Urgent bid support · situation 11 of 12
A main contractor needs your section of their bid by Friday
When a main contractor asks for your section at short notice, you are being assessed on two things at once: the content, and whether you are easy to work with under pressure. The second matters more than suppliers realise, because it decides whether they come back for the next one. Turning something professional round quickly is a commercial signal, and it is often worth more than the single contract in front of you.
The honest bit
What they send you is usually the question and not the context, so the risk is answering a question that has been abstracted away from the actual requirement. Ask for the original specification and the evaluation criteria for your part. If they will not share them, answer conservatively and say what you have assumed, because a confident answer to the wrong question is the thing that loses both the bid and the relationship.
What we need to start today
- What the main contractor has actually sent you, including any covering email
- The original specification and the evaluation criteria for your section, if you can get them
- Their deadline, which is normally earlier than the buyer's
- Word or character limits, which are often stricter in a subcontractor section
- Your comparable projects with real figures
When we will tell you not to bid
These are the things that make the situation undeliverable rather than merely tight. If any of them apply we will say so on the first call, before you spend anything.
- No sight of the underlying requirement, where you are answering an abstraction
- A deadline that leaves no time to get figures out of your own systems
- Being asked for evidence of accreditation or insurance you do not currently hold
Questions people ask at this point
A tier one has asked for our bid section with three days notice. Can you help?
Yes, and it is a common request. Send what they have given you and their deadline. We will tell you the same day what is achievable and what we need from you to do it properly.
Should I ask the main contractor for the full tender documents?
Yes. Ask for the specification and the evaluation criteria for your section. Most will share them and it materially improves the answer. If they decline, answer conservatively and state your assumptions.
How much does the quality of our section affect their bid?
On technical and specialist sections, considerably. It also decides whether they come back to you next time, which is usually worth more than the contract in front of you.
Tell us the deadline and we will tell you if it is doable
We respond the same day. Send the documents and the deadline and you will get a straight answer on whether it is deliverable, including if the answer is no. A bid you were never going to win costs more than the fee it would have earned.
Send us the deadline
Main contractor deadline. Tell us the closing date and what you have, and we will come back the same day with whether it is deliverable.
Other situations we pick up
- A tender is due this week and nothing is written
- A private sector RFP has landed with a short deadline
- Your bid writer has dropped out mid-submission
- A framework application closes this week and you have not started
- You need to get onto a Dynamic Purchasing System quickly
- An ITT has arrived and you have no bid team