How to build a tender content library when you don’t know where to start

Laura Moylan, Tender Specialist (Perth)

No matter how experienced you are, tender writing is always a daunting prospect. You can make this process more manageable by curating a content library to catalogue your organisation’s tender bid writing collateral. Collect your frequently used documents and responses in a central place, and easily manage important renewals and updates, like certification expiry dates.

What should a content library look like?

Here is one example of what a well-structured content library might include:

Approach

  • Collaborative Contracting

  • Resourcing

  • Committed Workload

  • Innovation and Value for Money Initiatives

  • Consultant and Client Information

Certification

  • Work Health and Safety Management

  • Quality Management

  • Environmental Management

  • Insurances

  • Memberships

  • Certification Matrix, including renewal dates

Commercial

  • Entity Information

Environment, Social and Governance (ESG)

  • Environment documentation and responses

  • Governance documentation and responses

  • Local Participation documentation and responses

  • Indigenous Participation documentation and responses

Financial

  • Entity Information

  • Annual Reports

  • Financial Statements

Key Personnel

  • Tender CVs

  • Supporting Documentation, such as headshot photos, qualifications and training records

  • Key Personnel Matrix

Organisation

  • Background Information

  • Company Structure

  • Capability Statements / Marketing Brochures

People and Culture

  • Company Culture

  • Human Resources / People and Culture Policies

  • Industrial Relations

Projects

  • Case Studies / Project Data Sheets – Check out our tips on writing case studies

  • Project-Specific Client References

  • Project-Specific Images

  • Project Experience Matrix

Resource Material (past submissions - noting if won or lost)

  • Previous full submissions, organised by industry, then client or project

Templates

  • Management Plans

  • Policies

  • Forms

  • Quality Assurance documents, such as ITP and SWMS

  • Submission Documents

  • Project Organisational Chart Structure

Work Health and Safety (WHS )/ Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)

  • Safety documentation and responses

Quality Management

  • Quality documentation and responses

A content library should be well structured and comprehensive

Top tips to make your content library work harder for you

Get clever There are many digital tools available for managing a content library, each offering unique features to help you store, organise, and search for content more efficiently. Content management software, including Sharepoint, offers add-ons to assist you with task automation, managing metadata and minimising duplicate information. Such cloud-based productivity tools help to streamline and optimise your content, leaving you with more time to work on your tender.

Make it make sense – Giving your folders and documents appropriate names helps users to easily find the content they need. Consider how users will best navigate the library when you are setting up the folder structure.

Keep it brief – Long file paths and complicated folder structures make opening documents difficult, so keep folder and document names short - aim for 15 characters or less. Try to stick to just two levels of folders from your main library folder to make finding content easier.

Update as you go – Build a step into your tender management close out process to update your content library with any new or amended information, such as corporate responses, project experience and key personnel CVs. Doing this when wrapping up your last tender submission means that you have the content readily available for the next one.

For more tips, you might be interested in Don't sleep on the importance of tender libraries and Content libraries save time and effort. If you’re not sure where to start building your content library or simply need some advice to streamline your tender management process, Tender Plus can help. We provide tender consulting services, including tender writing, tender support, tender coordination and tender bidding strategy. Contact our team today to find out how we can help you take your tenders to the next level.

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