For companies, tendering for new contracts can be very time-consuming. That is why many companies seek the help and guidance of expert bid writers like ourselves. For those, that want to tackle bid writing for themselves, here are our Top 5 Tips for bid writing from our professional bid writers:
- Choose a contract that is right for you
Bid writing is only going to be successful if you choose the correct contract in the first place. Avoid bidding for a contract that you don’t have the right level of experience for or for a large contract that you don’t have the manpower to execute (unless you have a plan in place to scale up successfully). This would be a waste of time and resources and is a sure-fire way to fail from the outset.
When choosing a contract to tender for, make sure you have the right level of experience and that you are fully compliant in order to execute the contract. A frequent top tip is to only bid for a contract that is one-third your annual turnover.
- Plan & Research
Make sure you are on top of your game by continually monitoring contract portals, so that you are ready to bid as soon as a suitable tender becomes available. To be able to write a successful bid, we advise, that before writing your bid, you research previous contracts, the competition in your area/sector, and any contracting authorities.
Another top tip is to look for tenders that have a renewal date, that way you can do your research and prepare your bid, well before the release of the tender.
- Stick to the guidelines
The majority of tenders will outline what you need to do to complete the tender. Following these guidelines will help you to produce a high quality, fully compliant, and hopefully successful bid.
Your bid is very likely to be unsuccessful if you stray from these guidelines. Makes sure you check if there is a specific word count, document format or any supporting documentation that you have to attach to the bid.
- Avoid irrelevant information
The key to successful bid writing is to make sure you answer the question. It sounds simple, but you would be amazed at the number of bids that fail due to filling the bid with irrelevant information that adds no value to the contract that you are bidding for.
Make sure you are always answering the question set out in the tender and refer back to it after each point you make so that your response is always relevant. Use the specification to guide you, if you cover the majority of points in the specification, you will be totting up the points quickly!
- Provide Evidence
Our last tip for bid writing is to ensure that you provide evidence to support the answers within your bid. Providing examples or case studies backs up your points and makes you more credible.