What is Capture Management?

Capture management, also known as ‘Capture Planning’, is the strategic process of maximising the win potential of a request for proposal (RFP) opportunity. You can achieve this by optimising resources, business connections, and processes and gathering competitive insights. Ultimately, these methods of capture management help to position your company as the best solution for the customer. Compared to your competitors, your company can understand and meet the customer’s needs.

Crucially, all of this work happens before the RFP is received.

While this is not a part of the proposal process, it is a vital plan needed to elevate a company from an unknown to a preferred partner.

As such, it can dramatically increase your win rate potential.

Top four advantages of Capture Management

• Increased chance to win RFPs based on research and connections.
• Write more focused proposals – with shorter proposal timelines and ability to assess potential risks.
• Faster sales and develop a more qualified proposal pipeline.
• Reduce proposal writing costs – guide your pricing using competitive insights.

Key Information to Include in Your Capture Plan

• Customer requirements, expectations and issues.
• Evaluation of market and wider economic climate that may influence the availability of RFP opportunities.
• Competitive insight and its advantages.
• Primary win themes.
• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis.
• Collate previous RFx (request for ‘x’) documents to help craft responses to common questions.

When to Use Capture Management?

Though valuable, capture planning is a time-consuming process that requires great detail. To achieve the highest possible return on investment (ROI), capture planning should be reserved for the most complex and valuable opportunities. So, not every RFP demands the same in-depth strategy. Many companies adopt a shorter version of their capture management strategy for routine RFPs to save time, as the majority of capture plans take between nine and eighteen months to complete.

Who Can Create Capture Management?

Capture management is a highly difficult job in any company as it requires a varied skill set and experience in many fields. They also have the difficult task of selling internally and externally to both their company and the customer. Therefore, capture managers must create and develop strategies utilising their knowledge in areas such as:

• Marketing
• Human Resources (HR)
• Finance
• Contracts
• Corporate Strategy

Capture and Proposal Management

When the RFP is released, capture management hands over to the proposal management who put their strategy into writing. However, the capture manager is responsible for involving the proposal management before the RFP release, so that they are better prepared to win the proposal. Ultimately, the proposal management are responsible for producing the written document which will help close the sale.

Further, consistently winning proposals heavily relies upon a strong proposal management process, which works in tandem with the capture management in a partnership. If one role is not filled effectively, the chances of winning a proposal significantly decrease.

Responsibilities of Capture and Proposal Management

As aforementioned, capture and proposal management must work together in order to achieve the best possible potential of success.

Capture Management can detrimentally affect the proposal management processes if:

• They fail to identify how the company differentiates itself from its competitors.
• Impacts the proposal management’s effort by involving them too late, so they have little room or time for making necessary changes and improvements.
• Winning becomes a secondary concern to simply completing the task with minimal research.

Proposal Management can detrimentally affect the ability to win a proposal if:

• They fail to identify any further information required from the capture management team.
• They fail to receive information from capture management which can be used in their proposal plan.

Overall, the proposal management of any company identifies what it will take to win the proposal from the research conducted by the capture management – this takes the form of criteria in which the proposal management can then value the quality of the proposal they produce.

Capture Planning for Government Contracts

Capture planning for government contracts often occurs when the RFP is in its early stages of creation – bids are often unofficially won before the RFP actually comes out.

A strong capture strategy is crucial for identifying the customer’s expected timeline and demands the same process as mentioned above – research, pricing, the company’s assets and the customer’s issues

The key to success when regarding government contracts is using the same outline of the RFP and paying attention to strict proposal guides – word count, font and graphic size.

If you fail to meet their requirements, your proposal can be discarded.

Importance of Keywords in Government Contracts

Keywords play a crucial role in the success of your business. By increasing your online visibility and discoverability, you can grow your business at a faster rate and drive profit from this exposure. Simply, this is how customers find your business!

When it comes to RFPs, this is also how your business finds bidding opportunities. Unfortunately, government procurement offices don’t use standardised keyword descriptors, which would make finding RFPs that match your strategy much easier. Instead, there are seemingly endless databases, portals and search functions that make sourcing suitable RFPs a difficult task.

As a result, keywords should be carefully and deliberately chosen as part of your growing keyword list.

The aim is to think like a buyer!

Techniques for identifying successful keywords:

• Avoid umbrella terms that will return a vast number of irrelevant results.
• Ask specific questions about your business – What do you specialise in? What unique services are provided by your business?
• ‘Related searches’ function – Making use of this function can benefit your search, but Google should not be used as your primary resource.
• Keep evolving your keyword list so that you can avoid keywords that no longer align with your strategy.

