Tender response strategy

Participating in a tender requires a lot of preparation, documentation and arrangement of funds for paying tender fees and EMD. In other words, you need to invest time and effort in preparing a tender response. In such a scenario, when you do not win the contract or your bid is rejected, it can be disheartening. To minimise the chances of losing a tender, you need to have the right strategy in place.

Let’s begin with what a tender response strategy is.

What is a tender response strategy?

So, what is a tender response strategy? It simply means forming a strategy to maximise your chances of winning the contract when you participate. The strategy may contain various aspects and a checklist. For example, if the deadline for submission of a tender response submission is too close and you are not confident about submitting on time, you can strategically decide to pass the opportunity. Another factor is profitability.

In case your calculation indicates that, with the desired profit margin, you may not be able to win the contract, you may not want to invest time and effort in preparing the tender response.

Here is how a tender response strategy can help you:

• Helps you decide feasibility of participation in the tendering process
• Maximises the chances of winning a contract.
• Helps in quoting the right price.

Here are a few checkpoints for you to formulate the tender response strategy every time you plan to participate.

Formulating a tender response strategy

Here is a four-stages strategy for a tender response strategy.

1. Finding a relevant tender
2. Understanding requirements
3. Preparation stage
4. Crafting stage

Each step is explained in detail below:

Stage one: Finding a relevant tender

Finding a tender suiting your business is key to success. Having a strategy for finding a relevant tender reduces the chances of rejection.

Each government department or ministry rolls out several tenders every day. One can find them on the CPP portal of the government of India. However, you may have to spend some time filtering and finding the tenders suitable to your business.

Instead, you can subscribe to Tata nexarc Tenders services to grow your business. Rather than applying various filters, you can get alerts for relevant tenders via e-mail. Strategically, it is important to find the right tender consuming less time. That’s what Tata nexarc Tender subscription can help you achieve.

Stage two: Understanding requirements

The second stage is understanding requirements. Finding a tender relevant to your business does not mean that you have to participate in the bidding process. You need to make sense of opportunity from various angles. Here is how you can do so.

Reading and analysing tender:

Firstly, you need to read through the entire invitation to tender along with eligibility criteria and required documentation. Analyse if you fit in the eligibility criteria and check if you have all the documents required.

Strategically, if you are not meeting the eligibility criteria, you can skip participation. This is because you are sure of the rejection. Instead, you can focus on more meaningful tenders where you stand a chance to win.

Also, you need to understand the technical requirements, expectations and, delivery timelines. Analyse your capabilities of fulfilling those requirements. Also, check if you have the required bandwidth in terms of resources and factory capacity to fulfil the order if you win.

Clarify your unique value proposition:

You can not escape competition. To stand out, you need to clarify your unique value proposition and distinctive qualities. Your tender response should strongly reflect your advantages over the competition. Deciding on your unique value proposition will help you write a clear response highlighting relevant experience and other details.

Stage three: Preparation of response

The next stage of the strategy is the preparation of the response. Here is how you can formulate a strategy:

Create a plan and timelines:

You need to create a bid plan that details essential tasks, checklists, and timelines, align resources and define their roles. You can mention milestones for each stage, which will help you to submit a response on time. Here are a few points your strategy for each tender should have:

• Unique value proposition
• Client expectations
• Checklist of documents required
• Details of funds to be arranged for EMD or tender fees
• Strategy to quote a tender price

Strategy for quoting a tender price

Quoting the right price for a tender is critical. There is in fixed formula or strategy you can apply here. However, your quote must create value for your customer while it needs to be sustainable or profitable for your business. Here are a few things that you need to consider while quoting price:

• Production cost
• Factory cost
• Cost per unit
• Overhead costs
• Total cost

As a strategy you can decide a profit margin percentage for your business over the total cost.

Stage four: Crafting stage

The next stage is the implementation of the strategy.

Writing the response

For government tenders, the tendering process is such that there is no way of presentation, your tender document needs to speak for itself. Therefore, be concise and clear in explaining your value proposition. Here are a few things you need to highlight as a strategy:

• Your relevant experience
• Your capability
• Value preposition
• Your advantages

Review

Once you finished writing the tender response strategy, it needs to be reviewed. It needs to be checked for accuracy, correctness, clarity, consistency, etc. You need to ensure that all guidelines are adhered to and required formats are followed.

Also, you need to check if all required documents are compiled to be attached file submission. The e-files need to be clearly named so that there is no confusion while submitting.

Conclusion

As mentioned earlier, there is no fixed strategy for submitting a tender response. However, you can maximise your chances of winning by following a few tips.

• Submit your tender response only if you meet the eligibility criteria.
• Read and understand the requirements and expectations before submitting your response.
• Quote a price that is sustainable for your business.
• Always review your tender response before submitting it. It will help you to eliminate errors if any.