24 Apr How to build a Bid Library
How to prepare a comprehensive Bid Library
Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is ‘timing’ – judging the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.
And so it is with creating your bid and tender library of policies and company information – it’s about timing and patience. The best time to start building your library to support your tender is now. The worst time? Well, that’s building your tender library when you are already involved in bidding for a tender.
Deadlines are a great leveller, and in coming to respect them, you will build better bids and be properly prepared, rather than expecting to fulfil complex procurement requirements as well as building a sustainable bid library at the same time. It’s just too much unless you employ a professional agency or have significant internal resources dedicated to the task.
When it’s ‘Write Time’, it’s the right time
So, if you believe for one moment there will be a time where you are quiet enough to build your library when you have ‘spare time’, sorry, that’s unlikely to happen. You need to make this as big a priority as actually seeking and implementing polished bids. It’s that important.
A collection of all your critical documents and thorough responses curated in one place should be refined over multiple submissions. This will save time and vastly improve the quality of your bids. It will contain the content, testimonials, graphics, and case studies for future bids and will be a starting point to more efficient future bids. What’s more, if you treat your library as a valuable intellectual property, will be enhanced from the constant feedback you get from each of your submissions.
A repeat performance
There are several requirements that are required in almost every tender. The firms that win bid business normally have a library of information and company policies to draw from, allowing them to spend more time finessing their responses to answer the specific evaluation criteria, and questions.
You’ll need this and more in your library for most bids. May as well invest time in them…
1 Samples of your contract implementation plan. These can be very effective in a simple, clear Gantt chart, guiding the user on the distinct steps that you will undertake to implement the new business
2 Profiles the key members of your operational team – include their relevant qualifications, length of service with your company, experience in the clients’ business environment and an overview of their CV. But keep it brief
3 Case studies Dynamic, relevant and evidenced based where possible
4 Corporate policies such as Data Protection, Equality & Diversity Health & Safety, Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental
5 Business Continuity, Quality Assurance and Complaints procedures
6 Testimonials Ask your carefully selected clients to write about their experiences of your work together. Think through what will have the greatest credibility and impact
7 Reference points (including the contact details of clients who have given permission to use them in a tender)
8 The last three years of accounts, audited as appropriate
9 Current insurance cover and values
10 A sample or two of any service level agreements and how you plan to deliver key performance indicators
11 Accreditations and corporate memberships that add to credibility
12 A database of key clients including length of contract, annual financial value, date of award, and nature of the undertakings listed by spend
13 Selected management information (finance, ownership, performance etc.)
14 Executive summary. This needs to drive home your vision for the contract. It should be compelling, believable and above all, a perfect sound bite of everything you aim to offer, together with your credentials for delivering it
Get proper support
When you’re up against a very tight deadline or not, you can outsource some of the core work to a professional bid and tender support agency. They will be able to ensure you have compliant and current information and to help you answer the questions and populate the bid.
If you found this blog useful, there’s a whole lot more useful support available. Give Katy a call on 01908 382 414 or reach out on social media to hook up your free one hour consultation to get you started.
