To Tender or Not to Tender. Are you ready to make an official tender response?

Spending some time examining a tender request is the first step in developing a competitive tender response. This allows you to decide whether the tender opportunity being offered will be a good fit for your organisation, and whether to invest additional money, time and resources into creating a tender bid.

Using tools such as a checklist to analyse the tender requests is vital. The decision to go ahead with a tender is one of great consequence. Tender writing will use valuable resources and cost money. Aborting a tender at a later stage of development can have major repercussions for your organisation. This could be fatal to a small business.

To analyse a tender your checklist should include the following:

About the tender

• • What are the conditions of the tender submission? Do we have the capabilities to adhere to these conditions?
  • What goods and services do we provide? Know my company brand and goods and/or services.
  • Which goods or services is the purchaser looking to acquire? Can our company deliver what is required?
  • What are the key dates? Is there enough time for us to deliver on a contract?
  • Is any further discussion or clarification required? Are the buyer’s requirements and conditions clear? Do I fully understand what would be expected from the tender winner?

About the buyer

• What are the buyer’s main requirements? Are these requirements within your company’s realm? Does the buyer mirror my company’s objectives, values and mission statement?
• Does my company have an existing relationship with the buyer? Have we dealt with this buyer before? Where we able to deliver on a contract?

About my business

• Will this be a good fit for my company? Will winning this tender be a strategic move for my company?
• What are my company’s strengths? What puts our company ahead of the others?
• What are my company’s competitors’ strengths? What do they do better and how can we improve?
• Does my company have a good track record of delivering on successful tenders? Can I demonstrate this?
• What is my company’s potential profit on winning the tender? Will winning the tender be worth it or put us into financial trouble?
• Do we require additional resources to deliver a winning tender? Will winning the tender cost us more than the profit offered? Can we source any additional resources required? Can we afford any new resources?

Further tips for analysing a tender

• Do not bid If you can’t deliver. Tender writing uses resources. Can you afford to lose these resources if you terminate the tender writing process.
• Do not commit to too many tender opportunities at once. Concentrate on tenders that are more likely to generate results.
• Ensure that being awarded new tenders does not affect service to your existing contracts.

Will you need help generating a tender submission? Help is available. Red Tape Busters has experienced Tender writers waiting to assist you to submit the best tender application possible. Red Tape Busters can pair you with a tender writer that compliments your specific needs. Whether you require a tender writer Sydney or Tender writer Melbourne, or tender writer anywhere across Australia, red tape busters can help. For example, pairing a tender writer Sydney with a Sydney based company is an asset when submitting a tender application.