5 Things to Consider Before Bidding for a Contract – From Expert Tender Consultants

Last updated: Aug 30, 2022 @ 4:35 pm

Tendering can be pretty overwhelming at times, especially for new or young businesses. There are so many opportunities that it can be difficult to decipher those that are worth your time to bid for. There are a number of things our Bid Consultants consider before advising a client to bid for a contract. Here are five questions that consistently crop up across all tenders: 

Do you have enough experience?

One thing our Tender Consultants look for immediately in their assessment of a client’s business when tendering is experience. This is because the majority of tenders have strict requirements concerning contracts completed in the past. For example, a tender may demand that a potential supplier has completed at least three contracts in the same field of work in the last three to five years. Our Tender Consultants would be more than happy to help you come to a decision regarding whether your business has the relevant experience to pursue a particular tender or not.

Do you meet the economic and financial threshold?

It would be completely understandable if you read this question and didn’t have any idea what it meant. So, to clarify, tenders are often accompanied by a monetary figure. These figures act as barometers to how big a business should be before they should consider bidding for a tender. Our Tender Consultants employ a general rule of thumb in this instance: if the contract is worth more than half of your annual turnover as an SME, you are highly unlikely to win it.

Learn more about financial thresholds.

Do you have the time/resources to produce a high-quality submission?

Here at Hudson, our Tender Consultants work with copious amounts of business owners. Therefore, we are fully aware of just how busy they are. You may be attracted by a tender and, after answering the first two questions in this list positively, may decide to bid for it. However, what you must consider next is if you have the time available to write a submission of a sufficient standard to stand a chance of winning the bid.

Many SMEs do not have the expertise necessary to write such a submission. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was someone who could write it for you? Well, it just so happens that our Tender Consultants do exactly that, and with an 87% success rate, we’re pretty darn good at it. Speak to one of our Tender Consultants today and see what they can do for you!

If you were to win a contract, would you have the time/resources to fulfil the demands of the contract?

By this point, you have established that your company is experienced enough and stable enough to compete for a tender. You have also determined that you have the time and capability to write a high-quality submission sufficient to win the contract. Fantastic! Now you have to consider the logistics of the contract.

Does your business have the capacity to actually fulfil the needs of the contract to a satisfactory standard? If, for example, you come to the realisation that the contract’s demands will require all of your team members to spend 100% of their time on it, it is unlikely that you will win it. The reason for this is that buyers will deem this to be a risk to the completion of the contract and will, therefore, steer clear of such businesses.

Have you considered the level of competition? 

One last thing to mull over is who you will be competing with to win a contract. When reading the requirements for a contract, you can identify areas in which your business may be lacking somewhat. If this is the case, are you aware of any competitors that you know are not lacking in those same areas? If so, it would probably be best to discount this contract.

There are exceptions and ways to navigate circumstances such as these. Our Tender Consultants are specialists when it comes to this, speak to them today to gain a greater understanding of the tender process and what they can do for you!

Support from our Tender Consultants

Still unsure about whether you should bid for that contract you’ve found? Why not leave it in the hands of our dedicated Bid Writers instead? Email us or give us a call on 0203 051 2217.

Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including:

• How to win a tender
• What is a Bid Writer?
• The tendering process
• Writing winning bids
• 7 tips for tendering for contracts
• Tips for bid management
• Bid writing services
• The types of tendering procedures
• Writing bids
• Bid writing consultants
• Submitting a tender response
• And many more.