Tender Writing: How to avoid the last minute rush

It requires you to know what you are doing, and to have a writer that can present all the details of your company and your proposal to win the contract.

This is not a job that anybody can do and many businesses hire tender writers to write proposals for them. If you want to win contracts, you have to make sure that you have the skills of an experienced tender writer so that the proposal is written correctly and is presented professionally. An experienced writer will also know what information to include in the proposal.

If your tender writing is going to be undertaken in house there are a number of strategies that can help.
The most important are also the most obvious. Leaving yourself plenty of time to write the tender is obviously important, but so is preparing well in advance.

Preparation

There are a good many things that you can do in advance of the tender writing. The stage between PQQ and ITT is often wasted by companies.
You can begin to collect all of your supporting evidence.Ok, so you will perhaps not know exactly what is required, but you can have an educated guess and save yourself a lot of time later.

Common things that are included in a tender and which can be gathered beforehand include;

• Organisational chart-Make sure it is up to date for your tender submission
• CV’s- Again, make sure they are up to date and relevant.
• Images- Is your library stock of images up to date and relevant to the tender submission?
• Format- Have you agreed the little things that can make a big difference. Font, font size, colours, headings?
• Have you thought about printing and binding?

There are lots of other things you can do to make sure that you are prepared for when the tender arrives. This will save you lots of time and allow you to concentrate on tender writing when the time comes.

Leaving yourself plenty of time

This may seem obvious, but it is the most common reason why sub-standard tenders are submitted. Everyone always underestimates how long it will take to write a tender.
The date of tender publication will/should be known in advance. Use this to your advantage. Place the date in your diary and put time aside. Make sure staff annual leave is planned around the expected tender deadlines, and have everyone involved in the process read the ITT as soon as you receive it.

• Create the team early
• Make a project plan
• Set deadlines and stick to them
The length of time it takes to write a tender will vary enormously. However, one thing is for certain; to create original and compelling narrative when tender writing, takes time. Do not underestimate it.
For information on bid management
For information on last minute tender writing