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Guide
What does a tender writer actually do
The title suggests someone who writes nicely. The work is closer to forensic accounting with a deadline. Here is what the job involves once a request for tender lands.
The seven jobs inside the job
1. Reading the tender properly
Conditions of tender, specification, schedules, addenda and the evaluation criteria with their weightings. The criteria are the brief. Everything else is context.
2. Deciding whether to bid
An honest assessment of whether you can score, whether the incumbent is beatable, and whether your evidence answers what is being asked. This step saves more money than any other.
3. Mapping evidence to criteria
Every criterion needs specific proof: a comparable project, a named person, a system, a referee. The gaps found here are what the rest of the bid has to solve.
4. Writing to the rubric
Evaluators mark against criteria, so responses are structured against criteria. That means claim, evidence, and relevance to this client, not company history.
5. Building the compliance suite
Management plans, policies, SWMS, insurances, accreditations and prequalifications, matched to exactly what the RFT demands and nothing it does not.
6. Running the returnables
A checklist of every form, schedule and attachment, tracked to closure. Most disqualifications are administrative, and this is the step that prevents them.
7. Lodging, then debriefing
Portal submission with time to spare, then a structured debrief win or lose so the next tender starts further ahead.
What a tender writer does not do
- Invent a track record you do not have
- Set your price, that stays with your estimator
- Influence an evaluation panel, the only lever is the quality of the response
- Guarantee a win, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling something else
Quick questions
What is a tender writer?
A tender writer prepares the written parts of a bid for work, usually against published evaluation criteria set by a government agency, council or prime contractor. The job is to turn a contractor's capability and track record into evidence an evaluation panel can score.
Is a tender writer the same as a bid manager?
Not quite. A tender writer owns the words. A bid manager owns the whole pursuit, including the programme, the inputs from other people, pricing coordination, compliance and lodgement. On small bids one person does both.
Does a tender writer set the price?
No. Pricing sits with the estimator or quantity surveyor. A good tender writer works closely with them, because the methodology has to match what has been priced.
Keep reading
Related guides
how to choose a tender writer
Nine questions that separate a real bid partner from a proofreader.
the cost of a tender writer versus an in house bid team
What each option really costs once you count nights, rework and win rate.
what a tender actually is and how the process runs
The plain English walk through of an Australian tender, start to finish.
See it on a live tender
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