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Collaborate - Hact's guide to competing for contracts

The Housing Associations' Charitable Trust (Hact) is an English based organisation that develops and tests housing solutions for people on the margins of society.
Hact has published a resource kit which is designed to give small providers practical advice on how to compete for contracts.

Hact described the guide saying:
"This resource kit has been produced as one of the ways of sharing the learning from the Collaborate project. It consists of eight worksheets, which provide information about strategic development, different collaborative approaches, how to influence procurement processes, developing collaborative bids and implementation issues".
Although the guide focusses on securing Supporting People contracts in England much of the information will be relevant to providers working in Scotland. Where the terms 'Supporting People' or 'SP' are used readers in Scotland can generally translate into 'housing support'.

The guide comes in eight sections which can be viewed individually.
Chapter 0 - Introduction to Collaborate
Chapter 1 - A strategy for change
Chapter 2 - Large/small partnerships
Chapter 3 - Consortia
Chapter 4 - Developing positive relationships
Chapter 5 - Influencing the process
Chapter 6 - Legal issues
Chapter 7 - Writing the bid
Chapter 8 - Implementation