Manage your bid process from kick-off to submission. Practical advice on timelines, stakeholder management and running a tight bid programme, from Bidsmithery™.
After you submit, the buyer checks compliance and evaluates your bid against the published criteria. Bid evaluation includes scoring and moderation, and the buyer may ask for clarification. Evaluators must support their decision with evidence. After approval and award, you’ll receive feedback, and an applicable standstill period may follow; the steps and legal requirements depend…
Does the buyer already have a supplier? Are you wondering whether bidding is worth your team’s time? An incumbent supplier has an established relationship, but a challenger can compete with credible evidence and a manageable delivery plan. Show what the buyer needs to believe before awarding you the work. Key Takeaways An incumbent supplier has…
What is a tender mobilisation plan? It explains how you will prepare to deliver a contract after award. Contract mobilisation covers the activities, people, timescales and checks needed before the service starts. Your team may know how to get everything ready, but tender evaluators need that knowledge on the page. A credible tender response helps…
Made the shortlist, but unsure what the panel will ask? Worried your delivery team will promise something the bid never included? Tender interviews call for clear evidence and answers your team has agreed in advance, so the evaluators come away confident you can deliver. The place to start is working out exactly what the buyer…
Know you can deliver the work, but struggling to explain how? A method statement is a written answer showing how you’ll deliver a contract, service or work package. To score well, it needs to answer the buyer’s published criteria with a clear sequence, named people, realistic controls and relevant proof. From the evaluator’s side, confidence…
Have you secured a place on an arrangement but are still waiting for work? Or facing another tender with a shorter deadline? Each mini-competition is its own call-off opportunity. Your framework place gets you through the door, and then each response has to meet this buyer’s requirements and score well on its own merits. That…
The deadline is getting closer, you’re still waiting for delivery figures, and someone keeps asking whether the budget is “nearly there”. You need a grant project plan that makes sense to a funder, without turning another evening into an unpaid planning meeting. How do you write a grant project plan UK funders can follow? A…
So you’ve found a promising contract, the deadline is next week, and you’re supposed to fit the bid around delivery, school pick-up and everything else. Below-threshold contracts can offer a route into public sector work, although a smaller contract can still bring a surprising amount of paperwork. Start by understanding the rules and fit before…
The modern slavery question has landed, you’re hunting for the policy, and the person who knows your suppliers is unavailable until tomorrow. Your answer needs clear evidence, even when you’re fitting the bid around delivery work and everything waiting at home. What should a modern slavery tender response cover? A strong response explains how your…
Is your grant budget nearly finished, but you’re still wondering whether you can include management time, finance support and the software everyone needs? Full cost recovery helps you work out what delivery will really cost, including the work that rarely gets its own budget line. That matters when you’re writing the application alongside your day…