Creating a Tender Document

If you are wondering what it takes to create a tender, the process can be broken down into the 3 key steps of any project – preparation, planning, and execution.

In this post, we will provide you with details of what to consider when producing your own tender, as well as links to further reading – ensuring you are fully equipped to plan and prepare for work in the public sector.

Preparing to bid for work in the public sector

While you can expect that no two contracts will have the same requirements, you should also be aware that the qualification criteria will also differ from contract to contract. This means just because you were eligible to bid for your last contract, you cannot assume you will qualify for the next.

These are the considerations you will need to make when thinking about bidding for work in the public sector.

Can you provide at least 3 months’ worth of bank statements? You could need these for low-value tenders.
Can you provide 2-3 years’ worth of accounts? This could be a requirement for high-value contracts.
Do you have demonstratable experience of working on similar projects?
Are there any industry-relevant accreditations or qualifications that you might need?

If you are unsure of how to start searching for tenders, you can find guidance in our posts ‘How do I find Government Contracts?’ and ‘Finding the right tendering opportunities for your business’.

Planning your bid for public sector contracts

If you do not have a plan for how you will produce your bid, you are setting yourself up for failure. There are 9 key steps involved with planning a tender:

Evaluate the tender – what are your Go/No Go triggers

Review and deconstruct the information available to you

Create your bid plan

Strategy Development

Answer planning

Answer development

Answering

Proofing and review

Tender Submission

For advice and actions to take during each of these steps, please consult our post ‘The 9-step tender writing process’. You can also find a guide for what your bid plan could look like in the post ‘Planning your winning tender submission’.

Writing your tender

Once you have your plan in place and have considered everything you will include within your bid, things will be easier – but writing a tender is still challenging!

The following posts will provide you with some bid writing considerations to help you write more confidently:

Once you start bidding for work, you will start building up your experience and learning what works well in your proposals. Keeping a portfolio of winning tenders or reusable information will help you in the long run.

If trial and error does not work for your strategy, and you would like to learn how to write high-quality bids sooner rather than later, we offer a range of bid writing training courses. Each course is CPD accredited and delivered online.