It is time to put the effective keywords to use. For example, the optimal method of building a connection with the customer is by mirroring their keywords and language in your own proposal.

Let’s sum it up!

Capture management, proposal management and the utilisation of effective keywords are all crucial planning tools for securing a winning RFP opportunity.

Things to remember:

• Effective capture management can decrease proposal writing costs and produce faster sales.
• Capture and proposal management must work together in order to provide the best possible chance of winning a proposal.
• Keywords work most effectively if they are precise, regularly updated and tailored to the buyer.

Contact us:

Contact us to find out how we can help your business SUCCEED!

Additional support:

Do you only require assistance with PQQs or SQs? We can help!

Simply submit the relevant information regarding the work you need and we will provide a quote for the work agreed upon.

We provide support at all levels of the bid writing process, so if you simply need it proofread before you submit it, we can also help with that!

Discover Elite

Upgrading to Discover Elite can optimise your tendering efforts!

When bidding for a contract, our two new time-saving tools can improve competitor awareness and success rate:

The Ultimate Time Save Package (for those on the go!)

• Five tender breakdowns per month.
• Annual subscription to two sector-specific portals.
• Dedicated account manager.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package

• All of the above.
• Seven tender breakdowns per month.
• Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager (minimum five years experience). Our Global Bid Director will manage the bid strategy.

Our other divisions:

Vocal

Wanting to impress a buyer? Our creative content agency Vocal are always on hand to help!

Our Vocal team are never afraid to be heard – we’re a loud bunch!

From micro-businesses to large organisations, we provide ways to make your business stand out from the crowd. We can transform your bid into a professionally designed tender document!

Vocal specialises in:

• Copywriting
• Marketing
• Branding
• Websites
• Design
• Illustration

Alpha

Our online virtual learning environment for Education, Enterprise and Home Learners is currently being used to power our own platforms – Tender VLE and Procure VLE (Coming soon).

We believe in learning at your own pace, wherever you are!

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

• How to Secure Government Contracts Without a Huge Bid Team
• How to Win Contracts: 7 Secrets You Need to Know
• 5 Essential Tips for Winning Tenders and Bids
• How to Secure Government Contracts for Bid
• RFP Tenders: Everything You Need to Know
• The Tendering Process
• And many more.

The post Capture Management – Top 4 Advantages of Capture Management appeared first on Tender Consultants.

Are you new to writing tenders and proposals for your business? Have you never tendered for contracts before, and don’t know where to start? Luckily for you, the experts are here to help!

3 tips for writing tenders and proposals

1. Make a plan

Before you start writing a tender proposal, you need to thoroughly plan your tender response. If you start writing without a plan, then you run the risk of missing key points from the buyer’s specifications.

To ensure this doesn’t happen, you should plan each stage of the tendering process. Carefully look through the tender documents and assess what needs to be done. Take note of any key dates that you need to be aware of – especially the submission deadline! You should also plan for any unexpected delays and how you plan to overcome them.

2. Gather your evidence

When you’re tendering for work, the buyer will expect to see evidence of any previous contracts you’ve delivered. Generally, you should be able to provide two to three case studies from the past three to five years.

Remember, these should be similar in size, scope and complexity to the tender you’re bidding for. If it doesn’t demonstrate your relevant experience, there’s little point in including it in your response.

3. Become the MEAT

When you’re writing tenders and proposals for a public sector contract, you need to be the MEAT. This means that you need to be the most economically advantageous tender.

When evaluating tenders in the public sector, the buyer will be looking for more than the cheapest bid. Instead, they’ll be searching for the highest quality services for the lowest price. In other words, when you’re writing tenders and proposals, you need to offer the buyer the best value for money.

In summary  

If you’re writing tenders and proposals, there are certain things you should keep in mind. Firstly, remember to make a plan before you actually produce your tender response. That way, you can ensure you’re addressing the specifications in the tender documents and prepare for unexpected delays. Secondly, you need to provide the buyer with two to three case studies. Ideally, these will be similar in size, scope and complexity to the project you’re bidding for. Finally, remember that the buyer is looking for the most economically advantageous tender, or the MEAT. In other words, you need to offer the buyer the best value for money when writing tenders and proposals.

How Hudson Succeed can help 

Still have questions? Why not call our Bid Consultants? We’re always happy to help!

We have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or aren’t seeing results – we can help. There are four bid writing packages available:

• Tender Writing

Once you’ve found a tender you’d like to go for, send it over to us. One of our Bid Writers will write the tender response for you. We’ll provide a full Tender Writing breakdown and even submit it on your behalf.

