How to win: Careers Management and Employability Platform

About this contract

York St John University (YSJ) is preparing to procure a Careers Management and Employability Platform to support student employability, careers engagement, employer interaction, placement administration, work-related experiential learning and graduate outcomes. The University is exploring a range of potential delivery models and is seeking market engagement to inform the development of a future procurement. Potential approaches may include specialist careers management platforms, Microsoft/Dataverse-based solutions delivered by implementation partners, or hybrid approaches which combine specialist platform capability with wider institutional systems and services. The University has not predetermined the technical solution and is seeking market insight to better understand current market capability, delivery approaches and innovation. The future solution is expected to provide a unified experience for students, graduates, employers, academic staff and careers professionals, whilst supporting integration with the University's wider digital, data and reporting environment. This pre-market engagement exercise is intended to inform the development of the full procurement and ensure th

How to win contracts like this

• ✓Answer against the marking scheme, not the question text — York St John University scores each response, so map your evidence to the published criteria and weightings.
• ✓At £250,000, expect quality and social value to carry a large share of the score — price alone rarely wins services work.
• ✓Show recent, comparable delivery: name similar services contracts you've delivered for public bodies, with measurable outcomes.
• ✓Start early: it closes 20 November 2026 and a strong bid takes iteration.

BidWriter drafts your responses from your company profile, scores them against the marking scheme, and tracks your whole pipeline. Free to start — no card needed.

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