; escalate to the Director by emailing [email protected] with "Formal complaint" in the subject line. We acknowledge formal complaints within 5 working days and respond substantively within 20 working days.
TenderLab Ltd. Companies House 17184263. Registered office: 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. See also our Privacy Policy and Contact page.