Tips and advice on improving your bid process to reduce time input and produce higher quality and more effective bids.
There is a proverb about giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day or teaching him to fish and feeding him for life. Engaging a consultant to help write a single tender is a short-term fix which may be effective. It is usually quite expensive. Effective training, which is tailored to the … Read more..
I am sure many of you have decided that ‘things will be different’ for the next tender. It is common to resolve to be more efficient, learn from feedback, write more concisely and/or plan more effectively. January is a good time to put new processes in place so think about where you can improve and … Read more..
A good bid library contains multiple well-referenced documents including stock answers, CVs and policy documents. The generic material must be topped and tailed to make it specific to the opportunity, however having captured the core material ahead of time, this task becomes relatively straightforward. Why not take a day in early January to review your … Read more..
Successful companies know how long it takes to prepare, write and review a typical tender section or answer. This allows them to estimate the inputs required when a new opportunity arrives and to resource the tasks appropriately. It enables informed decisions to be taken about the availability of staff and to avoid last-minute panics.
If you lose a bid the feedback you get may be very limited, particularly when dealing with the private sector. You will probably be told you lost “on price” as this is the easiest way for the client to avoid any further discussion. When you follow-up you should ask about specific sections so you are … Read more..
Community benefits are best described in terms of employment, training, supply chain and community engagement. Wherever possible, make the activities quantifiable and describe how they will be measured and/or reported. It is particularly effective to include evidence of community benefits delivered on previous similar projects.
Providing a generic response to a tender question is quick and easy to produce however it will not score highly. Customers want assurances that what you ‘normally’ provide will be appropriate for them. Even though you may be using library material, it must be tailored to show you have considered the client and the project.
There is no substitute for having people who know what they are talking about contribute to tenders. While it can be tempting to allow busy technical people to get on with their ‘day job’ or ‘fee earning work’, it is a false economy to omit them from bid writing tasks. Winning work is vital to … Read more..
Some tender documents appear to ask the same thing repeatedly, meaning you may think you need to write the same thing in multiple places. While this is occasionally true, it is more likely that you have misinterpreted the buyer’s requirements. Check the context within which the question is being asked and ensure you think laterally … Read more..
When deciding how to structure a proposal, try to make it as easy as possible for the evaluators to find the things they need. You should resist the temptation to put the sections you find most interesting ahead of the less exciting ones. If you stick to the order in which they ask for items and … Read more..
