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Your guide to submitting a

Highlight Report

How to use Pro-vide to invoice Bloom

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This guide is designed to help you submit a Highlight Report through Pro-vide, to invoice Bloom. It explains the process in

detail and gives you some pointers to ensure your invoice is calculated correctly. You’ll see some links along the way,

directing you to other resources that explain our processes and answers to any invoice related questions. Your step by step

guide begins on page 7.

If for any reason your project is not managed on Pro-vide, please email a copy of a signed Highlight Report to

accounts@bloom.services.

Before you can invoice Bloom for services delivered, please ensure you meet the following compliance requirements. These

requirements are specified in your Services Supply Agreement (SSA) and are a flow down from the contractual agreement

Bloom has with all Buyers. Meeting these requirements will help make sure there are no delays in payment.

✓ Fully accredited profile (including):

✓ Valid certificate of incorporation (if you are a limited company)

✓ Responses to all mandatory and discretionary legislative questions

✓ Valid Professional Indemnity Insurance certificate (minimum of £1million value)

✓ Evidence of Public Liability and Employers Liability insurance where applicable

✓ Agreement to the SSA (Terms and Conditions)

✓ Agreement of the Work Order for the services to be provided.

✓ Correct calculation of the 5% management fee

Once you have met the outcomes / milestones for the agreed invoicing period, you will need to submit your invoice to

Bloom. This is a simple 4 phase process:

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To invoice for services delivered to a buying organisation, the Supplier must submit a Highlight Report. For

projects managed through Pro-vide, this is done online via the portal.

Once your Highlight Report is submitted on Pro-vide, you will receive an automated notification stating

that it has been received and that Bloom will be in touch should we require any further clarification. The

Buyer will now be notified and asked to approve the Highlight Report by accessing Pro-vide and clicking

‘approve’. The Buyer’s approval triggers the beginning of the 30-day payment terms outlined in the SSA.

Pro-vide will then generate a self-billing invoice for the Supplier based on the details included within the

Highlight Report.

Once reviewed, Bloom submits the invoice to the Buyer for verification. Providing there are no queries on

the invoice, the Buyer will now pay Bloom. Our Buyer’s payment terms are built into the 30-day payment

period. At this point, our self-billing system creates a management fee invoice.

Bloom will pay the Supplier minus the value of the 5%; which is retained by Bloom from the net value of

each invoice. Further information about the 5% management fee is included within the FAQs in this

document.

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Q: Why do suppliers need an approved Highlight report?

A: See this as a receipt. An approved Highlight Report is confirmation by the Buyer that the milestone/deliverables have been

met by the Supplier.

Q. Do suppliers invoice Bloom or the Contracting Authority?

Suppliers invoice Bloom, by submitting a Highlight Report, as we manage the full end to end process which includes all

invoicing. This is also how Bloom obtains the management fee.

Q: Why does a Supplier have to be accredited to invoice?

A: This is a contractual requirement, flowed down from the Framework agreement to the Call-off and SSA. This baseline

level of compliance is an award and is essential when delivering services to the UK public sector. It is considered a key

benefit to Buyers working with Bloom.

Q: Why does Bloom charge a 5% management fee?

A: Suppliers are not charged for registration, accreditation or participation in bid opportunities via Bloom. The only charge is

the 5% management fee for any services delivered via the NEPRO Solution. This is part of our Framework Agreement with

NEPO. The fee is included in Clause 8 of the SSA and is non-negotiable regardless of the size, duration or origin of the

project.

When submitting pricing within your proposal, Suppliers need to absorb the 5% management fee. Our Buyers are not

obligated to pay Bloom any management fees for the services or use of our proprietary technology.

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Q: How do I calculate the 5% management fee?

A: To obtain the management fee, Bloom nets off 5% from the total value of the submitted invoice. This means that if 5%

were to be added to the total, it would be deducted from 105%.

To help our Suppliers work this out, we have a simple management fee calculator on our Suppliers Resources Page. It also

factors in whether your organisation is VAT or non-VAT registered. You can also check out our ‘How to Invoice’ webinar for

further explanation. Here is a working example to help you:

If a VAT registered Supplier submits an invoice for £10,000, they would be paid £9,500 (net) after the management fee of £500, or

5% of £10,000, has been deducted by Bloom.

If the Supplier was looking to receive £10,000, the fee would need to be incorporated into their pricing. An invoice for the gross value

of £10,526.32 would need to be submitted. (£10,526.32 x 95% = £10,000.00)

If the Supplier is not VAT registered, a gross invoice for £10,638.30 would need to be submitted – see below for explanation

Q: Is the 5% charge applied to expenses?

A: The 5% management fee is not applied to expenses. To ensure the management fee is not applied to expenses they need

to be submitted within the ‘Expenses’ section of the Highlight Report, as aligned in the process below.

Q: How do I calculate VAT?

A: As Bloom is VAT registered and the management fee we charge Suppliers is deemed by HMRC to be the provision of a

service. It is therefore subject to the application of output VAT at 20% of the 5% management fee, and every invoice created

will include VAT. This is in line with HMRC regulations so must be adhered to.

Worked example as per above - £10,638.30 - Management fee of 5% = £534.17 add VAT of 20% becomes £683.30

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If a Supplier is VAT registered, this can be reclaimed as input-VAT on their own return. If a Supplier is not VAT registered, the

additional percentage can be incorporated into the pricing. The management fee calculator also demonstrates how to do

this. If you have questions when participating in a live opportunity, please submit a clarification question to Contact Us (listed

on the last page of this document).

Q: How do I invoice Bloom if my project is not on Pro-vide?