• Tender Mentor

Tender Mentor can give your tender response a once over before you submit. Our Bid Writing Team will analyse your response, notifying you of any errors and opportunities for improvements prior to submission.

• Tender Ready

During the Tender Ready service, our team will create professional policies, procedures, and case studies in your company branding. If you already have this content, we will review everything carefully to ensure that nothing is missed. This service also helps businesses who are new to tendering with terminology and industry knowledge.

• Tender Improvement

The Tender Improvement package can help those who have tendered before but aren’t seeing results. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous responses and work with you to develop improved content.

Get in touch to find out how we can help your business grow.

Need help searching for tenders?

Now it’s time to find a contract opportunity for your company!

You may be wondering where you can find a tender for your business. There’s no shortage of websites offering multi-sector tendering opportunities and leads.

Ideally, you should be searching for a sector-specific site that posts all unique, public and private sector opportunities.

Our sister company, Hudson Discover, has 11 sector-specific tendering portals.  One centralised and easy-to-navigate portal can help you save time, streamlining the process.

Once signed up, you’ll have access to your own dedicated Account Manager. They’ll be able to answer any questions you may have about public sector contracts. You’ll also get an email alert when new and relevant tenders are uploaded to your sector.

A subscription to one of our industry-specific portals will include: 

• Unlimited portal access. You can browse your industry’s portal to your heart’s content. See the hundreds of opportunities that are available, intuitively categorised and easily accessible.
• A daily email bulletin. When you sign up to a portal, you’ll receive an email alert when new tenders are uploaded.
• A dedicated Account Manager. They’ll handle any questions or queries you may have about the portal.
• A free 20-minute phone consultation with a Bid Writer. Our expert bid consultants will chat with you about anything tender related.

What opportunities can I expect from a tender search on a Hudson Discover portal?

We host all kinds of tenders in both the public and private sectors. These are inclusive of, but aren’t limited to:

• Open tenders
• Restricted procedure tenders
• Competitive dialogues
• Negotiated tendering procedures
• Innovation partnerships
• Single supplier contracts
• Framework agreements
• Dynamic Purchasing Systems.

Vocal

Our support doesn’t end there! Our creative content agency, Vocal, are on hand to help.

The Vocal Team are not afraid to stand up and be heard. And we make sure our clients aren’t either! From small, micro businesses to large organisations, we are vocal about the things that make your business unique.

Our creative service is dedicated to growing your business through striking and thought-provoking content. We’ll take your bid and give it a complete makeover. With professionally designed tender documents, you’re sure to make an impression on the buyer!

Our team specialise in six areas, including:

• Copywriting
• Marketing
• Branding
• Websites
• Design
• Illustration.

If you’d like to know more about what we can do for your business, introduce yourself to the team!

Contact us to find out more!

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.

The post 3 Things to Remember When Writing Tenders and Proposals appeared first on Tender Consultants.

Hiring tender writing consultants can massively increase your chances of success when tendering for work. There is a lot of expert knowledge and skills that tender writing consultants possess. Since we want to help people learn, we will be covering how tender writing consultants can benefit your business.

Tender writing consultants offer industry knowledge

Since tender writing consultants are so familiar with the process and their industry, they know how best to advise clients. This means they can clarify which opportunities you are eligible for. Tender documents can be long and chock-full of information, so it can be easy to miss key information. Tender writing consultants can look through these for you and break them down into the key information. These breakdowns will include information such as the contract price, deadlines, what work is needed, and so on.

Tender writing consultants are experts at bid writing

As you might guess, consultants of tender writing need to be talented writers. They use their writing and language skills to persuade the buyer why you should be awarded the contract. They also use their skills to make your tender response interesting and engaging to read. You don’t want the reader being bored to the point they don’t even want to read your proposal. The very point of your proposal is to make you stand out! It goes without saying that they are also skilled proof-readers. So, they can check over proposals for grammatical errors and punctuation and spelling mistakes.

Whether you are wanting your entire proposal written or you need advice, tender consultants can help. They know exactly what is expected and how to make sure your proposal is of the highest standard.

Tender writing consultants have excellent communication skills

As a proposal is used to show the buyer what you can offer, it needs to be communicated clearly. Tender writing consultants are professionals at clearly stating your values and attributes. They will showcase your business and explain why you should be awarded the contract. They won’t waffle about points that are irrelevant to the questions as this would lose you marks.

