The Tender Writing Process
The public sector offers many business opportunities for the measurement and testing industry. If you are planning on bidding for some of this work – you’ll want to know where to begin.
To help you get started, Tenders Direct has created this nine-step tender writing process for you to follow. It details the most efficient way of planning your proposals, helping you to focus on what is needed and avoid dreaded rewrites.
1. Evaluate the Tender – Go/No Go
Before starting any proposals, you will need to consider the criteria to determine if tenders are worthwhile or not. Without some form of initial evaluation, you are likely to encounter problems later on. There will be many considerations, to get started you should ask yourself:
◆ How closely is the tender aligned to our business strategy?
◆ Can we meet the requirement?
◆ Do we have the experience needed?
2. Review and Deconstruct Available Information
Ensure you have read and understood all of the information available. Make this information easy to access and refer back to this information when writing your Bid Plan (see step 3) to ensure nothing is missed.
3. Create your Bid Plan
With your requirements clearly outlined and all of the necessary information covered, you will be ready to plan for how and when you will prepare your responses. Your plan will consist of dates, names and actions against everything you need up until the submission deadline.
4. Strategy Development
With points 1-3 complete, you should be able to identify overarching themes that will need to be consistently referenced throughout your response. Think about your positioning, what you know about the competitors and what is important to the buyer.
5. Answer Planning
Combine the work conducted in stages 1 and 2 to prepare a plan for how each question will be answered. Look to create a range of headings or bullet points for each question, planning your structure but not producing a detailed narrative.
6. Answer Development
Allow a lot of time for this activity. This is where you add more information to your themes, by focusing on what topics will be covered and creating lists of all the information you’ll be required to include – you are building on the bullet points captured in the previous section.
7. Answering
Do not start this without first planning all of the actions needed to complete your proposal on time, or having first created a plan for your responses. Follow the plans you have created in earlier stages, refer back to them and ensure nothing is overlooked. Your responses should tell the buyer about the benefits they will receive, rather than just describing what you offer.
8. Proofing and Review
Involve others who have not been directly involved with the proposal to proof read. They can ensure that your proposal both reads well and makes sense. We tend to miss our own typographical errors, most commonly duplicated or omitted words, so a fresh pair of eyes can ensure your response reads as intended.
9. Tender Submission
Always leave time to get your proposal submitted. Do not leave it until the last minute. Systems can go down, connections can fail and other unexpected issues can all delay submission. Try to leave at least a day to get your document submitted.
Here to Help You Find and Win Work with the Public Sector
BMTA members receive up to 20% discount with Tenders Direct. With Tenders direct you receive email notifications of all UK, ROI and OJEU measurement and testing tenders as soon as they are published. Tenders Direct also offer other services including training and consultancy. Visit www.tendersdirect.co.uk or call 0800 222 9009 for more information.
Here to help the measurement and testing community
BMTA was created in 1990 in response to the need for an independent ‘lobby’ for the private sector to speak with one voice to Government, UKAS, BSI and other official bodies on issues affecting the whole measurement and testing community. We represent the interests of all of our members, as well as offering a wide range of benefits – including dedicated trade listings, networking opportunities and discounted training.