An NHS Invitation to Tender arrives with a lot of material attached. There is the specification, the scoring criteria, the questions themselves, the contract terms, and a portal to navigate that you may never have used before. For suppliers who are new to the process, it can be genuinely overwhelming. Important documents get buried. Deadlines for clarification questions get missed. Responses get drafted in the wrong order against the wrong version of the specification.
Atamis is one of the most widely used e-procurement platforms across the NHS and social care tender landscape. Understanding how to use it efficiently, and how to read what it is actually asking of you, makes a significant difference to the quality and timeliness of your submission. This guide takes you through each stage of the process from first access to final submission.
Atamis is a cloud-based procurement platform used by NHS trusts, Integrated Care Boards, and other public sector bodies to manage the full tendering lifecycle. Suppliers register on the system, receive notifications of relevant opportunities, access tender documents, submit clarification questions, and upload their completed responses, all within the same environment. It is designed to create a transparent, auditable process for both buyers and suppliers.
For a fuller introduction to how Atamis works and how to set up your supplier profile, our guide on how Atamis works and how to set up your account covers the platform fundamentals. This post picks up from the point at which an ITT has landed in your portal and you need to work out what to do with it.
Before anything else, confirm that your organisation’s Atamis registration is accurate and up to date. Discrepancies between your registration details (such as company name, registered address, financial information) and the information you provide within your response can raise concerns during evaluation, even if they are purely administrative in origin. In a close competition, small things matter.
When you gain access to an ITT, download every document immediately. Buyers sometimes issue addenda, clarification notes, or revised specifications during the tender period. Working from a cached or earlier version of a document is a risk that is easily avoided by downloading everything on day one and then checking again at the midpoint of the process for any updates.
This step is consistently underestimated. The instinct, particularly under time pressure, is to start drafting responses immediately. Resist it. Reading the full suite of documents before writing a single word gives you an understanding of how questions relate to each other, where the scoring weight sits, what the commissioner’s strategic priorities are, and where your strongest evidence will land.
The regulatory framework that governs NHS procurement will influence the type of language, evidence, and commitments expected throughout the ITT. Procurement route, legal requirements, and standstill obligations are all referenced in the documentation, and understanding the context helps you read each question with the right frame of reference.
As you read, make notes on the following:
NHS tender questions are not always written as plainly as they might be. A question about your “approach to service delivery” is often testing a specific methodology, your evidence of outcomes from previous work, and your understanding of the local context in which the service will operate. A question about “workforce planning” may be simultaneously testing recruitment, retention, supervision, contingency, and training compliance.
Read each question three times. The first to understand the surface question. The second to identify the sub-elements being tested. The third to identify where your strongest evidence sits and which parts of your response will need the most careful attention. Common question themes in NHS ITTs cluster around service model and implementation, patient safety and clinical governance, workforce, outcomes and data, social value, and mobilisation.
For every scored question, create an answer plan before you write. An answer plan is a brief internal document that identifies the key points to cover, the evidence you will use to support each point, and the structure of the response. It is not the response itself; it is the architecture that makes the response coherent.
Effective answer planning maps each element of your response directly to the evaluation criteria. If the scoring matrix awards marks for evidence of outcomes, innovation, and implementation planning, your answer plan should identify exactly where and how each of these will appear in your response. The approach mirrors the bid strategy and capture planning process we use with clients, starting with the buyer’s criteria and working backwards to your strongest evidence.
Atamis includes a structured clarification function that allows suppliers to submit questions to the buyer during the tender period. All clarifications and their responses are shared with all registered bidders, so you will not gain a competitive advantage by asking. You will, however, avoid the significant disadvantage of proceeding on an incorrect assumption.
Use the clarification facility for anything that is genuinely ambiguous. If a specification requirement is unclear, if a word limit seems inconsistent with what the question is asking, or if you are unsure whether your organisation’s approach satisfies a particular requirement, ask. Frame your question carefully (it will be visible to competitors) but do not be deterred from raising legitimate points.
NHS evaluators read many bids in parallel. Your response needs to be structured so that key points are easy to find and the answer to the question being asked is clearly signposted. Use clear paragraph breaks, logical sequencing, and direct language. Avoid jargon where plain English will do, and do not pad responses to reach a word count. Evaluators notice filler and it tends to reduce confidence in the substance behind it.
One of the reasons healthcare bids commonly fall short is failing to directly address what was asked. Every paragraph in your response should map to a specific element of the question. If you find yourself including content that does not serve the question, cut it.
Atamis will not accept submissions after the deadline, and the system will not give you any grace period for technical difficulties. Build at least 24 hours into your submission plan before the deadline for final quality checks. If possible, build in 48 hours. Portals can be slow under load near deadlines, file uploads can fail, and browsers can time out.
Before submitting, confirm that every response has been saved and not left in draft, every required attachment has been uploaded, and every mandatory section has been completed. Take screenshots of the portal confirmation of receipt. Keep a complete record of your submission: every document, every response, every date stamp. You will need this if any query arises during the evaluation period.
Getting an ITT response right on Atamis requires both platform familiarity and a clear strategy for the content. At Bidding, we work with NHS and social care suppliers at every stage: reading ITTs, building answer plans, writing responses that score, and reviewing submissions before they go in. Our independent review of your draft responses is one of the most cost-effective interventions available to any team approaching submission. Speak to Bidding today to find out how we can support your next NHS bid.
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