Procurement glossary · Writing and evaluation
Red team review
A review in which people who did not write the bid score it against the published criteria as an evaluator would, before submission. The point is not proofreading. It is to find where the response fails to earn the marks it is chasing, while there is still time to fix it.
Also called Mock evaluation, Adversarial review.
What it means in practice
A red team works only if the reviewers score rather than comment. Give them the published criteria, the weightings and the scoring scale, and ask for a mark and a reason per question. Comments like this reads well are worthless; a three out of five with the reason it is not a four is actionable.
Timing matters more than thoroughness. A red team run two days before submission finds problems nobody can fix. Run it when there is still a third of the time left, which usually means reviewing a complete but rough draft rather than a polished partial one.
The most valuable reviewers are the ones furthest from the writing. Someone who knows the business but not the bid will notice unexplained jargon, claims without evidence and answers that never actually address the question, all of which the author is blind to by then.
Where suppliers get caught
Running the review too late and staffing it with the people who wrote the bid. Both failures produce a proofread rather than an evaluation, and the submission goes out with its scoring weaknesses intact and its typos removed.
Common questions
When should a red team review happen?
With around a third of the available time still remaining, on a complete rough draft. Late reviews find problems that cannot be fixed, which converts the exercise into a source of anxiety rather than marks.
Who should be on a red team?
People who did not write the bid, ideally including someone who knows the sector but not this submission. They must score against the published criteria and give a reason per mark, not offer general impressions.
Related terms
If a tender in front of you turns on this, send us the documents and the deadline and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth bidding. Call 020 3668 5488, or read the rest of the UK procurement glossary.