Tender writing consultants know exactly how to manage their time and workload

One of the greatest skills of tender writing consultants is that they are organised. They know how to break down their workload and can do the same for clients. This is to ensure deadlines are never missed and work is done in advance. This way, there is no stressful rush at the last minute to submit. Technical Bid Writers know how to manage their time in order to get your bid proposal submitted on time, if not early.

Summary

Let’s summarise just some of the many ways consultants of tender writing can help you.

Tender writing consultants have industry knowledge

Being familiar with their industry is a crucial asset for consultants. They know what is expected, so they can offer expert advice.

Tender writing consultants are experts in their field of writing

They have written hundreds, sometimes thousands, of bids. So, they have perfected their writing skills to create high-quality proposals.

Tender writing consultants are excellent communicators

They are able to clearly communicate why a client should be awarded the contract.

Tender writing consultants have great time and project management abilities

The process of tendering and writing bids can be tedious, but they know how to manage their workload. Tender writing consultants will not miss deadlines and will have work done in advance to avoid stressful, last-minute submissions.

Need assistance with your next tender?

Although you’re a bit more familiar with what’s required, you might still be looking for some support with your tender. Writing isn’t everyone’s strong suit and that’s ok. Outsourcing to bid writing specialists can help you secure that next contract and grow your business.

Here at Hudson Succeed, we pride ourselves on being bid writing experts. We hold an 87% success rate and have over 60 years of collective bid writing experience.

We offer four levels of bid writing support to suit every business need. You may not need the whole tender written for you; you may simply need it proofread before you submit. We can help with that.

Our services

Tender Writing

Once you’ve found the perfect bid for your business, send it our way. Our Bid Writers can take care of the whole thing for you, they’ll even submit it on your behalf. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for businesses that have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully. They can also help you better understand the tendering process. Tender Ready offers your business:

• A 12-month subscription to one Hudson Discover.
• Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding Professionals.
• An Organisation-wide Bid library, including 3 case studies, 5 CVs and policies.
• Additional flexible benefits.

Tender Improvement

If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing success from your current efforts, our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents. They will work with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to a Hudson Discover portal and additional tendering development services.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written your own tender response and need it double-checked for errors, Tender Mentor can help. A Bid Writer will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They will also ensure it’s in line with the specification before you submit.

Additional support

If you only need assistance with PQQs or SQs, we can help. Send the information over to us and we can provide you with a quote for the work involved.

Discover Elite

Upgrading to Discover Elite can help optimise your tendering efforts – even when you’re busy. Our two new time-saving tools can improve your competitor awareness and success rate when bidding for a contract.

The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:

• A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
• An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Healthcare and Technology, for example.
• Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
• Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid strategy.
• Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.

The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:

• All of the above.
• Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
• A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

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.

The post How Can Tender Writing Consultants Help You? appeared first on Tender Consultants.

Introduction

Submitting a tender proposal is perhaps the most important part of the tendering process.

Web-based tender submissions have become normal in recent years and is the preferred way for buyers and suppliers to complete the tender process.

What this means is that if you are interested in submitting a tender proposal, you need to be confident using web-based submission portals.

The requirements for submitting a tender proposal have not fundamentally changed. However, the way you as a supplier interacts with the buyer has changed. It is now more streamlined for your company to submit your tender.

Benefits of web-based portals

Modern procurement is completed online and there are a number of ways that this is beneficial:

• Web-based tender portals were introduced to speed up the procurement process and make it more transparent for all parties.
• Using portals makes it easy for the companies submitting tender proposals to communicate with the buyer to clarify any questions they may have.
• It means that the rules must be adhered to by suppliers. It is easy for the buyers to check that you have uploaded the required tender documents before the deadline times
• Using web-based portals means your tender proposal information can be stored online. This can save you time and effort if you tender regularly!

5 Top Tips to remember when submitting a tender proposal

• Take your Time

Make sure you have understood all the documentation that needs to be submitted. You should also make time to learn how the tender portals work if you are unfamiliar with them. One of the easiest mistakes to make when submitting a tender online is failing to understand all the submission requirements:

• what you need to complete in terms of any additional attachments,
• how to complete the correct sections,
• and generally ensuring the correct boxes are ticked.

• Don’t be put off

At first glance, many of the tender portals can seem very confusing. Don’t worry however, it is a lot easier than the old methods of printing out and posting or delivering a hard copy!

• Learn what works for you

For example, the tender expert writing this blog prefers work in a Word document. They then transpose the proposal text into the relevant online response sections when it is finalised. This is because it is not always easy to work directly with the online boxes.

• Communicate

The online tender proposal submission portals allows for a much simpler communication process. Any clarification questions, notifications and important correspondence can be completed via the portal.

