How to Improve Bid Writing

The fastest way to improve bid writing is to write to the scoring criteria: structure each answer around what the evaluator marks, replace claims with evidence, and write every answer for the buyer in front of you. Then build a reusable evidence library, review bids as an evaluator would, and use feedback from every result to fix your weakest answers.

Diagnose before you improve¶

Start with your last five results. Under the Procurement Act 2023, unsuccessful suppliers receive an assessment summary with their scores. Line up scores by question type. Most bidders find the same weak spots repeat: social value, mobilisation, quality assurance or case studies. Fix those first.

Bid writing tips: planning¶

1. Read the scoring criteria before the question. Top marks describe what a perfect answer looks like.
2. Break the question into parts and use them as subheadings, in the same order.
3. Allocate words by weighting, not by how much you have to say.
4. Decide your evidence before you write: case study, KPI, policy or accreditation for each point.
5. Note win themes for this buyer and weave them through every answer.

Bid response tips: writing¶

1. Answer the question in the first sentence, then prove it.
2. Use the buyer's language from the specification.
3. Replace adjectives with numbers: response times, volumes, percentages, dates.
4. Show how, who, when and how you'll measure it.
5. Write about the buyer's outcomes, not your company history.
6. Keep paragraphs short and use bullets where the evaluator is checking a list.

Bid writing tips: evidence¶

• Build an evidence library: case studies, KPIs, CVs, policies, certificates, testimonials.
• Write case studies with challenge, action and measured result.
• Keep certificates current; an expired document can fail a pass/fail question.
• Get permission from clients before naming them.
• Refresh your top answers quarterly with new data.

Bid writing tips: review¶

Hold a formal review before submission. A reviewer who didn't write the answer scores it against the criteria and marks where evidence is missing. Then do a separate compliance check: word counts, formats, attachments, declarations and portal fields. Many bids lose marks for reasons that have nothing to do with writing quality.

Use AI well¶

AI can draft answers quickly from your evidence and help you hit word limits, but it doesn't know your operation. Treat drafts as a starting point: check every fact, add specifics and keep the buyer's language. PPN 017 means public buyers may ask how you used AI, so keep a note of your process.

How to read an assessment summary and turn it into a fix list¶

The Procurement Act 2023 changed feedback. Before 24 February 2025, many unsuccessful bidders received a short standstill letter with little detail. Under section 50 of the Act, a contracting authority must now give each supplier who submitted an assessed tender an assessment summary before it publishes a contract award notice. The summary explains how your tender was assessed against the award criteria and, where relevant, how it compared with the winning tender. That is the most useful bid writing feedback you will ever get, and it is free.

Most bidders read the summary once, feel annoyed and file it. Treat it as data instead. Copy every score and every comment into one spreadsheet, with a row per question and columns for the buyer, the sector, the question theme, the weighting, your score, the maximum score, the winner's score where given, and the evaluator's comment. After five or six tenders, patterns appear that no single debrief shows.

If the assessment summary is thin, ask for a debrief call. Most public buyers will agree to a short conversation after award. Ask three questions: what would have moved each weak answer up one score band, which parts of the winning answer stood out, and whether anything in your submission was unclear. Take notes, thank them, and do not argue about the result. Buyers remember bidders who handle feedback well.

Understand the scoring scale before you write a word¶

Almost every UK public tender scores quality answers on a published scale, usually 0 to 4, 0 to 5 or 0 to 10. The tender documents describe what each score means. Read these descriptors closely, because they tell you exactly what separates a pass from a top mark. A typical 0 to 5 scale looks like the one below. The wording varies by buyer, but the pattern is consistent: the top score needs full coverage, detail specific to the contract, and evidence that gives the evaluator confidence.

Many buyers also set a minimum quality threshold, for example a score of 2 on every question or 60% of the available quality marks. Fall below it on a single answer and your whole bid can be excluded, however good your price. That is why improving your weakest answer usually adds more to your total than polishing your best one.

A worked example: allocating words by weighting¶

Say a council cleaning tender has a 60% quality and 40% price split, with quality split across five questions: service delivery 20%, staffing 12%, quality assurance 10%, mobilisation 8% and social value 10%. The total word allowance is 5,000 words, 1,000 per question. Many bidders write roughly 1,000 words per answer because the limit allows it. A better approach is to think about where each extra word earns marks.

