A BID WRITERS’ BLOG
My thanks to the YBC members who have given encouraging feedback regarding my bid writing blog.
Several of you have raised a question about how to prepare for responding to a tender document – that is before you actually start the detailed response.
The first thing is to make sure that you have enough time to reply. For Public Sector tenders there are clear rules about how long the “buyer” must give you to reply but sometimes they ignore those rules!
There is no point in rushing your response – a good bid takes time. That is time to work out your prices, time to actually write your response and time to carefully check it before pressing the “send” key.
Something you can do in advance, even before considering a specific tender, is to have your company policies prepared. Many of these are documents that you are legally required to have but others may be advisable although not actually mandatory.
These are the policies you should have ready:
• A Health and Safety Policy (this is mandatory for companies having five or more employees but even if you are a micro-business you will be marked down if you don’t have a written H&S Policy)
• A number of HR policies including an Equal Opportunities Policy, and an Anti-Discrimination Policy. You may also be asked for your Recruitment Policy.
• Your Quality Management Process.
• Your CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy). A lot of Micro and Small businesses are frightened by this and think they don’t do anything – but you almost certainly do things to support your local community.
• An Environmental Policy. You may not be ISO14001 registered but at least you need a written policy.
• A Nett Carbon Zero Policy. For larger Public Sector Tenders it is mandatory to have this policy and to provide proof that you are reducing your carbon outputs
• You will probably be asked for your Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan.
• If you expect to use sub-contractors then a Sub-contractor Selection and Management Policy may be required
• Many tenders will ask you for a copy of your complaints procedure.
…….there are more but that is a starting point
Your Business Community is considering running some virtual or even face-to-face training session regarding bid-writing. Please let us know if you would be interested in joining one.
