Bid Writing Checklist

How can we help with your tender response?

We have detailed a simple bid writing checklist to aid you when pulling a professional bid response together. Using our bid writing consultancy services will ensure all of these points are covered, or join us on one of our bid writing training courses and go through this type of material in greater depth.

Tender Response Checklist

Good bid Writing techniques

• Keep sentences short
• Avoid unnecessary words
• Aim for a friendly tone, not too formal
• Be clear and concise
• Use grammatically correct English
• Avoid Americanisms, Clichés
• Structure your bid response in a logical and coherent way
• Use a bid template

Focus on your audience

• Who are your readers? What is their agenda?
• Have a clear objective in mind
• Write your tender response with your reader in mind

Research your proposal document

• Where do I get my material?
• Use boilerplate text where appropriate
• Don’t re-invent the wheel – use any relevant existing material
• Concentrate on any weak content within your tender response

Structure of your bid response

• Use a mind map or outline to help with the structure
• Ensure the structure of your tender response is logical
• Consider the visual layout
• Don't forget Headers and Footers
• Determine the need and layout for your Contents Page

Editing your draft

• Check spelling and grammar
• Ensure all material is covered within your tender response
• Remove unnecessary words, sentences and paragraphs from your proposal
• Check for common errors, for example, the correct use of ‘it’s’ and ‘its’, ‘affect’ and ‘effect’, ‘your’ and ‘you’re’ etc.
• Always ask someone else to proofread your bid document

Presenting your bid response

• Define the various sections of your bid document
• Think about the agenda of your audience
• Use an outline
• Try to be extemporaneous in your delivery
• Be animated and not theatrical