By Frosanna Kelso, Tender Specialist, Sydney

As the Greek Philosopher, Plato said, "The beginning is the most important part of the work.” This is because the initial phase of any venture establishes the tone for what follows. This is particularly true in tendering. If you want a compliant, consistent, compelling and on-time tender response then you need to establish the foundations for this from the beginning. This includes establishing:

• A tender team that is structured and resourced to promote optimal workflow and prevent bottlenecks 

• A review process to identify where the tender requirements have not been met and any areas for improvement

• A tender management plan to track the progress of your submission according to the milestones

• A style guide and templates to ensure a consistent style and tone throughout the submission, and 

• A tender strategy that outlines your understanding of the tender, proposed solution and key messages.

If you put the work in at the beginning to establish these foundations, then you will reap the rewards at the end – a successful tender.

So, to build these foundations and set your tender submission on a trajectory for success, follow these tender start-up steps. 

Step 1: Establish your Tender Team

When establishing your tender team make sure you:

1. Have well-defined roles with clear responsibilities so each team member understands what they must do and how they must do it, promoting individual accountability and team efficiency

2. Select the right person for each role; someone with the skills and capabilities to complete the task, and

3. Allocate returnable schedules appropriately to avoid bottlenecks and ensure deadlines are met.

Step 2: Share the Request for Tender (RFT) documents with the team

If required by the client, make sure all team members sign a confidentiality deed before sharing.

Step 3: Establish the Review Process

Having a robust review process in place ensures that each returnable schedule addresses the needs of the client and the requirements of the tender. We recommend developing responses in three stages, typically referred to as Bronze, Silver and Gold, with a review at each ‘gate’. At each stage of the process, the intention is to see responses evolve and improve.

Step 4: Create a Tender Management Plan

A Tender Management Plan should break down all the returnable schedules requirements, outline who is responsible for each section and include the key dates for reviews. The Tender Management Plan will become your ‘bible’ for managing and tracking the progress of the tender.

Step 5: Agree on Tender branding

Work with your marketing team to agree on the brand for the tender. This may be your company brand or a bespoke brand for the tender. You should consider the name, logo, font, colour palette and images that will be applied on the tender.

Step 6: Develop a Style Guide

A style guide will help to prevent your submission from becoming a mix of writing styles and conventions driven by the personal preference of individual team members by outlining the writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and formatting rules. Putting the work in at the beginning to develop a style guide will minimise the amount of editing required at the end. 

Step 7: Create the Returnable Schedules Templates

The base returnable schedule template should work with your branding and style guide and sets up how your documents are organised, for example:

• Font choice

• Font size

• Heading levels

• Call outs

• Spacing, and

• Colour themes.

Note any prescribed format requirements in the RFT documents, such as font size, page orientation or spacing. Once the base template has been set up, use it to create the template for each returnable schedule.

Step 8: Develop the tender strategy

A strategy workshop should be held to define the tender win strategy and its key messages. Your tender strategy should outline your understanding of the tender, proposed solution and key messages.

Step 9: Hold a tender briefing

To ensure the team is on the same ‘page’, the tender briefing should cover:

• General requirements of the tender and returnable schedules, including the evaluation criteria

• Tender strategy and key messages

• How the tender and submission will be managed

• Contractual approach, and

• Price.

Finally, start putting pen to paper and watch the hard work you put in at the beginning come to fruition.