How to make your bid better (before submission)

17th October 2025
Bid Writing & Tender Management

In the final hours before a bid submission, it’s tempting to rely on instinct and experience. But even seasoned bid teams can miss critical marks, especially when frameworks evolve, scoring matrices shift, and buyer expectations become more nuanced.

Experienced bid teams leave nothing to chance… we like to evaluate our bids against the tender requirements well in advance of submission and spend days constantly refining the content of the response.

It’s important to note here though that if we are writing the bid response for you, this will automatically form part of your service. If you are writing your own bid responses, you can still access our Tender Read service.

What Is Tender Read?

Tender Read is a proprietary evaluation service offered by Tender Response. It uses a specialist software to simulate buyer scoring, flagging areas where your bid may fall short, before it’s too late.

Whether you’re preparing for G-Cloud, CSS3, or a local authority DPS, Tender Read gives you a clear, evidence-based view of your bid’s strengths and weaknesses.

How It Works

  1. Upload Your Draft
    You send us your draft responses, whether it’s a full tender or a set of method statements.
  2. Automated Evaluation
    Our software runs a multi-layered analysis, scoring each response against buyer criteria, persona alignment, and case study relevance.
  3. Exert Report Delivered
    You receive a detailed exert showing:

    • Score breakdowns by question and theme
    • Missing marks due to lack of evidence, structure, or relevance
    • Recommendations for improvement, including specific content gaps and formatting issues
  4. Continuous Improvement
    The exert isn’t just a one-off. It becomes part of your bid library, helping you refine future submissions and build internal capability. Could also be used to identify any certifications or accreditations that buyers are now asking for.

Why It Matters

Recent evaluations have shown that even well-written bids can lose up to 10% of marks due to:

  • Case studies not aligned to buyer boroughs or sectors
  • Missing appendices or policies referenced but not attached
  • Overuse of AI-generated content that lacks depth or credibility
  • Missing the requirement, particularly or al-together

Tender Read catches these issues early, giving you time to fix them, not regret them.

Real-World Impact

In one recent rerun for a housing bid, the initial score was flagged at 86%, but the exert revealed likely evaluator scores closer to 77–82% due to weak case study relevance. With targeted edits, the team recovered those marks and submitted a stronger, more competitive bid. The tender was improved upon and reevaluated with a score of 92%.

Who Should Use Tender Read?

  • SMEs bidding into public sector frameworks
  • Internal bid teams seeking external QA
  • Consultants managing multiple submissions
  • Anyone serious about winning, not just submitting

Get Started

Tender Read is available as a standalone service or bundled with our full consultancy support. To book a slot or request a sample exert, contact:

Email: admin@tenderresponse.co.uk

Tell: 0203 9300 664

Latest Insights From Tender Response

24th November 2025 3 Times When You Shouldn’t Ask a Clarification Question

Public sector tenders often come with detailed specifications — but not always. Sometimes, content may feel vague or open to interpretation, prompting suppliers to consider submitting a clarification question. But here’s the thing: not all ambiguity is bad. In fact, there are moments when not asking a question can give you a strategic edge — […]

Bid Writing & Tender Management
10th November 2025 Top 3 Tender Submission Mistakes SMEs Must Avoid in Public Sector Bids

SMEs need to focus equally on both the quality of their proposals and the precision of their public sector bids. The public sector evaluation process frequently eliminates suppliers through preventable minor errors instead of their technical proposal content. The following section presents three typical mistakes which frequently occur in tender submissions together with methods to […]

Bid Writing & Tender Management
27th October 2025 How to Write a Good Response to a Public Sector Tender Question

For SMEs bidding into the public sector, success often hinges on one thing: the quality of your written responses. While pricing matters, most public contracts are awarded based on best value — and that means achieving a strong score in the quality section of your tender. Crafting a high-scoring response isn’t about creative writing or […]

Bid Writing & Tender Management