This is a lot easier and more transparent for all parties. Online portals also create a central location for working on your proposal. This is especially helpful when working with other contributors.

You can all work on the same submission easily. However, you need to make sure you communicate who is doing what to prevent any errors or duplicate content.

• Strive to stand out

Online proposals can sometimes remove the need for design, formatting and branding of a tender. This might save you time, but most importantly, it increases the need for your bid to stand out from the competition.

You should take the time to make sure your tender proposal is of the highest quality possible. Naturally, at the same time, you need to make sure that it matches the contract criteria and specification. See our Tender Design series on Tender VLE for more information.

Common problems with web-based tender proposals

Although online tender proposals save the time and costs of printing and delivering a hard copy bid, the submission portals are known for being confusing and difficult to navigate.

The main problem with online tender submission portals is that there are several portals that you might use. These are all different and unique in their own special ways.

What this means for you as a supplier is that you need to become familiar with how each portal works. This is especially important if you use different systems regularly.

Another issue often encountered with online portals is on submission day.

Everyone can relate to the fact that although technology saves a lot of time, it can also create major problems when it doesn’t work! Right before the deadline for a tender proposal, the portal is likely to experience a lot of traffic and occasionally the system can crash.

To counter this, make sure your tender proposal is written in plenty of time. This will give you the breathing space you (might) need to upload your proposal in plenty of time before the deadline.

Don’t submit your proposal at the last minute as you run the risk of the portal crashing right at the vital moment. (Trust us, it happens!)  If you miss the submission deadline, even by one minute, the tendering window will be closed and the authority will decline your submission.

Stay up to date

Ensure that you read all tender notifications and portal messages from the buyer throughout the tender process.

There may be important updates or additional actions required which may impact your proposal. Normally, these will be notified to all tenderers on the portal, with an (often) automatic email sent to all tenderers.

Tender proposals can demand a lot of your time and resource…

For particularly large tender proposals, there is usually a significant amount of supporting text, attachments, additional documents and financial information provided with each tender.

What this means for you is that you have a lot of reading and understanding to do before you even write your response. This can require a significant investment in terms of time and resource.

It is important to invest that time to fully understand the requirements of the proposal. If you cannot commit to this investment all the time, why not let Hudson’s tendering experts take this burden for you. Our range of tender services mean that we can support your tendering and proposal submission requirements.

Conclusion

If you feel you need some support with your tender proposals, or more information about how to use tendering portals, contact our consultants

Ask how one of our Bid Writing Consultants can support your tender proposal.

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.

The post 5 Things to Know About Submitting a Tender Proposal appeared first on Tender Consultants.

Last updated: Dec 17, 2021 @ 10:53 am

I’m glad you asked. The short answer can be summed up with the well-known phrase ‘how long is a piece of string?’. There are several tender proposal formats which you are more likely to encounter. However, there are still many other ways you can be asked to present a tender, and these can be affected by the sector you are bidding in as well.

The key thing is to make sure that you read the tender instructions thoroughly. This will ensure that your tender proposal format is compliant with the criteria laid down by the Buyer.

As a general guide, here are some of the tender proposal formats you can expect to come across whilst tendering:

Selection Questionnaire / Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (SQ / PQQ)

The SQ and PQQ tender proposal format is usually a very simple one. This consists of the following:

• A set questionnaire concerning your company information
• Financial position
• 3 contract examples and in most cases a small selection of quality questions.

The questionnaire element itself will always be presented in a set format, either through the use of a word document, excel sheet or as an online form on the relevant tender portal. Any additional quality questions will most likely be within the same pre-formatted tender document, or within text boxes on the online portal.

Occasionally you may have the option to submit the quality questions separately in a non-buyer document. This is an excellent opportunity to brand your responses and really make them stand out (more on this further down!).

Invitation to Tender (ITT)

In most cases, the ITT is the second stage of a procurement process and your company information will have been submitted at the first stage, meaning that your tender proposal format at ITT will usually consist of quality questions, commercial response/pricing schedule and supporting attachments.

It is entirely dependent upon each buyer (or contract authority) as to how an ITT is laid out and the format you are expected to respond within. ITTs typically fall into two camps:

• Pre-designed buyer documents with clearly marked response areas, usually with strict instructions for font size, font type and wordcounts.
• Free-format responses, where the ITT instruction layout any guidance points (like word counts or page numbers, font type or size and likewise) but give you the freedom to submit the quality responses in your own documents. (Sometimes, there is no guidance provided at all and you are free to format and develop your tender as you see fit).

