www.find-tender.service.gov.uk

                                                                   

Platform URL: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/ 1

The COCOO-FTS Doctrine: A Strategic Model for Public Contract Warfare

This doctrine establishes the protocol for interrogating the Find a Tender Service (FTS), the UK’s official portal for high-value public procurement. This is not a notice board; it is the central battlefield for winning government contracts. We will weaponize this platform to track the entire lifecycle of public procurement, deconstruct our competitors’ winning strategies, identify weaknesses in incumbent suppliers, and generate the intelligence needed to win high-value contracts and launch data-driven challenges against flawed awards. This platform is the primary engine for our USP origination, Competitor Analysis, and Challenge Discretion strategies in the UK public sector. 1

1. Core Principles of Interrogation

Our use of FTS is governed by the most aggressive principles of the COCOO framework. We are not just looking for tenders; we are engineering victory.

  • Lifecycle Intelligence: We will track procurements across their entire lifecycle. By monitoring Pipeline and Preliminary Market Engagement notices, we engage before the battle begins. By analyzing Tender notices, we understand the requirements. By dissecting Contract Award notices, we learn from wins and losses. This end-to-end view provides total market awareness. 2
  • Incumbent Deconstruction: The Contract Award Notice is a treasure map. It tells us who won, for how much, and for how long. This is the starting point for our Competitor Analysis. We will identify the incumbent supplier for every key contract and then use our full intelligence arsenal (Violation Tracker, Companies House) to build a detailed “Vulnerability Dossier” on them, preparing us to unseat them in the next procurement cycle. 2
  • Proactive Tender Shaping: We will not wait for tenders to be published. We will actively search for Pipeline and Preliminary Market Engagement notices. This allows us to engage with buyers during the pre-market phase, subtly shaping the tender requirements to favour COCOO’s unique strengths and positioning us as a strategic partner before the formal competition even starts. 2
  • Data-Driven Challenges: When a contract is awarded to a competitor we know to be high-risk (based on our other intelligence), the FTS Contract Award Notice is the trigger. It is the official act that allows us to launch a formal challenge with the Procurement Review Unit, armed with irrefutable public data about the winner’s unsuitability. This is a direct application of our Challenge Discretion doctrine. 1

2. Weaponizing the Platform’s Arsenal: Capabilities and Search Rules

Mastery of FTS’s advanced search capabilities is fundamental to our success. Its granular filtering allows us to surgically dissect the UK’s entire high-value procurement landscape.

  • Official Search Rules & Functionality: The FTS platform provides a powerful set of filters and search operators that we will exploit to their full potential 2:
Search Tool Function & Strategic Importance Example of COCOO Use
Keywords Supports phrase search (" "), AND (+), and OR (). Searches across titles, descriptions, and buyer names. "management consultancy" + "Ministry of Defence"
Procurement stage Our most critical strategic filter. Allows us to track the entire lifecycle: Pipeline (future), Tender (live), Award (won/lost), Contract (active), Termination. Filter by Award to find incumbents. Filter by Pipeline to engage early.
Notice type Highly granular filter for specific legal notices under the Procurement Act 2023 (e.g., UK4: Tender notice, UK6: Contract award notice) and older regulations (F02: Contract notice). Filter by UK2: Preliminary market engagement notice to find opportunities to shape tenders.
Industry CPV code The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) classifies contracts by subject matter. This is the SIC code equivalent for procurement. Filter by CPV code 79400000 (Business and management consultancy) to find all relevant opportunities. 8
Value Filter by minimum and maximum contract value. Filter for contracts > £5,000,000 to focus on high-value strategic opportunities.
Suitability Filter for opportunities flagged as suitable for SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) or VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises). Identify opportunities where COCOO’s size or social value proposition is an advantage.
Commercial tool Filter for Frameworks or Dynamic Markets. Identify key frameworks we must be on to access future work without full competition.

3. Strategic Interrogation: The Questions We Ask

We interrogate FTS to find the opportunities to bid, the intelligence to win, and the grounds to challenge.

