Didn’t win that tender submission? Ask for feedback!

None of us likes to lose, especially when you’ve put lots of time and effort (not to mention bucks if you’ve paid for professional help) into creating a tender submission. Although, as hard as it is to miss out, this is a golden opportunity to seek feedback so you can get some clues as to what you could do better next time.

Not all organisations will provide feedback, but you'll never know if you don't ask! Suppose your tender submission was for a local Council contract. In that case, it's also a good idea to search on the Council website for the minutes of the Councillor's monthly meetings - these are always publicly available and usually include a section relating to the outcome of tenders (aka who won what and why).

The level of feedback offered will vary substantially depending on who issued the tender. Some may offer a face-to-face debrief designed to provide honest feedback and insights on what parts of your tender letter could have been improved. This information is gold for your business, so use it well.

Other tender issuers may provide a ranking score against each evaluation criterion for all tenders received. Sometimes this will list all tenderers and their scores by name, and sometimes this will list all tenderers, with everyone but your business listed with a generic name (e.g., Company 1, Company 2, etc.).

Either way, it’s an excellent opportunity to see where you sat amongst your competitors and what areas let you down. If you don’t get much information, but you do get the chance to ask questions, it’s always good to know:

1. Who won the tender submissions? It will help you better understand your competition.

2. How many were received, and where did you rank? It’s always a good thing to know where you sit amongst your competitors so you know your relative position.

3. How you scored against the evaluation criteria, and whether there were any areas where you didn’t meet the standards required or made mistakes.

4. What areas the evaluation panel felt you should improve on next time?

Once you have this information, you’ll know what let you down and what you should improve when you start your next tender submission.  Any feedback should provide you with valuable insights, and it’s important to share this with your team as soon as you can so they can start working on creating updated content.

If you need a hand, I’m here to help, and I’ve also written my professional tender writing tips, which are free to anyone who wants them - just fill in the form on my home page, give me a call on 0400 514579 or shoot me an email to pauline@tenderwise.com.au. I’m also happy to provide you with a review of your unsuccessful tender - obligation and cost-free.

In the meantime, happy tendering!

Pauline

Tender Writing Tips for New Businesses

Tender writing can be complex and time-consuming, but the reward can mean years of steady business and secure income. However, if you’re a new business, how do you demonstrate your experience?  

How do you indicate in your response that you have the right skills to deliver to the exacting requirements of the tender? How do you include written testimonials you don’t have yet because you’re just starting?

The answer is simple – rather than focus on a history that doesn’t exist yet, focus on what you as an individual have done in the past. The jobs you’ve worked on, the skills you’ve developed, the contacts you’ve made and the people who know how good your work is.

I recently helped a new start-up create a Government tender response for security services in regional Australia.  

The tender had some precise requirements for services to be delivered in the mental health sector, and it was important that we could demonstrate an ability to deal with conflict and aggression, stay calm under pressure, and remain polite and welcoming to all staff and visitors.

Here’s how I wrote the response to several key areas that had a significant impact on the selection criteria:

Demonstrated Experience

The new business had a few clients, but since it had only been in operation for a few months, there was no real history, and the services delivered weren’t particularly relevant to the tender submission.

It meant the focus needed to be on the principle behind the business. What the client had done in the past, how he had personally handled difficult situations and his attitude to providing security services.

Using his past experiences as examples, we demonstrated, point by point, how he personally met every criterion in the demonstrated experience section, and we backed this up with references from his past employers.

Standard Operating Procedures

The tender response required the company to provide the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and a description of the specific practices used to deal with aggressive people and situations of conflict or where force may be required.

Although the new business was operating professionally, it had no specific written SOPs. As part of the response, these were written and attached so we could fully meet the criteria for this section.

Risks & Vulnerabilities

The tender submission called for a detailed description of any vulnerability to the provision of the required services. What a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the potential risks involved in reliable and consistent service delivery!  

And more importantly, the contingency plans that would be used to minimise them. We developed complete plans for 12 key risk areas and were able to show the impact that each of these could have and what would happen if a risk event occurred.

Personnel

As a new start-up, personnel were pretty thin on the ground for this business, but the tender response had to include details of the key people who would be delivering the security services.

The business did have access to people with the right training, but none were yet on the books. So, we couldn’t mention how long they had been working for the business. Instead, the focus was on their experience and attitude and how these would fit the tender requirements right.

The resumes of these key people were explicitly redeveloped for the response, so they met the relevant criteria. I don’t mean that I created skills that didn’t exist – I simply updated the existing resumes to highlight and provide more details about relevant experience and to present the resume in a more professional format.

Covering Letter

I always include a cover letter with any response when writing tenders. In this one, we highlighted from the outset that the business was a start-up and then reinforced all of the positive aspects they brought to the table.  

Things like local employment, community support, regional knowledge, and the principal’s experience depth.

Stay Focused

So there you have it – it's not rocket science, but writing a security business bid response can be tricky and very time-consuming. Keep focusing on precisely what the questions are being asked, and provide as much detail as you can in your response.  

Stay fixed on your personal experience when tender writing and relate it to the tender's requirements.

If you're unsure where to start or don't have the time to pull a professional response together, call me (Pauline) at 0400 514579, email me at pauline@tenderwise.com.au, or fill up the form here. Let's chat.