If you have the chance to create your own response document, then this is a fantastic opportunity to make your tender stand out. So long as you adhere to whatever instructions are provided (for example, it is usually that the font must be Arial and a size 11) then you can take the chance to ensure the Buyer remembers your proposal.

Some things you might consider doing are to:

• Use your company logo to create a simple branding image that you can place on each page of the document, using your company colours to accentuate any further design elements.
• Think about putting together a title/cover page and a back page to place at the end of the document. You don’t have to be a design wizard to make these look good; a bold colour for a background which allows for your logo to be displayed nicely will look just fine if you take the time to match everything up properly.

Unfettered tender proposal formats really do give you a great opportunity to showcase the professionalism of your business. In theory, it shouldn’t matter at all if you upload a plain document or a professionally designed one; you’re not being marked on the design work, just the content.

However, creating an eye-catching document when given the chance will improve your odds of catching the buyers eye. Look at it this way; if you were reviewing 20 tender submissions and 19 of them were plain, you would definitely remember the branded one and appreciate the extra effort given.

Request for Proposal / Request for Tender (RFP / RFT)

Request for tender or proposal formats are nearly always free-format. RFPs are particularly common in the creative sector, where the buyer will provide a specification or a creative concept (for example, the basic premise and requirements for a website) and a creative agency will develop an RFP based upon that.

RFPs usually don’t come with wordcounts or stringent restrictions, but always read the instructions to make sure you haven’t missed anything. In procurement, just because something isn’t the norm doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

If you work in the creative industry, then you will know all about how best to display your brand. Don’t make the mistake of assuming tenders or proposals need to be plain documents; take the opportunity an RFP offers to get dynamic with your tender proposal format. This is especially the case if you are tendering for something like website development or film production. White space may help. However, you want to make sure that the buyer remembers you and your brand above all else.

Attachments and supporting evidence

If you are submitting a tender with a pre-designed buyer document that prohibits you from showcasing your beautifully branded documents, don’t despair! If you are permitted to submit supporting evidence with your bid (and in most cases, you will be) make the most of it. Have your company policies, organograms, CVs and case studies designed so that they a) look professional and b) wow the buyer in a way that the tender proposal format restrictions put a stop to.

Tips for a successful submission

Submitting a tender proposal is perhaps the most important part of the tendering process.

Web-based tender submissions have become normal in recent years and is the preferred way for buyers and suppliers to complete the tender process.

What this means is that if you are interested in submitting a tender proposal, you need to be confident using web-based submission portals.

The requirements for submitting a tender proposal have not fundamentally changed. However, the way you as a supplier interacts with the buyer has changed. It is now more streamlined for your company to submit your tender.

Benefits of web-based portals

Modern procurement is completed online and there are a number of ways that this is beneficial:

• Web-based tender portals were introduced to speed up the procurement process and make it more transparent for all parties.
• Using portals makes it easy for the companies submitting tender proposals to communicate with the buyer to clarify any questions they may have.
• It means that the rules must be adhered to by suppliers. It is easy for the buyers to check that you have uploaded the required tender documents before the deadline times
• Using web-based portals means your tender proposal information can be stored online. This can save you time and effort if you tender regularly!

Our top 5 tips are:

1. Take your Time

Make sure you have understood all the documentation that needs to be submitted. You should also make time to learn how the tender portals work if you are unfamiliar with them. One of the easiest mistakes to make when submitting a tender online is failing to understand all the submission requirements:

• What you need to complete in terms of any additional attachments,
• How to complete the correct sections,
• And generally ensuring the correct boxes are ticked.

2. Don’t be put off

At first glance, many of the tender portals can seem very confusing. Don’t worry however, it is a lot easier than the old methods of printing out and posting or delivering a hard copy!

3. Learn what works for you

For example, the tender expert writing this blog prefers work in a Word document. They then transpose the proposal text into the relevant online response sections when it is finalised. This is because it is not always easy to work directly with the online boxes.

4. Communicate

The online tender proposal submission portals allows for a much simpler communication process. Any clarification questions, notifications and important correspondence can be completed via the portal.

This is a lot easier and more transparent for all parties. Online portals also create a central location for working on your proposal. This is especially helpful when working with other contributors.

You can all work on the same submission easily. However, you need to make sure you communicate who is doing what to prevent any errors or duplicate content.

5. Strive to stand out

Online proposals can sometimes remove the need for design, formatting and branding of a tender. This might save you time, but most importantly, it increases the need for your bid to stand out from the competition.

You should take the time to make sure your tender proposal is of the highest quality possible. Naturally, at the same time, you need to make sure that it matches the contract criteria and specification. See our Tender Design series on Tender VLE for more information.

