My top bid-writing pet peeves from my time as an assessor
They are all that stands between you and that new contract, so you don’t want to do something to jeopardise that relationship. Avoid the mistakes below and you’ll be in a good position.
One of the things that makes me different from other bid writers is that I’ve sat both sides of the table. I’ve been the supplier having their bid assessed and I’ve also been the buyer assessing bids.
What used to annoy me as an assessor?
Not answering the question
I’ve spent a long time pulling my Invitation To Tender (ITT) together please do me the curtesy of answering the question that I have asked. I have asked it for a reason, and yes it may not be the one you want to answer but if you can’t even do that why would I want to work with you?
After you have drafted your answer always re read the question and check that you have answered it fully. With my bid writing hat on I can tell you that the danger is that you keep re reading and editing the answer you have written without ever checking back that you are answering the actual question.
Too much technical language
When I managed a procurement team I would get involved in tenders from across the business, HR, banking, stationery, electricity, mobile phones there is no way that I would ever be up to speed with all of the technical language in all of those industries.
When writing your tender response, you need to demonstrate your subject matter expertise but do it in such a way that any non-technical reader of your bid will get it. It is typical for representatives from around the buying organisation to be involved in reviewing your bid so a purchaser, lawyer, financial expert, potential users of the contract. All of these people need to be able to understand what you have written in order for you to score well in their evaluation of your bid.
Missing key information
If I have asked for something specifically to be sent in with the bid then I’ve asked for a reason. I want to work with a supplier who listens to my instructions and carries them out. What first impression does it give of you if you can’t even include all I have asked for in my bid?
Double, triple check before you send everything to me that you have included everything I have asked for.
Generic text / Copy & Paste
Make it about me and my requirements please. Generic text stands out a mile. Have you linked what you have written with my requirements? If you do copy and paste it from a previous bid for goodness check please do a search for other company’s names, that is an absolute clanger when that happens.
Waffle
I’m busy working through a pile of these tenders trying to understand how you want to work with me, thinking about how to score your response and how well you have understood me as a potential client, do not waffle. I think it is better to answer the question in the word count that you need (without leaving it looking like you barely bothered) rather than filling the word count with waffle.
Not sticking to the rules
Word and page counts I use as a means of making my evaluation manageable. I can estimate how much time it will take me to review your bid.
If you go over these I am left think two things:
They don’t listen to / can’t follow my instructions and may not have good attention to detail.
How could I be confident that they will listen to what I want during the contract.
It leaves a poor impression and can be a pain as I can only read the first 400 words for example, now I’ve got to work out where the first 400 words end. A complete pain.
Dull
I’ve ten of these to read, even if I am excited to let this contract and think that it will be great for my organisation going forwards a pile of bids to read and evaluate is a daunting task. Please make it as interesting as possible for me. Not pages and pages of small text, make it easily readable, illustrate your points with pictures and diagrams, make sure each page has white space on it.
This will put me in a much better mood for reviewing your response and a happy assessor is your best bet for scoring well in the evaluation.
How do I help clients secure public sector contracts?
Clients work with me for a number of reasons either, they don’t have enough time to dedicate to submitting the response themselves, they have been unsuccessful previously, they want a second pair of eyes to advise or simply they’ve never responded to a public sector bid before.
If you are interested in finding out more about how I can support you in your public sector bids I’d be very happy to have a chat, you can contact me on hannah@whiteraft.co.uk.
