A guide to winning cyber security tenders 

An increase in government spending for 2021 means there’s never been a better time to apply for cyber security tenders.

Increased Reliance on Technology

The Covid-19 pandemic saw an increase in businesses reliance on technology with the rise of employees working from home. This saw a significant rise in cyber-security attacks as online hackers sought to take advantage of this.

There is an increasing awareness of the importance of cyber security not just in the UK, but globally. The technology sector continues to grow almost daily, and public sector organisations have become increasingly aware of their vulnerability online. Funding has now seen a steep surge and the UK government is taking the time to invest in cyber security. The UK’s cyber security industry has increased by 44% since 2017 and is now worth £8.3bn according to the government.

Increased Cyber Attacks

The UK government reported that almost a quarter of charities (26%) and almost half of businesses (46%) reported cyber security breaches or attacks in 2020. Cyber-attacks have been ever more frequent over the past number of years, including hacking and data breaches. In order to prevent cyber security attacks, the government is making large investments into several areas of cyber security.

Cyber security tenders are released in public sectors in a number of different areas such as:

• Network security
• Application security
• Critical infrastructure
• Internet of things (IoT) security
• Cloud security

Increased Government Spending

The public sector wants to prevent data breaches, protect their hardware and software from cyber-attacks. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in November 2020 that he is increasing £16.5bn to the defence spending budget. A considerable chunk (£1.5bn) of this investment is to be placed in cyber security defences. It’s also going towards the set-up of a National Cyber Force. As a result, cyber security tenders are on the up, which is great news for the technology sector.

Here are some things to bear in mind when applying for cyber security tenders:

With the increase of defence spending for 2021, you can expect to see a rise in cyber security tenders.

The Minimum Cyber Security Standard (MCSS)

The MCCS was developed by the UK government in collaboration with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The MCSS aims to combat the risks posed by poor cyber security. It is broken down into ten sections covering five main categories:

Identify

Departments shall:

1. Put in place appropriate cyber security governance processes.
2. Identify and catalogue the sensitive information they hold.
3. Identify and catalogue the key operational services (KOS) they provide.
4. Understand and continually manage the need for users to access sensitive information or KOS.

Protect

5. Access to sensitive information and KOS shall only be provided to identified, authenticated and authorised users or systems.
6. Systems which handle sensitive information or KOS shall be protected from exploitation of known vulnerabilities.
7. Highly privileged accounts should not be vulnerable to common cyber-attacks.

Detect

8. Departments shall take steps to detect common cyber-attacks.

Respond

9. Departments should have a planned and tested response to cyber security incidents that impact sensitive information or KOS.

Recover

10. Departments shall have defined tested processes in place to ensure KOS continuity in the event of failure or compromise.

Suppliers will need to demonstrate that they comply with all ten of these requirements when applying for cyber security tenders. They are needed in order to win any contacts from the UK local or central government.

Cyber Essential Certificate and ISO 27001

A valid Cyber Essentials certificate could act as confirmation of compliance to all sections when applying for cyber security tenders. However, a Cyber Essentials certificate is not always enough. This is when an ISO 27001 certificate is needed and will likely give you an advantage over your competitors. By achieving an ISO 27001, you are demonstrating to the buyer that you take security seriously.

Are you searching for cyber security tenders?

Technology Tenders can save you time on trolling through 1000s of sites. We source tendering opportunities so that you can focus on running your business.

What makes Technology Tenders different?

We use manual tracking

Other portals rely on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes to categorise tenders. However, they have been known to be ambiguous and file tenders under the wrong codes. This means you could be missing out on opportunities to tender.

Instead of using CPV codes, our Opportunity Trackers manually tag contracts they find to ensure they reach the right businesses. You can filter all live tenders using keywords, industry, location and budget to find the best opportunities for your business. On our portal, you’ll find relevant tenders by simply filtering ‘cyber security’.

Here are some recent cyber security tenders:

Cyber Security Specialist

Scottish Enterprise- Scotland- Budget: £ 800 per day

13-07-2020 

Cyber Security: 321 Backup Solution

Birmingham Community Healthcare- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

26-11-2020

Cyber Security: Critical & High Importance patching

Birmingham Community Healthcare- West Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

17-11-2020

Cyber Security e-learning cloud based platform that educates and evaluates staff on cyber awareness

Galway City Council- International- Budget: Undisclosed

28-10-2020

What we can offer you 

Bid writing support

So, you’ve found the cyber security tenders that you want to go for but can’t find the right words? Our expert bid writers at Hudson Succeed can support you at every stage of your cyber security tender. They can answer any questions you may have about the process. From passing the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) to finalising your response.

Our bid writers have an 87% success rate and over 40 years of bid writing experience. We offer tender support through four services:

Tender Writing

Simply send the bid specification to our team and they’ll write the cyber security tender response for you. They’ll even submit the bid on your behalf.

This service is priced per bid and we provide a full Tender Writing breakdown. You’ll know how long it’ll take, what we’ll need from you and when you’ll see an initial and final draft.

Tender Improvement

Our bid writers will assess your previous tender responses and work with you to develop improved content.

Tender Mentor

Our team will analyse your content and check for any errors before you submit your tender response.

Tender Ready

Tender Ready helps businesses that are completely new to the tendering process. We offer a three-stage process and a 4-week programme.

Book a free, live demo to gain further insight into our services and see which opportunities can benefit your business.

On Technology Tenders, we post contracts for:

• Broadband services;
• IT support;
• IT recruitment;
• Maintenance;
• Consultancy;
• Website development;
• Software development;
• Network services;
• Cybersecurity;
• Security systems;
• and Hardware.

These are just a few categories in which we source technology tenders. We add new opportunities to our portal every day. The scope of buyers for whom you could deliver work is always expanding.

Now is the time for Technology Tenders – unlock your company’s potential.