We offer a professional tender review service. However, we are happy to share some of our tips with you to get you started.
Areas to consider when reviewing each question response in the draft submission:
- Does the response answer all aspects of all the question raised? If the question has multiple parts, the response should mirror this.
- Are the responses easy to read, understand and digest? It is important that your responses engage the evaluators that are not subject matter experts (as well as those that are).
- Have you paid attention to the scoring criteria when answering the questions? To ensure you are giving due weighting to your responses? Understanding in detail how your response will be scored will help you to structure it correctly. For example, the buyer may be seeking evidence or innovation in responses for higher marks.
- Have you used graphics and visuals to provide evidence and make the responses easier on the eye?
When reviewing your draft tender submission, make sure to avoid the following pitfalls:
- Pitfall 1: Generalising your answers
- Be specific. For example, don’t use terms such as “regularly” or “often”. “We regularly update our….” Should be “We update our XYZ every day/week/month/quarter, this is the responsibility of….”
- Pitfall 2: Assuming the reader knows the acronyms
- Make sure you explain your acronyms. Ideally at the first mention in each response.
- Remember some tender submissions are split into sections for evaluation, so only parts of your submission and answers may be read by some evaluators.
- Pitfall 3: Cross referencing between responses
- As noted in Pitfall 2, tender submissions may be split into sections and sent to different evaluators. Therefore, don’t assume knowledge across responses and don’t cross reference to other responses elsewhere in your submission.
- Pitfall 4: Inconsistent spellings
- Check for consistent spellings (particularly of software/systems/names/job titles – across all responses
- Pitfall 5: Long sentences!
- Make sure your sentences are not too long! If you need to take a breath when reading out loud, you need better grammar and punctuation!
- Pitfall 6: Breaching the word count
- If there is a word count for each question, ensure you don’t go over it. Do your best to use all word count available to you – whilst keeping your content relevant to the question. The word count can be a hint to the weighting the buyer is giving to certain questions
If you are unsure of how to apply the above tips, get in touch to take advantage of our expert Tender Review service. We will schedule a detailed review and critique of your draft responses, that will markedly improve your tender submission!