Common problems with web-based tender proposals

Although online tender proposals save the time and costs of printing and delivering a hard copy bid, the submission portals are known for being confusing and difficult to navigate.

The main problem with online tender submission portals is that there are several portals that you might use. These are all different and unique in their own special ways.

What this means for you as a supplier is that you need to become familiar with how each portal works. This is especially important if you use different systems regularly.

Another issue often encountered with online portals is on submission day.

Everyone can relate to the fact that although technology saves a lot of time, it can also create major problems when it doesn’t work! Right before the deadline for a tender proposal, the portal is likely to experience a lot of traffic and occasionally the system can crash.

To counter this, make sure your tender proposal is written in plenty of time. This will give you the breathing space you (might) need to upload your proposal in plenty of time before the deadline.

Don’t submit your proposal at the last minute as you run the risk of the portal crashing right at the vital moment. (Trust us, it happens!)  If you miss the submission deadline, even by one minute, the tendering window will be closed and the authority will decline your submission.

Stay up to date

Ensure that you read all tender notifications and portal messages from the buyer throughout the tender process.

There may be important updates or additional actions required which may impact your proposal. Normally, these will be notified to all tenderers on the portal, with an (often) automatic email sent to all tenderers.

Tender proposals can demand a lot of your time and resources…

For particularly large tender proposals, there is usually a significant amount of supporting text, attachments, additional documents and financial information provided with each tender.

What this means for you is that you have a lot of reading and understanding to do before you even write your response. This can require a significant investment in terms of time and resource.

It is important to invest that time to fully understand the requirements of the proposal. If you cannot commit to this investment all the time, why not let Hudson’s tendering experts take this burden for you. Our range of tender services mean that we can support your tendering and proposal submission requirements.

Bid proposal support from Hudson

At Hudson Succeed, bid proposal support comes in the form of our most popular service, Tender Writing.

The Italian-based organisation, Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale, approached the team at Hudson Succeed to support them with expanding their services internationally. Formed in 2007, the company has strengthened its role as a multi-service cooperative. They provide services such as town cleaning, environmental hygiene and cemetery management. Their main goal is to provide employment opportunities in the facilities sector to vulnerable and disadvantaged people.

“The collaboration with Hudson has been interestingly fruitful for Barbara B as we were entering a new market and we needed more insight and somebody who would be able to help us in letting our long experience in the Italian market emerge in the UK tendering process. In Hudson we found very responsive and professional support, in particular given the difficulties of transferring/translating the value of our Italian social cooperative work into the bid writing process: language sometimes can a be a limit, but Hudson’s flexibility and creativity helped support our business.” – Filippo Enseki, Operations Manager at Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale. 

Tasks and challenges

Research into the UK market

To assist Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale with their expansion goals, we provided them with both our Succeed and Procure services. In addition to supporting them with their bid proposal, our team also carried out research via our Hudson Procure division. This involved undergoing a thorough investigation by liaising with UK councils. Our findings were compiled into a detailed report, within the necessary timescales.

The bid proposal

As well as this insight, Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale also required support with their bid proposal. Their tender of choice was for grounds maintenance services, to be delivered across the UK.

When tackling the bid proposal, the team had to overcome translation issues. As with all clients, the first step for our bid writers is to extract information. This information then builds the foundations upon which the tender responses are crafted. Therefore, it is vital that these details are accurate.

Opportunity tracking

In order to help Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale futureproof their UK market strategy, we also assisted with opportunity tracking. Utilising our research findings, we were able to help the organisation identify the right opportunities for their business. This means that the company was able to prepare for future tender proposals, eliminating the risk of unexpected, reactive work.

Activities  

Our bid writers begin every Tender Writing project by creating a bid plan. The plan clearly outlines what they will need from the client and what the client can expect from them. This helps us to set expectations from the outset. It means that both parties have a clear understanding of the project timeline and how we will deliver the work required. In this case, the bid plan was particularly important. Extra time had to be factored in for translating any documents required from Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale.

The Succeed team underwent detailed, industry-specific research throughout the project. This ensured that their tender responses were developed to the highest possible quality. Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale is an experienced provider of grounds maintenance services. It was crucial that the bid responses accurately represented the client’s capabilities.

With the bid plan in progress, the team were able to effectively communicate with the organisation throughout the project. This led to the timely submission of the grounds maintenance bid proposal.

As for the procurement research, the team developed and designed a detailed and intuitive report. As the client was new to tendering for work in the UK, the report outlined the best strategy for them.

