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Sit Down With the Hudson Succeed Team – Tips on writing a bid for a contract

We Write to Win – Sit Down With the Team

Writing a bid for a contract:

When it comes to writing a bid for a contract, our Hudson Succeed team are well versed, holding in excess of 20 years’ experience in sourcing, writing and managing tender projects across multiple different sectors. Whilst writing bids for contracts is our Succeed team’s bread and butter, we understand that for many of you, this is not the case. With this being said, today, we sit down with our Hudson Succeed team to extract their top tips for writing a bid for a contract and to help you tackle those all-important tender submissions.

Daniel Hall – Head of Bid Management

“Plan effectively. Copy and paste parts of the specification that applies to the section you are developing and plan your response in line with this. This enables you to structure your responses when writing a bid for a contract and ensure that you accurately reflect what the buyer is asking for.

For example, let’s say a question is asking you for your approach to quality management, including how you monitor and improve your performance and act upon client feedback. Break the response down into these headings and go to the specification. Look for information regarding these points, as for example, the buyer may state you are to hold a 98% positive feedback rating throughout. If you fail to state this in your response and state you will aim for 90%, then you will look somewhat careless and will look like you have jumped into writing the response head first.”

“Another top tip for writing a bid for a contract is to use simple, clear, precise language. Don’t bury what you really want to say in a pile of interesting but superfluous information. Make sure your submission is as easy to read, accessible and engaging as possible for evaluators. You may be an exceptional writer, but make sure there is substance to what you are saying.

Nick Eyley – Bid Manager

“When writing a bid for a contract, make sure you plan out your tender response and give enough time to each tender requirement so that you avoid rushing the submission and risk missing the deadline. This is key for your bid management strategy.

Time is money, and this rings true with tendering. Our approach here at Hudson is to over delegate time. If you think something will take you 5 days, give yourself 7. We all know the feeling, planning to get X, Y and Z done in a day and then A, B and C come out of nowhere and you descend into chaos. The best way to avoid drowning when writing bids for a contracts is ensuring that you do not get caught out and to always expect the unexpected.” 

Emma Nelson – Bid Writer

“When writing a bid for a contract, take time to read *all* of the tender documents, thoroughly. By checking each document (even if you don’t think it is relevant) you alleviate the risk of missing a key instruction or a piece of information about the contract that could end up with your proposal being disqualified for failing to meet all of the criteria.

Make a list of the key information you need to find (like the contract value, contract length, economic and financial threshold, proposal formatting rules, deadlines etc) and tick each item off as you find it. Once you have found all of the items on your list, you can start to plan your tender, confident with the knowledge that you have all of the information you need to write a compliant, informed bid.

Regardless of how well written your responses are, if you have submitted accounts with a turnover of £600,000 and the documents clearly state this must be £1,000,000, then your excellent work will ultimately count for nothing.”

Jack Grayson – Bid Writer

“My top tip when writing a bid for a contract is to do your research. Know the company you are writing a bid for. It is no good blindly submitting a bid without knowing how the company works, their aims and values. A simple way of finding this out is to look on their website and see if any of their policies are on there.

Often times, if this is a council you are writing a response for, this will be easy to find. However, you may be required to dig a little deeper if it is for a smaller organisation.

Ultimately, you want to digest this information and ensure that your responses mirror their company ethos. If their four social value aims are equality, up-skilling disadvantaged individuals, providing access to education and benefitting their local economies, then make sure you are reflecting these values when writing your proposal.

If you showcase that you share these visions with tangible evidence of how you have previously delivered this, or, what measures you will enact to ensure that this is fulfilled, then this will bode very well with the buyer. Keep this realistic, however, it is no good promising the world without the means to deliver this, keep your promises tangible.”

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.

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