Top Reasons for not being Awarded a Contract

We have written about these ‘pitfalls’ in the past but for some of you it’s time to be reminded! Here is a list of 4 common mistakes that are made when writing a tender or filling in a PQQ:

1. Technical overload!

You may not believe it, but it is possible to be overly technical in your responses for a PQQ or tender (though admittedly this can sometimes depend on what the contract is for!). Some writers inside organisations believe that stuffing their responses with as much technical know-how as possible will win them the bid. However, ignoring or failing to recognise the fact that by the time you have been invited to tender (ITT), the contracting authority will have more than adequately satisfied that you are able to complete the task in hand. Its quality assurances that you can give that they want to hear about.

2. No Theme!

Every bid needs a theme and it needs to be stuck to. It brings a greater convergence of your bid if it can be centralised around one key commitment. Do not, under any circumstance, contradict yourself. It confuses the client and can also lead them to question other areas of your bid or PQQ! You do want your bid to stand out from the crowd, but not for this reason.

3. Too much copy & paste!

Large public and private organisations have staff employed solely for the role of reviewing your PQQ & Tender submissions; they do this day in and day out. So with this in mind, you will not be surprised to learn that they can spot copy & paste from a mile off! And so can we! We have had past clients try and take old submissions that we have written for them, change the client name and the odd bit of information so that it fits the scope of the contract they are applying for. They then come back to us wondering why they didn’t advance to the ITT stage or win the tender. Well this is why! If you can’t write your own high quality narrative, don’t just copy and paste come to us and we will write you a winning PQQ or tender submission.

4. Lack of (or no) client focus!

When reviewing past submissions for our customers we never cease to be amazed at how they can often forget who they are writing it for. The PQQs or tender submissions were all far too company orientated and nowhere near focussed enough on the client or contracting authority. When it comes to a submission, disregarding the technical section, it needs to be client orientated. Remember, if what you are writing will not interest the client or any value, then it really has no place inside your submission.

All of the above points are of the upmost importance when writing a tender or filling out a PQQ, we have to consider all of these every single day and so should you when writing a bid. We deliver training days that are designed to educate you on how to complete submissions and how to correctly encapsulate your business inside your business whilst keeping the focus on the authority or client. We can also write and submit the PQQ or tender document for you if you do not feel up to, what can be a very daunting task. Contact us today if you are interested in our training or PQQ and Bid writing services.