Results  

Due to the success of the first submission, where a 97% quality score was achieved, we continued to work with Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale. We have since helped the organisation to streamline their understanding of and approach towards procurement in the UK.

Our second tender submission was also a success, securing a four-year contract, totalling a value of c.£350,000.

Find more information about our work with Barbara B Cooperativa Sociale.

Find your perfect service

• Writing a tender proposal for the first time?
• Needing a second pair of eyes?
• Never tendered before?
• Need some advice and guidance through the tender process?
• Having burning questions?
• Don’t have the time to tender?

Don’t worry, it’s Hudson to the rescue!

No matter your question or query about writing a tender proposal, we have a service that is ideal for you. Whilst lots more information on our tendering and procurement advice and writing services can be found in our blogs, read ahead for a snapshot of each of our services, what they involve and the benefits they can bring to your business.

How we work  

We maintain a client-first approach in everything we do. Communication and transparency are vital to our service delivery.

Clients utilise our services for many different reasons, such as:

• Support with an ad-hoc bid proposal;
• Help to get started with their first tender;
• Help to improve their internal bid success rate;
• Simply because they need a second pair of eyes before they submit a bid.

No matter the reason, their goal remains the same – to grow their business. That’s why we developed our four service offerings; to ensure that we can support businesses of all sizes.

Tender VLE

Tender VLE is the UK’s first, online, tendering and virtual learning environment. The platform is dedicated to answering your questions about writing a tender proposal. Our team of procurement specialists regularly update the site with videos, accompanying blogs and downloadable attachments. These resources provide guidance, advice and helpful hints and tips regarding the tendering and procurement process. The site caters to beginners, intermediates and advanced level businesses. It is free to use and many clients find this service extremely helpful in terms of its clarity, ease of use and the answers it provided to commonly asked questions.

Lots of our videos are designed to provide specific tender support to those who have never tendered before or have lots of questions about the process including:

• Tender Ready
• To Bid or Not to Bid
• Time Management
• Case Studies
• Policies and Procedures
• Clarification Questions
• Dynamic Purchasing Systems
• Framework Agreements

If you’re interested in learning more about how to make the most of formatting your tenders, then check out our upcoming instructor on Tender VLE, Kathryn Johansen. In her introductory video, Kathryn has some excellent advice to give on the importance of your brand and how to use it to greatest effect when tendering.

Tender Mentor

Our Tender Mentor service provides businesses with a vital, second pair of eyes to make sure that their submission is the best it can be. It is predominantly a guide, review and advice service which involves our team critiquing your prospective tender responses whilst mentoring your team on ways in which they can continuously improve their submissions.

Tender Mentor is perfect for businesses who need a helping hand writing a tender proposal; our team of procurement professionals will pay attention to the details of your submission and the particulars of the specification. They will ensure that your response flows well and answers the question, whilst optimising the effectiveness in relation to the buyer’s requirements.

Tender Ready

Since launching the Tender Ready programme, we have helped numerous clients to take the first step on their tendering journey. We know that the tendering process can seem daunting. The programme was designed to help businesses who are exploring this avenue for the first time.

The package includes:

• The creation of the corporate literature you will need to tender for contracts;
• Three days of bid writing consultancy to develop your first bid proposal response;
• 12-months access to the Hudson Discover tendering portal of your choice so that you can continue to identify opportunities after the programme.

Call or email us to book a free consultation.

Tender Improvement

This programme is designed for businesses who are currently tendering for work but are perhaps not seeing success. Our bid team will provide tailored, one to one support to critique clients’ past responses. Knowledge and guidance is offered that can help improve future responses.

In order to help you increase your win rate, the package includes:

• A full analysis of your previous tender responses and the identification of areas for improvement;
• The creation/redevelopment of your corporate literature to help you impress buyers;
• Three days of bid consultancy to either write your next tender response or guide you through the process yourself;
• A 12-month subscription to the Hudson Discover portal of your choice.

Simply call or email the team for more information.

Tender Writing

This is our ad-hoc writing service, primarily aimed at businesses who know how to tender but struggle to find the time and resources to do so. Our team will take tender management, writing the bids and the submission process off clients’ hands completely.

Our team will work closely with the client throughout the process. They will ascertain the level of technical input and specific examples required to make the submission stand out from the crowd. And on top of all of that, we will battle with those pesky submission portals on our clients’ behalf. This makes the process of writing a tender proposal as stress-free as possible.

Further support

Still got questions? For more information about tendering and how to approach it, contact our Tender Writing Consultants for a free chat about your tendering queries and needs.

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.

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