Public sector procurement is highly competitive and subject to strict evaluation processes, as governed by the Procurement Act 2023. With tenders evaluated on a split between quality and price – and the quality element often outweighing pricing submissions – the importance of strong bid writing is critical to grow your business and produce a winning tender.
However, expert bid writers must not only have strong written communication skills, but master a variety of competencies to win contracts and places on framework agreements.
We share our thoughts on five of the most important skills bid writers should possess.
Persuasive writing ability
As expected, strong writing skills are a given for a bid writer, but getting words on a page is not the only critical part of this. Balancing concise, targeted writing which addresses technical subject matter in a persuasive, evidence-based manner is the key to producing high-scoring responses.
Further best practice approaches to bid writing also include:
| Bid writing feature | Benefits to the approach |
| Referencing the contract specification, authority requirements and other documents in the tender pack, such as a customer care policy | Assure the evaluator that you have read the tender documents, understand the requirements in full and are confident and capable in providing all aspects of the works or services |
| Incorporating ‘why’ your proposed solution is the best fit for the service model, rather than simply describing ‘what’ you will do and ‘how’ you will do it | Actively persuade the evaluator that your solution is the best possible fit, differentiating your submission from other bidders |
| Addressing the local community’s geographic and demographic profile within relevant responses – for instance, meeting response times or social value | Demonstrate that you have knowledge and insight of the community’s key features as well as residents to the local area, personalising the responses and the submission |
| Evidencing relevant previous experience by referencing other contracts of a similar size and scope, including KPI performance. | Position your experience as a key feature in your competency and capability to deliver by specifically referencing where you have done this before. |
Working to tight word limits
Usually, authorities will also include word, page or character limits to responses, with anything above the prescribed limits being excluded or even marked down.
Consequently, a key bid writing skill is scaling up or down in level of detail in accordance with the limits, while still ensuring all relevant information is included in the response.
Strong project management skills
Normally, a bid writer will be managing multiple submissions simultaneously, with each at various stages of the bid process. As with any time-bound role, it is crucial to ensure bids are progressing at pace, and project management and time management skills are an indispensable part of this.
- Breaking the tender submission into constituent parts with achievable timescales for completing each element of the bid
- Creating a project-specific list of submission requirements, listing each document and tracking the status of this
- Managing any input and communication from various stakeholders and subject matter experts
- Prioritising tasks and projects accordingly based on the amount of content required to produce the bid, in addition to the length of each response.
Attention to detail
Although some submissions will be similar and can benefit from use of a bid library, the question set, requirements and specification will vary for each bid. As such, an expert bid writer approaches a project from the ‘bottom up’, building responses from scratch in accordance with the tender instructions to persuade the buyer of the client’s suitability.
Just a few examples of elements of the submission a bid writer should be aware of include (but are not limited to):
- Comprehensively addressing all elements of the question to ensure it has been answered comprehensively and compliantly
- The specific language included in the question set as this will impact what content should be included and topics addressed – for instance, the distinct difference between quality assurance against quality management
- Noting submission requirements and ensuring this is reflected in your bid, such as anonymising responses or ensuring these are presented in the required font or size.
If you have resource to complete this internally, a bid writer should also schedule a final submission check from an impartial member of the team, ensuring nothing has been missed or omitted and avoiding the risk of a noncompliant submission.
Managing competing submission deadlines
The average submission window for a tender is between four and six weeks, from publication of the tender notice to the deadline for submission.
With multiple tenders to balance, a skilled and experienced bid writer should work quickly, accurately and calmly in progressing various stages of the bid, avoiding potential roadblocks and risks to the bid being submitted. Methods to support this include:
- Using a project management tracker, such as our proprietary bid management matrix, to track stage and status of each document in the submission
- Reading the documents in full prior to mobilising the project – not only for bid planning purposes, but to identify and raise potential clarification questions if anything is unclear
- Answer planning responses before you start writing – although it can be tempting to start immediately when facing a deadline, answer planning will create structure to the response and submission in general.
Analysing and applying tender feedback
Irrespective of a successful or unsuccessful outcome, a key step in continuous improvement in bid writing is reviewing feedback given by the contracting authority.
Although this can vary significantly in level of detail and scope, it is a crucial step to improve outcomes and win future contracts. As part of your bid strategy, make note of:
| Feedback element | Benefit of analysis |
| Individual scores for responses and how this compared against the most advantageous tender | Making note of key differentiators within feedback and applying these to future submissions |
| General strengths and weaknesses identified in the feedback from the evaluation panel – for instance, lack of detail around your complaints escalation process | Identifying what should be addressed in future topics and making this part of best practice approaches going forward |
| Bidder organisations involved in the exercise – although this may be anonymised, successful and unsuccessful suppliers will be listed in relevant contracts for Find a Tender award notices. | Mapping your market of competitors and keeping an eye on how these organisations scored, on both quality and price. |
Reviewing the above will allow you not only to improve quality scores, but also your chances of success in subsequent bids – refining your approach and creating future efficiencies in the bid writing process.
Support from expert bid writers
Each year, our bid and tender writing experts complete hundreds of submissions on behalf of clients, with an 85% success rate. Alongside many other skills, the quality of work our writers produce reflects the above skill set every day.
To find out more about or bid writing service or bid writing training we provide, contact us today for a free, no-obligation quotation at info@executivecompass.co.uk or via telephone 0800 612 5563.