Multiple People Writing a Bid

Evaluators are likely to be put off by a disjointed tender, which switches between numerous different writing styles. In addition, conflicting claims or pledges can come across as unprofessional and can seriously undermine the legitimacy and strength of your bid.

Top tips:

• Ensure regular and open communication. Organisations may choose to have mobilisation meetings, where they agree on the overall approach to writing the submission, checking that all writers are on the same page. For example, they will decide whether it is going to be written in the first or third person, and agree on key terminology to use across the entire submission. Ongoing communication throughout the process then facilitates a consistent approach through regular meetings, and brainstorming sessions.
• Internal reviewing processes. It is important to draw on a range of different perspectives when writing a bid, having ‘a different pair of eyes’ looking at each and every response. Bidders can benefit from disseminating responses throughout the team, and gaining feedback from other writers, as this will contribute towards holistic writing approaches across the wider organisation.
• Overall check. Nominating one person in your team to undertake a comprehensive check of the overall tender after completion provides a good insight into whether the submission works in its entirety. Simply reading through the entire document, and flagging inconsistencies, or changes in tone or writing styles, can contribute towards contextualising, and unifying, the overall response.

External review service

Having a completely independent expert to review the overall submission can generate immense benefits for bidding organisations.

Executive Compass are able to look at the submission as a whole, and make knowledgeable suggestions on how to improve it, whilst checking through for irregularities with a fine toothcomb. Our PQQ and tender review service provides cover to cover proofreading, compliance checks, appraisal of case studies/contract examples/appendices, and a detailed review for each response.

It can be very difficult to critique the work of multiple employees, especially as people within the company are often too involved in the submission to make an impartial judgement. We can provide a full evaluation of the overall bid from an external point of view, identifying any points of weakness, and how uniformity can be improved. By ironing out any discrepancies, and smoothing the tone and style of the completed tender, the response will come across as professional, coherent and easier to read, which increases your chances of a successful outcome.