Case studies

Outside the Box Grows with SDP Help

Background

Outside the Box provides training, evaluations and development support to community groups to help them start using new services and activities or adapt to changing circumstances. It also helps public service providers engage with their service users.

Since participating in SDP tender training and events, Outside the Box has won £117,000 of public sector work.

Early Days

Outside the Box was founded in 2004, then in 2020, when its team sought to bid on more public sector contracts, it utilised the support of The Supplier Development Programme, which its team had seen advertised on Public Contracts Scotland.

Ruth Noble, Community Development Adviser, Outside the Box said: “We were at the start of our journey into tendering and the SDP training was a great introduction. SDP training helped with navigating the procurement process and planning our bid, it was just what we needed.

“We appreciated the range of training on offer – from the starting point to more in depth, specific topics.”

SDP Training

In April 2020, Outside the Box joined the SDP Core Training webinar Planning Your Bid, before going on to complete the Improving Your Bid Score module in May that year, and then revisiting the module with other colleagues the following month.

Ruth recalled: “SDP training gave us an excellent starting point. It helped us discover how to find relevant opportunities, how to break down a bid, and how to approach costings and policies.”

Contract Wins

Soon the team set about putting their learnings into practice, by submitting more public sector bids, and in 2022 Outside the Box won work on the £25k East Lothian Council Dementia Strategy Consultation contract.

Continued Training

Keen to build upon this momentum, the team took further SDP training, by joining the How to Write Outstanding Tenders webinar in October 2023.

Ruth said: “Soon after attending How to Write Outstanding Tenders we won the contract with East Renfrewshire to set up an Equalities Forum.”

As well as winning the £13k Equalities Forum contract in 2023, Outside the Box was also awarded work on the East Lothian Adult Learning contract, worth £25k, that year.

The success didn’t stop there, the following year Outside the Box won work on the Wild Strathfillan Nature Restoration Initiative £8k contract and the NatureScot National Park Consultation £30k project.

Ruth said: “Winning these pieces of work gave us new contacts across Scotland and increased our confidence to apply for more; it also helped by providing unrestricted revenue to try out new business development. These pieces of work now serve for our organisational CV when tendering for future opportunities.”

SDP Events

Not content to just write about its portfolio success in bid documents, the Outside the Box team raised the profile of its work, by spreading the word at SDP networking events.

In March 2025 the team joined delegates at West Dunbartonshire Meet the ‘Real’ Buyer and the next month they attended Glasgow Meet the ‘Real’ Buyer. These events connected the team to council buyers and procurement officials, allowing them to get updates on their upcoming opportunities.

Having enjoyed both events, the Outside the Box team is already looking to their next SDP engagement.

Ruth said: “We will continue to recommend that all staff attend relevant SDP events and training. We already have members of our team signed-up for the Understanding and Bidding - Frameworks and Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS) training, to continue our learning. We have also started a register so that we know what staff attend what training.”

Advice to Suppliers

This structured approach has served Outside the Box well, and it’s one that Ruth recommends to any suppliers looking to start their tender training journey.

She concluded: “SDP training has good content and delivery, as well as a range of webinars and e-learning packages. I’d recommend keeping notes from training sessions for your team’s reference.”

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