Many businesses will have to experience tendering for contracts in some shape or form. This can cover applying to supply goods or services either to other private businesses or the government. At a basic level it could include a quote for a job or a proposal stating why you should be given the business. However, the public sector or large corporate companies have more complex tendering or bidding processes. These generally entail putting together a complex document or ‘bid’ answering a series of detailed questions provided by the procurement department.
Whatever your industry, whatever the process, there are some common success factors for tender writing that businesses should adopt if they are to successfully bid for a contract. If you are involved in tendering for contracts and want to do everything you can to be successful, you should consider the following 6 top tender writing tips:
Be prepared!
Try and be tender-ready, with your business particulars all in order. This helps to take the pressure off when having to respond to tight deadlines. It might include developing and maintaining a Workplace Health & Safety Plan or a Quality Assurance Plan. Building a bid library can help too. The reality is that when a tender hits your desk, you don’t want to have to go looking for previous case studies or testimonials to from previous emails and client communication. You also don’t want to be having to dig up old documents that prove you have previously implemented your proposed SMWS or other safety systems.
It’s better to have everything organised in one central depository. Building a bid library is a great way to carry out tendering (and also marketing) more efficiently. Over time, you will create and accumulate case studies, testimonials, policies and procedures and other general information on your business. You will also generally require profiles of your personnel as well as safety or quality assurance documentation. IF you store this centrally, you can easily access it and include it in a bid response, and also, leverage on this when creating branding and content for your website and other marketing collateral.
We have helped businesses across Australia and globally prepare for bids and tenders and have found that a bid library is a logical investment. In addition, with the increase in popularity in AI in late 2023 and early 2024, we have seen a host of software development companies create bid library software. This is also a great way to improve your bids and develop a comprehensive first draft for tenders. Our team of bid writers have helped clients from all industries including defence, medical, construction, infrastructure and maintenance create bid libraries and implement software packages to help streamline their bid preparation processes.
Ensure you respond to the tender specification
Most government tenders or large corporate tenders provide documentation packs. These often include Specs or Requests for Proposals which outline what they are asking for. There are three simple steps you can follow to ensure you cover what is required:
- STEP 1 – If using a portal or online form, copy and paste the full question into Microsoft Word first to draft your response. Put the questions in bold to differentiate between your answers. Once you are happy with your responses you can paste this back into the form.
- STEP 2 – Read and re-read the specification setting out what they are asking of you (this will be outlined in the tender documentation) and highlight or underline each element.
- STEP 3 – Use these highlighted or underlined sections as headings to include in your responses, making sure you cover all elements of the spec fully.
It is important that you integrate both the RFP and the tender specification into your response. I.e. The RFP document may have say 50 questions split into different areas (experience, personnel, case studies, methodology etc). Each of these questions will somewhat but not explicitly relate to the specifications. As a result, if you simply respond to each question and answer it, you may miss out on key information or requirements. What you need to do is cross-reference the specification. Identify which parts of the specification are relevant to the question you are responding to, and acknowledge and cover them of in your answer.
Sometimes when covering off the specification, it can feel like you are repeating and confirming what is in the specification and not adding anything new and of value. This is a natural feeling – and also logical – but it is still critical to cover off the specification. For example, our team was working on a grounds maintenance and mowing tender for a repeat client. The specification included Australian Standards for Hedging and some requirements around Traffic Control. There were no questions in the RFP specifically asking for information on this. We covered these areas anyway and the client was successful. In the first meeting, the client commented on how we scored well since we covered off these areas.
Sell yourself!
When reviewing your bid, the reader should be able to understand that you are excited about the opportunity and that you want to win the tender. It is therefore important to demonstrate this excitement in the way you write – and also sell yourself and your organisation in a positive way. That means, talk about the opportunity and why you think you are best suited to service the client. Never write anything negative about your competitors. However, where you differentiate your service or product offering from your competitors, ensure you write this and highlight this in a positive way.
In addition to integrating any win themes you may have, take the time to talk about what your business can do for the client and what makes your businesses special. Talk proudly about any of your achievements to date, as well as innovative and value added services to propose to provide as part of the contract.
Refer to your experience and give examples – providing quality case studies and/or references. Make sure that you include information on your relevant licences, awards and accreditation. Research what sets you apart from your competitors; this is what stands out the most when tender documentation is being compared. Highlight how your company will add value and include how your services positively differ to those of your competitors. Keep it factual through and avoid using general marketing fluff – but do sell yourself.
Write your tenders in detail!
Answer each question comprehensively. It is important to make sure that you answer the question that has been asked – not the question you wish you had been asked! You don’t need to provide a whole lot of irrelevant marketing style information. The reader won’t appreciate that. However, if you write concisely, all relevant information is great. For example, when writing about your experience, a simply bullet point or two about a previous case/project is generally insufficient. Instead, you need to talk about all the different aspects of the project. Challenges overcome. Safety and quality assurance. Key outcomes. Communication with the client (critical to government clients). A detailed case study full of relevant information will generally score better than a simple bullet point.
The other point to note, is that if you are bidding to a client who you already service, you need to assume in your bid they know nothing. We once worked for an insurance company, and a logistics provider. Both had lost their previous tenders. Both of the contracts they lost they were the incumbent/current service provider. So what went wrong? They answer is simple. They assumed that the client knew everything about them. That is true. However, they can’t award marks on what they can’t read. Therefore, you need to write all your previous performance and company profile in detail and evidence what you have delivered to client to date.
Allow time!
It happens on many of the tenders we work on with a new client when/where it is their first time tendering. They underestimate the work involved in tenders. They don’t allow time to gather key documentation and don’t allow enough time to put the submission together and upload. In addition, they only allocate the resources to submit and complete the tender but not enough to win it.
We recommend clients set time aside for double checking – get someone else to proof read for accuracy, spelling, grammar, punctuation. Cross reference once again with the specification. Have you covered everything? Do not underestimate the time it will take you to do this well. Set aside plenty of time early in the process and find somewhere quiet where you will not be disturbed to complete this work. Start the bid preparation process early so that you know what is outstanding. It is also important to ask for help from other stakeholders within your business early in the process. In most tenders, you will more than likely have questions around safety and other HR related questions that you will need their input on. Create a list at the beginning of the process and allocate your key responsibilities to each of your internal stakeholders early so they have time to get back to you with the correct information.
If in doubt, get help!
Call a consultancy such as The Tender Team for assistance. They can ensure the highest quality submission, removing any mistakes and allowing you to strengthen any weak areas of the bid in order to have the best chance of winning. Our team of bid writers have helped businesses across Australia win bids and tenders. From Sydney, to Perth, Darwin and Hobart, we have helped businesses in metropolitan, rural and remote Australia win bids.
