How to Prepare a Strong Bid/Tender

A Tender is a formal, structured invitation to suppliers/ contractors/ service providers for supply/ provision of products or services, it is essentially a transactional model whereby large organizations, companies, government bodies and non-profit organizations find suppliers and contractors for particular projects or procurements. Therefore, it can be said that tenders form the base of the bidding process is used by both public and private institutions.

Things to keep in mind while preparing a strong Bid/Tender.

1. The first thing is to make sure that your company qualifies all criteria laid down by the tendering agency. Attach all relevant documents which are needed and don’t just load information’s which is not going to serve the purpose. Tailor your bid as per the requirement of the tendering panel and give a personal touch to your bid.

2. Make your Business strategy prior to the release of tender. Identify the Organization and the hierarchy Level. Try to Build a rapport with the person who can give you some guidelines about their requirement. If possible, have a discussion with them about any information they will require or any help before issuing the tender document. If you have a good rapport with the issuing authority you can suggest some points which can help you reduce the competition.

3. Try to Incorporate your strength or some points which can give you an upper hand in the bidding process. Like, make of the machine or some other process where you have a patent.

4. Try to mention your Strength and the Projects you have executed. Don’t be under Assumption that tender issuing agency knows everything about your company. Remember ASSUMPTIONS can lead to DESTRUCTION. Highlight the strength and qualification of your team who are going to execute the project. Back up what you have said with evidence and certificates like statistics, reference and quotes from clients, awards and appreciation certificates all add credibility to your bid.

5. Mention clearly about what you do and how can you execute this project better than your competitors. What advantage you can offer. Draft a good and clear offer letter without any vague sentences. The message should be clear.

6. In the last have a look at the bid which you have quoted and try to get a feedback from each team member about some missed points.

Remember Tenders and Bids are Interesting. You have to understand the basic requirement of the issuing company and try to offer him what he wants.

If you have the Heart to Believe and the Mind to Achieve, then Success will be Yours.