What makes a good bid
How bids are really scored, and the ways good firms lose marks without noticing.
Read the marking scheme first
Most people read a tender like a book, front to back. Start with how it will be marked instead: the weighting of each question, what each score band asks for, how price is scored and what is pass or fail. Then look for the nasty one. Some tenders throw a bid out entirely if any quality answer scores 1 or less, and nobody wants to find that on page 43.
A typical 0 to 5 scoring scale for a quality question.
The notice is only the trailer
The notice is two paragraphs. The scope of works is the full story, and it can ask for quite different skills. Take the technical terms from the scope and look for them in your own project list. If they're missing, find out now, before anyone has written a word.
Be ready to walk away
A quick go or no-go at the start saves days. List every task in the scope and mark which you can prove with a named project, which you could claim on skills alone, and which you can't cover. Deciding not to bid is often the right call. Winning a job you can't deliver costs you the margin and, worse, the reputation.
Know why you'd win before you write
If you can't say in one sentence why this buyer should pick you, the evaluator won't manage it either. Pick a few reasons, each backed by a fact you can prove, and take them from the buyer's own words: what the scope repeats, what it calls a priority, what seems to keep them up at night.
Answer the question they asked
Evaluators mark against their own criteria, with the grid in front of them. Use their headings and their words, answer each part in order, and back each claim with a real project. Generic text, the kind any bidder could have written, is what evaluators say they notice most, and it's the first thing to get skimmed.
Read all the small print
Amendments to the standard contract, often called Z clauses, are where the surprises live: long professional indemnity periods, collateral warranties, delay damages. Appendices that look like background can hide real obligations. You sign up to all of it the moment you press submit.
Common pitfalls
Skimming the notice, skipping the pack
The notice leaves out the scoring, the exclusion rules and the contract terms. In other words, everything that matters.
Copy, paste, lose marks
Last year's answer was written for last year's buyer. Evaluators can tell.
Claims without receipts
"Extensive experience" needs a named project, a date or a number. Without one, it scores as if it wasn't there.
Ignoring the format rules
Some tenders fix the font, margins and line spacing. A 1.5 line-spacing rule alone cuts what fits on a page by a third. Find it before you write.
Ticking "commit to obtain"
Promising to get an accreditation after award is free to tick and expensive to honour. Some can't be done in time at all.
Improving the price template
Buyers often ban changes to their pricing spreadsheet and may reject a bid that alters it. Resist the urge to tidy it.
Missing the question deadline
Clarification questions close days before the bid does. Check the date on day one.
Signatures on deadline day
Some buyers won't accept electronic signatures on declarations. Hunting for the director who needs to sign, on the morning it's due, is a special kind of stress.
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