Tender Deadline Close and You Have Not Started? Read This First
If your tender deadline is days away, do four things before you write a single word: find the clarification question deadline, which is usually earlier than the submission deadline; confirm you are registered on the portal and can actually reach the upload screen; count the scored questions and their word limits; and check the pass or fail requirements such as turnover, insurance and accreditations. If you fail one of those requirements, no amount of writing will save the bid. If you pass them, a submission is usually still possible with 48 hours left, though not a leisurely one.
Key facts at a glance
- First thing to find
- The clarification question deadline. It is usually days before the submission deadline, and once it passes you cannot ask the buyer anything at all
- Most common reason a bid fails to land
- Portal registration. Approval can take a working day or more, and a finished bid you cannot upload scores zero
- What decides if the time is enough
- The number of scored questions and their word limits, not the size of the tender pack
- Pass or fail traps
- Minimum turnover, insurance levels, accreditations such as ISO or Cyber Essentials, and financial ratios. These are checked before anyone reads your answers
- What always holds things up
- Certificates and sign offs that depend on other people. Start those requests before you start writing
- When to walk away
- If you fail a mandatory requirement, or cannot evidence the scored answers truthfully in the time left. Withdrawing costs you nothing but the reading time
What is still achievable, by time remaining
The honest answer depends on how long is left and how many scored questions there are. Below is what we will and will not commit to at each stage, including the things we will not promise, because a consultant who says yes to everything at 24 hours is telling you what you want to hear.
Most advice on tight deadlines tells you to plan earlier, which is not useful once the clock is running. This is what we can actually deliver against the time remaining, including where the answer is no. Tell us the deadline first and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable before we quote. 24 to 48 hours remaining What we deliver What we will not promise Under a week remaining What we deliver What we will not promise One to two weeks remaining What we deliver What we will not promise Four to six weeks remaining What we deliver What we will not promise The clarification cut-off is usually the real constraint rather than the submission date, because it closes your ability to resolve an ambiguity in the specification. It commonly falls one to two weeks before submission. Check it before you plan anything else.What is achievable in the time you have left
Rescue and review only
A complete quality response, if your evidence exists
A properly managed submission
The full job, including the parts most bidders skip
The words in your tender pack, in plain English
ITT, Invitation to Tender. The main document. It tells you what the buyer wants, how they will score it, and what to submit.
SQ or PQQ, Selection Questionnaire or Pre Qualification Questionnaire. The first stage. Mostly factual: turnover, insurance, accreditations, past contracts, and questions about the company rather than the work. Largely pass or fail.
Scored quality questions, sometimes called method statements. The answers that are marked out of a score and decide who wins. This is where a bid writer earns their fee.
Social value. A separately scored section on the wider benefit you deliver: local employment, training, carbon reduction, community work. Usually worth 10 to 20 percent of the total score and routinely under answered.
Award criteria and weightings. The published breakdown of how the marks are split between price and quality, and within quality between questions. Read this before you write anything, because it tells you where the marks actually are.
Clarification questions. Your chance to ask the buyer what something means. There is a deadline for asking, and it is earlier than the submission deadline. Answers usually go to all bidders.
Standstill. A short period after the buyer announces the winner, before the contract is signed, during which unsuccessful bidders can challenge.
Framework. A pre approved list of suppliers. Getting on one does not give you work; it gives you the right to compete for work released under it, often for four years or more.
The five mistakes that lose bids at the last minute
Not answering the question that was asked. Under time pressure people write about what they are proud of rather than what was asked. Evaluators score against published criteria and cannot give marks for anything else, however impressive.
Leaving the portal until the end. Registration, company verification and document upload all take longer than expected, and portals slow down in the final hours as everyone submits at once. Upload a draft early, then replace it.
Missing a mandatory document. A missing insurance certificate or signed declaration can make an otherwise strong bid non compliant, and the buyer is often not permitted to ask you for it afterwards.
Generic answers with no evidence. Saying you have a robust quality management process scores nothing. Naming the standard, the certificate number, the audit date and the person responsible scores.
Ignoring social value because it looks soft. It is often 10 to 20 percent of the marks and the section where competitors are weakest, which makes it the cheapest marks available to you.
What we need from you on a first call
The deadline, and the clarification question deadline if it has not passed.
The tender documents, or the portal link and reference number.
Whether you are already registered on the portal.
Whether you have bid for anything like this before, and what happened.
That is enough for us to tell you whether it is achievable. If it is not, we will say so on the call, and we would rather do that than take a fee for a submission that cannot be finished properly.
If you decide not to bid this time
Withdrawing from one tender is not a failure, and it costs you nothing beyond the time spent reading. What matters is that the next one is not the same scramble.
Most of what made this bid impossible is reusable and can be prepared in advance: the policies, the accreditations, the case studies, the financial information, the standard answers about your quality and safety processes. Assembled once, that library takes the next submission from a standing start to roughly 60 percent complete.
Set up alerts for your sector so opportunities reach you when they publish rather than a week before they close. Most buyers also publish planned procurement months ahead, which is when preparation is cheap.
Frequently asked questions
My tender is due in three days and I have not started. Is it still possible?
Often yes, if you can meet the mandatory requirements and the scored question set is not enormous. The things that make it impossible are usually not the writing: failing a pass or fail requirement such as minimum turnover or a required accreditation, or not being registered on the portal in time. Check both of those first.
What is the first thing I should do?
Find the clarification question deadline, which is usually earlier than the submission deadline, and confirm you can log in to the portal and reach the upload screen. Those two things constrain everything else and both have caught out businesses with otherwise finished bids.
Can you write a tender response in 24 hours?
For a small number of scored questions where you already hold the evidence, yes. For a full submission with many questions, or where policies and accreditations do not yet exist, no, and anyone promising otherwise is either not going to deliver it or is going to submit something that scores badly. We will tell you which situation you are in on the first call.
I do not understand the tender documents. Is that normal?
Completely normal, and it is not a reflection on you. Public procurement documents are written to satisfy legal requirements rather than to be read by a first time bidder. The parts that decide whether you win are usually a small fraction of the pack: the award criteria, the weightings and the scored questions.
How much does urgent tender help cost?
It depends on how many scored questions remain and what evidence you already hold. Urgent work carries a premium because it displaces other commitments, and we quote a fixed fee against a defined scope before starting. See our page on what bid writing costs for the ranges.
What happens if I miss the deadline?
The submission cannot be accepted. Public sector buyers have effectively no discretion to accept a late tender, because doing so would be unfair to other bidders and open to challenge. A bid submitted one minute late scores nothing, which is why the portal, not the writing, is the thing to get sorted first.
Should I bid if I am not sure we can deliver the contract?
No. Winning work you cannot deliver damages you more than losing it, and public sector performance issues follow you into future procurements where past performance is assessed. If capacity is the concern, consider bidding for a smaller lot, or as part of a consortium.
We have never bid for public sector work before. Where do we even start?
Start with whether you are eligible, before you start writing. Check the turnover threshold, the insurance levels, the required accreditations and whether you can supply two or three relevant references. Those requirements are pass or fail and are assessed before anyone reads your answers, so they decide whether bidding is worth your time at all.
Tell us the deadline first
Bring the deadline, the clarification cut off and the portal reference. We will tell you honestly on the call whether it is achievable, and if it is not we would rather say so than take the fee. Call 020 3668 5488.