  • For USP Origination & Competitor Analysis:

    • “Who has won the last five major IT transformation contracts from HM Treasury? What was the average contract value? Let’s build a dossier on the winners, like Capita or Accenture, to prepare for the next renewal.”
    • “Which construction firms, such as Balfour Beatty or Kier Group, have been awarded contracts under the ‘ProCure 24’ framework? What is their win-rate?” 7
    • “Show me all Contract Award Notices for ‘management consultancy’ over £1m in the last 12 months. This is our Benchmarking dataset.” 2

  • For Proactive Engagement & Tender Shaping:

    • “Which central government departments have published Pipeline or Preliminary Market Engagement notices for ‘outsourced services’ in the last 3 months?” 2
    • “Is the Cabinet Office planning any new frameworks related to professional services? We must engage early to ensure the structure is favourable.” 7

  • For Challenging Flawed Awards:

    • “Has a Contract Award Notice been published for Tender XYZ, where we know the winning bidder has a poor delivery record? This is the trigger to contact the Procurement Review Unit.” 1
    • “Was this direct award to a competitor justified? Search for the Transparency Notice (UK5) to scrutinize the buyer’s justification for not running a competition.” 2

4. The COCOO-FTS Strategic Playbook: A Model for Action

The following playbooks provide standardized workflows for using FTS to dominate the public procurement market.

Playbook A: The “Incumbent Hunter” (USP Engine)

  • Objective: To systematically identify incumbent suppliers, analyze their weaknesses, and develop a targeted strategy to unseat them.
  • Execution:
    1. Isolate Past Wins: On FTS, filter by Procurement stage: “Award” and Industry CPV code for our target sector (e.g., 72000000 for IT services). Set the date range for the last 1-3 years. 2
    2. Identify the Incumbent: From the results, identify the winning company for a key contract, their contract value, and the contract end date.
    3. Build the Vulnerability Dossier: Immediately pivot to our other intelligence tools. Run the incumbent’s name through Violation Tracker for compliance issues and Companies House for financial health.
    4. Anticipate the Re-tender: Set a calendar alert for 12 months before the incumbent’s contract expires. Begin monitoring FTS for Pipeline or Preliminary Market Engagement notices related to this service.
    5. Deploy the Intelligence-Led Bid: When the new tender is published, submit a bid that not only meets the requirements but subtly highlights the incumbent’s weaknesses (e.g., “Our robust safety compliance, evidenced by zero HSE penalties, mitigates delivery risk…”) and positions COCOO as the superior, lower-risk choice.
  • Strategic Outcome: This playbook transforms public procurement from a reactive bidding process into a proactive, intelligence-led campaign to systematically capture market share.

Playbook B: The “Tender Shaping” Play

  • Objective: To influence the design of a tender before it is published, creating a competitive advantage for COCOO.
  • Execution:
    1. Filter for the Future: On FTS, create a recurring search with Procurement stage: “Pipeline” OR “Planning” and Notice type: “Preliminary market engagement notice”. 2
    2. Identify Key Opportunities: Analyze the results to find high-value future contracts in our core sectors.
    3. Engage the Buyer: Participate actively in the pre-market engagement. Submit responses to requests for information, attend supplier days, and ask pointed questions that highlight COCOO’s strengths. Example: “Will the evaluation criteria include a weighting for suppliers with demonstrable experience in cross-departmental mediation to resolve complex stakeholder issues?”
  • Strategic Outcome: This playbook allows COCOO to embed its value proposition into the tender specification itself, making it more difficult for competitors who lack our unique skills to compete effectively.

Playbook C: The “Award Challenge” Trigger

  • Objective: To use FTS as a trigger to challenge flawed contract awards.
  • Execution:
    1. Monitor Award Notices: Maintain a daily watch on Contract Award Notices in our key sectors.
    2. Run Instant Vetting: When a competitor wins a major contract, immediately run their name through our Violation Tracker and OpenSanctions doctrines.
    3. Identify Grounds for Challenge: If the winner has a recent, serious violation that is directly relevant to the contract (e.g., a major data breach for an IT services contract; a bribery conviction for any contract), this constitutes a potential failure of due diligence by the buyer.
    4. Contact the Review Unit: Immediately contact the relevant Procurement Review Unit (e.g., the unit for England is within the Cabinet Office), citing the public Contract Award Notice and the publicly available evidence of the winner’s misconduct, and formally question whether the award is sound. 1
  • Strategic Outcome: This playbook creates significant leverage. It places the contracting authority in the difficult position of having to defend their award of public money to a potentially high-risk supplier, which can lead to the decision being reviewed or overturned.

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