Before you write a word
Work out whether this one is worth bidding for
A week of somebody's time goes into a bid before anyone knows whether it was worth spending. Score it below from the funder's or the buyer's own document, and take the answer to whoever signs it off.
Or call 07984 845440, or email [email protected].
Score it on screen
The same sheet, added up as you go
Nothing you choose here leaves this page or is stored anywhere. The printed sheet below asks exactly the same questions.
Total 0 of 20
Zeros 0
Answered 0 of 16
Answer every question and the sheet reads itself back to you. The total compares two bids you could put in the same week. It is not a pass mark.
One of the stop questions came back no
That is the answer for this one. No amount of good writing afterwards changes it, so the week is better spent on a bid you can make.
No zeros on your side of the argument
The sheet has nothing left to close. What it cannot tell you is how a funder or a buyer will read what you have, and that is the half that decides the score.
One or two zeros to close
Each zero is a section you would lose marks on, and the fix for each is written beside it below. Assess the evidence and governance gaps against your submission deadline. If the required proof cannot be closed in time, that informs your bidding decision.
Three or more zeros to close
That represents substantial remediation before the answers themselves are drafted. Assess the required audit trails against your submission deadline, and weigh the effort against other bids you could put forward in the same procurement cycle.
Your zeros, and what a two looks like
- How close is what they've described to what you already do? A two looks like this: It is your work.
- Have you got named, dated evidence for the heaviest scored section? A two looks like this: Written down and checkable.
- Do the criteria, and the share of the marks each one carries, favour what you're strongest at, once you know how the answers are scored? A two looks like this: The heaviest section is your strongest.
- Do the numbers in your narrative and the numbers in your budget or your priced schedule agree? A two looks like this: Added up independently, and they agree.
- Have you covered every cost you're entitled to recover? A two looks like this: Worked out and included.
- Does somebody who didn't write it read it before it goes? A two looks like this: A named reader, booked in.
- Do you know why they're buying this now? A two looks like this: You can say it in a sentence.
- Is there an incumbent, the supplier holding the contract now, and do you know what's changed? A two looks like this: You know both.
- Can you answer every question inside the word or character limits? A two looks like this: Counted, and it fits.
- What does this cost you in your own time, against what it pays? A two looks like this: You've got a figure.
The questions that stop a bid
Answer these before anything else. A no on any one of them is the answer, and no amount of good writing afterwards changes it.
- Are you eligible on their own stated terms, read from their document rather than from a summary of it?
- Can you meet every mandatory requirement in the selection questionnaire, which is usually accounts, insurance levels, references and policies? The tender compliance checklist sets out the rest.
- Can you deliver what they've described, at the price or the budget they've said they'll pay?
- Do you already hold the evidence the scored answers need, or can you get it before the deadline?
- Is the deadline real once your own approvals and signatures are counted?
- If you won it tomorrow, would you want it?
The last question is the one people skip, and it's the one that costs most. Work that fits you badly still has to be delivered after you've won it, usually by the same people who are already busy.
What decides whether it's worth your week
Score each of these 0, 1 or 2 and write the total at the bottom. Some are answered by reading their document again. The rest are answered by looking honestly at your own.
| The question | A zero looks like | A two looks like | Your score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 How close is what they've described to what you already do? | You would be learning it as you deliver it | It is your work | |
| 2 Have you got named, dated evidence for the heaviest scored section? | Nothing written down | Written down and checkable | |
| 3 Do the criteria, and the share of the marks each one carries, favour what you're strongest at, once you know how the answers are scored? | The heavy sections are your weakest | The heaviest section is your strongest | |
| 4 Do the numbers in your narrative and the numbers in your budget or your priced schedule agree? | Nobody has checked | Added up independently, and they agree | |
| 5 Have you covered every cost you're entitled to recover? | Not worked out | Worked out and included | |
| 6 Does somebody who didn't write it read it before it goes? | Nobody | A named reader, booked in | |
| 7 Do you know why they're buying this now? | No idea | You can say it in a sentence | |
| 8 Is there an incumbent, the supplier holding the contract now, and do you know what's changed? | No idea | You know both | |
| 9 Can you answer every question inside the word or character limits? | You haven't counted | Counted, and it fits | |
| 10 What does this cost you in your own time, against what it pays? | You haven't worked it out | You've got a figure | |
| Your total | |||
What the total is for
The number compares two bids you could put in the same week. It isn't a pass mark, and there's no threshold on this sheet. A threshold would be a number nobody has measured.
Count your zeros instead, because every zero is a section you'll lose marks on and each one has its fix written beside it in the second column. Two of them is a week's work to close, and if you can't close them before the deadline, that's your answer.
Two of them are arithmetic
The two about numbers are the ones you can settle in an afternoon with a calculator, and they're the two that go wrong quietly. A narrative total that disagrees with the budget table in the same document is the commoner of the two. More on where the marks go missing, and what a cold reader catches.
Can I print this?
Yes. The button at the top prints the heading and the two lists and leaves the rest of the page behind, so it comes out as one sheet you can carry into a meeting. There's nothing to sign up for and no address to hand over.
What a free read adds
The sheet tells you what's missing from your own side of the argument. It can't tell you how a funder or a buyer will read what you've already got, which is the part that decides the score. That second half is what a paid read gives you.
Send the funder's guidance or the tender documents, your deadline and whatever you've written so far. You get back a fixed fee for the work and a plain answer on whether the bid is worth making. The read on whether to bid is free.
If the draft already exists, a bid review comes back marked against the criteria with every change ranked. Every fee is on the pricing page.
The government's own advice to suppliers puts the first question in four words: meet all the requirements asked for.
The sheet cannot tell you how they will read it
Send the guidance or the tender documents with your deadline, and that half comes back with a fixed fee.
Or call 07984 845440, or email [email protected].