• Service delivery (20%): use the full 1,000 words. It carries double the weight of most other questions, so every improvement here is worth twice as much.
• Social value (10%): use the full limit but spend it on quantified commitments and reporting, not on your company values statement.
• Mobilisation (8%): a clear week-by-week timeline in a table can score as well in 700 words as a narrative does in 1,000. Spend the saved time on evidence for the higher-weighted answers.
• Across all answers: cut every sentence of company history. The evaluator has your Selection Questionnaire already and does not award marks for how long you have been trading.
• Plan time the same way: if you have ten working days, give the 20% question two full days of writing and review, not the same half day as everything else.

Common bid writing mistakes that cost marks¶

Evaluators across sectors report the same mistakes again and again. None of them need a better writer to fix. They need a better process and a final check against the tender documents.

• Answering the question you wanted to be asked. If the question asks how you will manage complaints, a page on your customer service ethos scores poorly. Answer the exact question in the first sentence.
• Ignoring the sub-questions. Where a question lists four points to cover, evaluators often score each one. Missing one caps your score.
• Copying and pasting from the last bid. Wrong buyer names, wrong site counts and old contract references are common and signal carelessness.
• Using adjectives instead of numbers. High quality, robust and comprehensive mean nothing to an evaluator. 98.6% of audits passed across 42 sites in 2024 means something.
• Breaking the format rules. Exceeding word or page limits, using a smaller font than required or attaching documents that were not asked for can lead to text being ignored or the bid being excluded.
• Leaving the price and quality teams apart. If your method statement promises two supervisors and your pricing schedule costs one, the evaluator will notice.
• Submitting in the last hour. Portals slow down near deadlines and uploads fail. Aim to submit at least 24 hours early.

How to write clearer answers: a sentence-level checklist¶

Evaluators often read dozens of bids against the same question, sometimes over several days. Clear writing helps them find your evidence and give you credit for it. The government's own GOV.UK content guidance recommends short sentences and plain words, and the same principles work in tenders.

• Open each answer with a one or two sentence summary that answers the question directly.
• Use the buyer's words. If the specification says service users, do not switch to customers.
• Keep most sentences under 25 words. Split long sentences at and, but or which.
• Write in the active voice with a named owner: Our contract manager, Priya, reviews every audit weekly, not audits will be reviewed.
• Put one idea in each paragraph and use subheadings that mirror the question's sub-points.
• Use tables for timelines, staffing, KPIs and risks, if the buyer's format allows them.
• End each section with the benefit to the buyer: what changes for them, their residents, patients or pupils.

Build an evidence library that improves every bid¶

The biggest single upgrade for most SMEs is an organised evidence library. Without one, each bid starts with a hunt through old emails for a case study or a KPI figure. With one, the best evidence is ready to drop into any answer. Keep it simple: one folder or one tool, organised by the themes tenders ask about.

• Case studies: three to five for each service line, each with the client, contract value, dates, the challenge, what you did and measured results.
• KPIs and performance data: monthly figures you can quote, such as response times, audit scores, complaint rates and staff retention.
• Policies: health and safety, quality, environmental, equality, safeguarding, modern slavery and data protection, each with a review date.
• Certificates: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, Cyber Essentials, SafeContractor or CHAS and insurance schedules, with expiry dates tracked.
• People: short CVs for the managers you will name in bids, with qualifications and relevant contracts.
• Social value: past delivery against commitments, with numbers, plus your Carbon Reduction Plan if you bid for central government contracts where PPN 006 applies.
• Testimonials and references: written permission from clients to be named and contacted.

Review the library every quarter. Update KPIs, retire old case studies and replace any certificate that has expired. A stale library is the main reason reused answers score poorly.

Bid writing tips by sector¶

The principles are the same everywhere, but each sector's evaluators look for different proof. Adjust your evidence to what the buyer worries about most.

If you bid across several sectors, keep a separate set of case studies for each. A strong care case study will not persuade a highways evaluator, however well written.

Improve your bid writing skills: training and practice¶

Formal training helps, especially for people new to bidding. The Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) runs a recognised certification path starting at Foundation level, and many UK bid consultancies run short courses. Local growth hubs and some councils also run free meet-the-buyer events and tendering workshops for SMEs, so check your council's procurement pages.

Practice matters more than theory. Two habits improve bid writers quickly. First, score your own answers against the buyer's scale before submission, then compare your predicted score with the real one. Second, read winning answers. Some buyers share the winning bidder's scores in the assessment summary, and freedom of information requests can sometimes release redacted winning bids for older contracts, subject to commercial confidentiality exemptions.

Tools that help¶

Compare bid writing software, bid library software and tender response software.

Related guides: how to improve tender writing, how to write a winning bid, bid writing guide, how to answer tender questions and bid writing examples.