Event details
Every year, government, health and rail bodies spend tens of billions of pounds through public contracts — yet most suppliers only start engaging once the tender notice lands, with as little as 25 days to respond. By then, the buyer has often already made up their mind.
- Getting Noticed Before the Tender Drops: What the Data Really Shows
- Before the Tender Goes Live: How Suppliers Actually Win Public Sector Trust
- The 18-Month Window: Where Public, Health and Rail Contracts Are Really Won
By the time a tender is published, the real work is usually done. Under the Procurement Act 2023, buyers spending over £100 million a year must signal major contracts up to 18 months in advance — and the organisations that win aren't the ones who react fastest to a Find a Tender notice, they're the ones the buyer already knows, trusts and can picture delivering.
- Join Cognitive Media Group — publisher of Rail Technology Magazine, National Health Executive and Public Sector Executive, reaching a combined audience of over 1 million public sector, health and rail decision-makers — and Tussell, the UK's leading public contracts data platform, for a live conversation on what it actually takes to be front-of-mind before procurement begins.
- Hollie Hodgson, Head of Account Management at Tussell, will bring the data: real patterns in buyer behaviour, framework activity, and spend across local and central government, the NHS and rail. Roy Rowlands, Managing Director of Cognitive Media Group, brings two decades of experience helping suppliers build visibility and credibility with the same audiences. Together with a panel of public sector voices, they'll unpack how early engagement, framework strategy and sustained visibility translate into shortlisted, trusted, winning suppliers.
What you'll learn
- How the Procurement Act 2023 has genuinely changed buyer behaviour — and where old habits persist
- What Tussell's data shows about framework activity, spend trends and buyer patterns across public sector, health and rail
- Why the single most-cited reason bids fail is failing to demonstrate specific value — and how to fix that months before a tender exists
- Practical ways to engage buyers during Preliminary Market Engagement and Pipeline Notice windows
- How successful suppliers use trusted media, content and events to build the relationships that determine who gets shortlisted
Presenters
Hollie Hodgson
Head of Account Management
Tussell
Hollie heads up Tussell's account management team. Working closely with leading suppliers and government bodies, Hollie has years of experience in using data to drive better outcomes in public sector procurement. Outside of Tussell, Hollie is the Chair of techUK's Scale-Up Council, championing government policy initiatives to enable UK tech scale-ups to thrive
Gail Emms MBE
Host
Public Sector Executive
Gail Emms is a decorated badminton player who has numerous awards at the top level. Some of her most notable achievements came at the World Championships, European Championships and the Olympic Games. Emms won silver at the 2004 Olympic games where she was partnered with Nathan Robertson in the mixed doubles. She also went on to win gold at the 2004 European Championships and the 2006 World Championships. In addition to this, Gail clinched another gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2006. Following this success, she went on to participate in the 2008 Summer Olympics but unfortunately was knocked out of the competition in the early stages. As a result of her successful career in badminton, Gail Emms was awarded an MBE in the 2009 birthday honours.
Roy Rowlands PSE
Managing Director
Cognitive Media Group