It's all about the Weighting; Why you Need to Pay Attention to the Rules of Bidding

In bid-writing one of the most common things that can throw a novice off is the idea that different parts of the bid are marked differently. The process of assessing a bid for a tender is something that a business will be very particular about with a rubric that they will follow very carefully. Understanding this rubric is essential should you want to have any chance of being successful in your bid for a tender. Businesses do not want to trip you up however, remember businesses don’t care to waste time and want to be able to find a successful partner to work with easily. It makes no sense for bids to be overly complicated in their criteria and most people who fall short of meeting the requirements of each question do so because they have not taken the time to understand the information that is presented to them.

First, it is very very important to look at the weighting of each question. In a bid, not all sections are created equal and a business will often include some questions such as social value questions that can really fluctuate in their weighting from bid to bid. Taking note of the weighting of each section of a bid is very important. This is essentially your first indicator of what the business you intend to work with values and what they need from you as a potential tendering partner. Weighting also indicates (if it is not explicitly stated) which responses to questions should be longer and more time-intensive than others. A more heavily weighted section of a bid requires more time and often a longer word count.

Linking into the weighting, it is also important to note that more often than not when writing a bid there will strict and specific guidance on the structure, length, and even stylistic aspects of how to respond to each question. Most businesses will state clearly how many words each response should be or at least how many sides long it should be. Some will go further, stating that a response must be presented in a specific font size or with specific line spacing. Others may even ask that a response be presented in a limited number of fonts or in one single typeface only. These rules may seem pedantic, and to a degree they are, but they do serve a purpose. Firstly they eliminate the chance for inexperienced writers to waffle about irrelevant details that will waste a business’ time. These specific rules also test your attention to detail and your ability to approach your work meticulously. If a business has written a passable response to a question within a bid but has neglected to meet the presentation requirements stated to them it shows that while they may be able to fulfil a tender, they aren’t guaranteed to check through their work carefully and could be more prone to making mistakes.

It is also essential that you read the instructions carefully for each question in a bid because this will make your ability to structure each response far easier. More often than not the detailed information that comes with each question has a list of points that it is expected a successful candidate will cover in their response. Using this information it is wise to simply see it as a checklist and work through each point to ensure you are going to touch on every aspect of the criteria in the question. This way you are more directly fulfilling the requirements of the question, making life easier for yourself, and spelling out to the business you’re bidding to work with why you’re the right option.

These pieces of advice may seem rather obvious, but far too many inexperienced people writing bids, or people without the needed time to give them their full attention, ignore the information given and lose out on opportunities because of it. It is essential that bid writing is taken seriously and every step to ease the process that can be used is taken. For some people, the time it takes to sift through each bid’s own minutia and idiosyncratic rules is simply not available and this is why for may outsourcing bid-writing to experienced professionals is the way to go. Professional bid-writers are trained to process the detailed instructions attached to each question and match the criteria exactly to the specifications necessary.