A: If for any reason the project is not managed via our portal Pro-vide, you’re considered to be working “offline”. In this case,

your invoice should be emailed to the Accounts team at Bloom (contact details at the end of this document) along with a

Highlight Report signed by both the Buyer and Supplier.

Remember, if you approve a Work Order on Pro-vide then you need to submit a Highlight Report on Pro-vide only

and do not need to send an invoice to the Bloom accounts team.

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First, log in to Pro-vide via bloom.services or www.pro-vide.net/#/login.

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Once you have successfully accessed your account, click on ‘Highlight Report’ which can be found on the menu to the left-

hand side of the screen as shown below. Then click ‘Create’ and select the project your Highlight Report relates to.

Remember, the Work Order needs to be in place and signed off by the client and the supplier before a Highlight Report can

be submitted.

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Next, complete all boxes including the ‘Reporting period’ which refers to the month and year the work took place. If the work

was spread out over more than a month, please indicate when it originally started.

‘Next meeting date’ refers to the date when the next phase of the project will begin. Please note this section must be filled in.

If the project does not have a next phase, please indicate the last day of the current month. Click ‘Next’ to save your work and

move on to the next stage.

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Next, the project milestones need to be completed. This is a mandatory section and all boxes must be filled out. The ‘Actual

start date’, ‘Actual End date’ and ‘Percentage complete’ sections must be completed for each active milestone. Remember,

under ‘Percentage complete’ please input numbers, not the percentage symbol. Click ‘Next’ to save your work and move on

to the next stage.

Please note that ‘Project name,’ ‘Reporting period’ and ‘Previous milestone status’ are not amendable at this stage.

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Time sheets are generally at request of the buyer. This section is not mandatory and can be skipped by clicking ‘Next’ as

shown below.

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Please note this section is mandatory and must be completed. If the risk status is ‘none’ then there’s no need to complete the

text box. However, if the risk status is indicated as anything else, the supplier will need to provide a brief explanation in the

text box provided.

Remember, you do not have to ‘Add risk’ if you do not want to. Click ‘Next' to save your work and move on to the next stage.

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The next section outlines the details required for invoicing. The ‘Supplier Invoice’ field must be completed with the supplier’s

internal reference for the invoice. Click ‘Add Invoice’ to add the intended fee for the work completed. This will then open up a

new window, seen in step eight.

It is also possible for you to upload an attachment at this point. Simply click ‘Choose file’ and upload the chosen document.

Please don’t try to upload your own invoice; as you have already agreed to self-billing you do not need to upload or create

your own invoice as the system does this for you.

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When a Supplier selects ‘Add Invoice’ in the previous section, the below text box will appear. This section is mandatory and is

where a you’ll specify your fee and the milestone it relates to.

To complete this section correctly, choose a milestone from the drop-down menu, give a brief description of the milestone or

copy the supplier invoice number it relates to in ‘Invoice Item,’ then add the fee in ‘Amount.’ Once completed, click ‘Add’ to

finish and return to the previous screen.

If your business is VAT registered, please do not include VAT in the amount. This will be added automatically by the system

after you click ‘Add.’

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In the next section you’ll have the option to add any expenses for this invoicing period. Please note, expenses should be

separated from the milestone amount as they are not affected by the 5% management fee. To add an expense simply click

‘Add Expense’ and the box titled ‘Add Receipt Details,’ shown below, will appear.

To complete this window, please complete all sections giving a brief description of the expenses. Please note you don’t need

to attach a receipt.

Remember, all expenses regardless of type, can be included at once and do not have to be uploaded separately. Click ‘Add’ to

add the expense/s and return to the previous screen.

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To submit the Highlight Report, click ‘Submit’ found in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

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Clicking ‘submit’ on the previous screen will prompt you to

declare if your business is VAT registered. If you are VAT

registered, then click ‘Yes.’ If you are not VAT registered, please

click ‘Not VAT registered.’

Clicking ‘No’ means that:

• You do not agree to the ‘Self Billing Agreement’

• You do not agree that Bloom can issue invoices on your

behalf

• You agree that you will issue VAT invoices for goods or

services covered by this agreement

Clicking ‘No’ means that you will not be able to proceed and

submit the Highlight Report and you will be asked to contact

Bloom.

Once submitted the Highlight Report cannot be amended.

Then click ‘Ok’ to continue.

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The Highlight report has now been submitted. However, you may

be presented with the pop up shown here. Please click ‘OK’ and

all information within the submitted Highlight report will be

saved.

- Submitted Highlight Reports are sent to the

Requirement Owner at the Buyer for

approval.

- Highlight Reports submitted via Pro-Vide can

be tracked using the Highlight Report section

on the right-hand side of the screen.

- Once approved by the Buyer:

- Highlight Reports will appear under

‘Approved’, as shown below.

- The beginning of the 30-day payment

period is triggered.

- Suppliers will receive an automated email to confirm approval.

- The approved Highlight Report is checked and verified by Bloom.

- Bloom will raise an invoice based on the Highlight Report within 24 hours.

- A 5% management fee invoice is then generated and can be downloaded from ‘Archived Invoices’.

- If there is an issue with a submitted Highlight Report, you will be contacted by a member of the Bloom accounts team

within 3 working days.

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Here to help – please get in touch

• Project specific or Highlight Report questions: projects@bloom.services

• Accounts enquiries: accounts@bloom.services

• Technical issues or general questions about Bloom: suppliers@bloom.services

For more information you can also check out our ‘Working with Bloom’ webinars on our YouTube channel or our Supplier

Resources page.

We look forward to continuing to work with you.