Are you tender-ready?
If you’ve ever responded to a request for tender (or RFT), you will know just how arduous the process can be. While the rewards for a successful submission are significant, the job of responding to a long list of complex requirements within a short timeframe puts many off before they start.
In my experience, organisations with the best track record of winning tenders tend to be those who work the hardest before the RFT is even released. How is this possible?
A clear plan, executed consistently
‘Tender-ready’ organisations are able to quickly identify who will do what in developing a submission. They have a clear and consistent system for identifying, collating, writing, editing, reviewing and approving the required information, and making sure someone is responsible for each task.
They also have standard templates for submission content, and others to track process, resolve issues and even to assess the opportunity in the first place. I have seen many clients lose vital days – even weeks – prevaricating as to whether they should even be bidding for a particular contract.
Getting the house in order
While a significant proportion of any RFT request will be unique to that project, there will always be standard requirements needing a standard response. A tender-ready organisation has a repository of responses to common questions ready to be copied and pasted into the tender with minimal customisation.
Think of what information you might be able to re-use, particularly supporting documentation such as a company profile, case studies, CVs of project team members, insurances, OH&S information, quality systems and certifications, as well as a range of internal policy and procedural documents.
Government RFTs in particular tend to use the same basic template, so a response from a previous submission may well be relevant. Keep this information in a format where it can be easily accessed and updated. Implementing a regular review and approval process will give you a big head start the minute the next RFT lands on your desk.
One final tip for standard response information: make sure you have an easy way to do a global update for the name of the would-be client. Evaluation panels don’t look kindly on submissions that continually refer to their competitors, or fail to spell the organisation’s name correctly.
Creating time to address the specific requirements
If you have a clear bid process and a library of pre-approved content to draw on, you can then spend the time between the release of the RFT and the submission deadline writing quality responses to the specific requirements. This will result in more targeted, polished and professional tenders and, ultimately, more successful submissions.
