Here at The Tender Team New Zealand, we help businesses across New Zealand write winning bids and tenders. Whether you are in the construction industry, education, medical, finance or Oil and Gas, here are three tips that will help you improve your next tender or bid.

1. Write a compelling executive summary.

Sometimes the executive summary is the only item that the procurer reads in detail. They often gloss over the rest of your proposal, so it’s important to make your executive summary compelling. So what goes into a compelling executive summary?

• You need to clearly articulate your key points of difference. Do you use any specialised equipment? Have you got experience servicing another similar contact? Whatever sets you apart from your competitors and is a win theme for the tender needs to be conveyed.
• Your executive summary also needs to introduce your team and make the potential client comfortable with dealing with you. The need to know that you have the capacity, resources and expertise to deliver. No doubt this will be included in your tender response, but in order to create a winning tender or bid, it’s important that you highlight these key points in the executive summary.

2. Write a comprehensive response to each question.

It’s important to read between the lines of each question and to ensure you have answered the question comprehensively. For example, the RFP, RFQ or RFI may ask you to detail your experience providing similar services. This is your chance to show off your experience and provide a comprehensive, winning response. Don’t just list the previous projects which you have worked on, instead go into detail about what team members were involved in each project, what were the key challenges and issues in the project and how you overcame them, how your expertise assisted in completing the project, and the duration of the project. It’s also handy to provide references and information on total project value.

Where you have talked about key personnel involved in the project, it’s also beneficial to confirm if those key personnel will be involved in the project or contract you are tendering for. This gives the client confidence that you have the expertise and resources to deliver.

3. If you haven’t got a chance, don’t bother bidding. If you do bid, make sure you do a good job.

It seems counterintuitive, however, there is no point in going for every single tender opportunity that comes up. You need to qualify each opportunity, and ensure that you have the appropriate skills and expertise to have a decent shot at winning. The reasons for this are two-fold:

Firstly, if you don’t have the necessary experience or expertise, there is limited chance of winning the bid. If you don’t have any government experience and are looking to secure a government contract, it’s generally fine. You have to be in it to win it after all. However, if you don’t have the private sector experience that the government tender is requesting, your prospects of winning will be limited.

Secondly, it’s important to give each tender a good shot and submit a compelling bid. Bidding for contracts has an opportunity cost for your business, and will draw on your resources, so it’s important that you allocate your resources to contracts where you have a solid chance, and take the time to submit a quality submission.

About us

We love helping businesses across New Zealand write quality bids and tenders so call or email us if you need assistance. We assist with Government and private sector tenders and bids, and our tender writing services extend across all industries from building, transport and medical to defence.