Understanding Scoring Systems when Tendering
Tendering can be hard work. There’s nothing more paining that writing a 30,000-word tender response just before the holidays, spending all waking hours making sure the pricing is right and the content is the best it can possibly be. Now imagine how the evaluators feel when sitting to mark each one.
As Bid Writing Consultants, we always encourage you to write concisely and stick to the evaluation guide/scoring system. This not only makes it easier for the evaluator when marking your tender, reducing the time spent to tick-off what is needed but makes it easier for you when breaking down your responses to concentrate on the important aspects the buyer requires.
To make it a fair and transparent process, all buyers are required to guide suppliers in the way in which they score all tenders they release. We have broken this down for you in order to grasp the key fundamentals to Understanding Scoring Systems when tendering, especially when writing!
The People
Remember that the reason buyers are looking for services that your company can offer is due to the fact that they do not have the internal skill and expertise to do it themselves. We’d be stunned if you can find a procurement manager that is an expert in all industries across the country.
They are rarer than diamonds! This is why they develop evaluation guidance, so it makes it easier for them to stick to a format with marking each tender. You can have a range of people marking tenders – some of whom may be clued up in what you are offering and some who haven’t the faintest clue on how you deliver your services. To keep things simple, we always recommend that your written content is aimed at the people that have zero knowledge of your company/provision. Never assume the evaluators know what you do and make sure you always write a tender that a random person on the street could easily understand.
The Preliminaries
All tenders are subject to a simple scoring system. To keep this fair and transparent (especially within the public sector), buyers need to procure specific services based on the MEAT! No … this isn’t a metaphor for hiring the most delicious supplier, but an acronym to source the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT). This means that buyers want to acquire a supplier who can demonstrate a strong quality response, affordable rates and in growing cases, the ability to validate their services through an interview/presentation. The scoring system is broken down into specific elements and is provided a percentage to determine the exact final scores.
This can be broken down even further to show what is included (for e.g.) in the Quality Section – making your bid management strategy a lot easier, knowing where more focus needs to be applied (i.e. Contract Management as per the below):
|
Scoring Element |
Percentage |
| Quality Response (Written Tender) | 50% |
| · Contract Management | 25% |
| · Service Delivery | 15% |
| · Social Value | 10% |
| Commercial Response (Pricing) | 40% |
| Interview/Presentation | 10% |
| TOTAL |
100% |
The Process
When reading through the tender, you will be faced with something similar to the below. This indicates to all suppliers what is expected from their response[s] and provides insight into how tenders will be marked. We of course always want to receive the best marks possible and in this case, we want a score of 5 across all questions. The below guidance supports you to cross-reference your response either through development or upon completion and ensure your responses include the highest expectations (e.g. added value & strong detail etc.).
Score |
Guidance |
| 5 – Excellent | The Tenderer has provided a thorough response, addressing ALL requirements in extensive detail, providing confidence that the requirements can be met in full, with added value solutions. |
| 4 – Good | The Tenderer has provided a strong response addressing most of the requirements in detail, providing confidence that the requirements can be met in full. |
| 3 – Satisfactory | The Tenderer has provided a satisfactory response addressing most of the requirements in sufficient detail, providing confidence that most requirements can be met. |
| 2 – Acceptable | The Tenderer has provided an acceptable response addressing some of the requirement with partial detail. There are a few concerns about whether or not the requirements can be met, which requires further clarification. |
| 1 – Unsatisfactory | The Tenderer has provided a minimal response addressing some of the requirement with very little detail. The response provided does not provide full confidence that the requirements can be met. |
| 0 – Major Concerns | The Tenderer has failed to address the question, submitted a nil response or any element of the response gives cause for major concern that requirement[s] will not be met. |
This is where proofreading is vital! Ask a colleague of yours to take a look at your response and ask them to use point 5 of the evaluation guidance to benchmark against. Does your response reflect a high score? Is there more than be said for added value?
Remember to use all of this guidance to your advantage so that you can then deliver the MEAT! These simple aspects are open, transparent and key to planning a high-quality submission!
Want further support? – Get in touch!
Need assistance when writing your next bids and tenders?
Now you’re a bit more familiar with what’s required, you may be looking for some writing support. Writing isn’t everyone’s strong suit and that’s ok. Outsourcing a bid you’ve found to bid writing specialists can help you secure that next contract.
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 bid written for you; you may simply need it proofread before you submit. We can help with that. Our services include:
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. 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. This is a great way of improving your skills and understanding of how to polish your tender.
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.