Technical Bid Writer - How to Write a Technical Bid

Researching:

Failing to conduct sufficient research is one of the most common pitfalls with supplier's strategies. Buyers may require very specific services and failing to account for this can be off-putting. Key steps you can take to conducting thorough research and becoming a technical bid writer are:

Researching the buyer's background

Knowing what the buyer specialises in or the services they provide will allow you to fully understand their company and what services they are looking for. This will allow you to respond in a way that showcases your technical ability in fulfilling their demands.

Researching key information from the tender specification

By doing this, you can ensure that the opportunity you are going for is right for your business. Buyers will often stipulate technical requirements and ensuring you have the correct experience will help you submit detailed responses.

Researching key qualifications/accreditations needed

Buyers will be looking for suppliers who have specific skills, accreditations and relevant experience. Ensuring your company has the skills and experience required, you can showcase your technical capabilities and verify your ability to fulfil the demands.

Continuous learning

Vital to becoming a successful technical bid writer is ensuring you continuously learn and hone your craft. Writing detailed and technical responses is not a skill you can learn overnight. You must proactively engage with your field, constantly adapting and expanding your ability.

External learning

Gaining insights from other specialists within the field can be beneficial towards becoming a technical bid writer. This may include attending external seminars or conferences to gain the key knowledge needed to become a well-developed, technical bid writer.

Planning:

Key to becoming a technical bid writer is ensuring you create thorough bid plans prior to commencing work. Going into bids headfirst without developing a plan will result in rushed and flawed responses. Key steps in planning your responses are:

Creating timescales

Setting out timescales is key to becoming a technical bid writer. Knowing your internal deadlines will allow you to leave time for developing technical responses.

Planning with your key personnel

Key to your technical abilities as a company is your team and their specific skills, qualifications and experience. Ensuring you fully know your team's capabilities and what this can bring to the tender will allow you to develop responses that fully showcase your team's technical capabilities.
Planning what case studies you wish to use

Taking the time to go over your company's case studies and ensuring they are well developed is key in submitting technical responses. Planning which case studies you intend to use can ensure your responses include relevant, technical experience. This will demonstrate to the buyer that you have the skills they are looking for.

Proofreading:

Whilst this sounds simple enough, proofreading is vital for any company looking to develop detailed, thorough and technical responses. Having multiple pairs of eyes look over your responses is always better than one. The key steps you can take to achieving this are:
Have key members of your team look over the responses

Asking members of your team assess your responses you will ensure the technical capabilities of your organisation are accurately portrayed. There may be aspects of your organisation that you may not be an expert in. Having key figures run over this is key in becoming a technical bid writer.
Proofread with reference to the specification

This can be crucial in ensuring your responses are sufficiently technical. Specifications will usually have a list of paragraphs outlining key technical aspects of the tenders. Cross-referencing your responses with this you can ensure you are outlining the necessary technical capabilities needed.
Using the correct terminology

Writing proposals for certain sectors can require you to use technical terminology in very specific ways. Tenders for website development, for example, will require you to use specific terminology in a relevant manner. Having someone experienced in this look over your response is key in becoming a technical bid writer. However, overusing jargon can also be off-putting to buyers. Therefore, using the correct terminology in a clear and coherent fashion is key.

Taking a step back from your responses and understanding your audience

Proofread your responses with your audience in mind. This will ensure that you are writing suitably technical and accurate responses. Taking a step back and considering what it is the buyer wants will ensure your responses are streamlined and relevant.

Be engaging:

Becoming a technical bid writer does not mean that you have to create complex or boring responses. Simply taking the specification and replicating it word for word will be off-putting to buyers. Consider that buyers can be evaluating 20+ similar responses. Therefore, the key to developing technical and engaging responses that stand out from the crowd is:

Being creative:

Suppliers who can outline their technical ability in a creative manner will stand out to buyers. Using positive and engaging language will allow your responses to flow more easily. This will be much more attractive than long and overly difficult sentences.

Formatting:

If a buyer does not provide text boxes for your responses, this can be your opportunity to design attractive and engaging submissions. Buyers will be much more impressed that you have taken the time to design your content in an attractive and professional manner.

Being concise:

Overcomplicating your responses with long-winded sentences can be extremely off-putting to buyers. Having the ability to take difficult language and use it in a simpler fashion is key to being a successful, technical bid writer.

Conclusions of a Technical Bid Writer

To conclude, writing technical bids is not an easy skill. It takes time, research and thorough planning. However, by following these steps, your company can grow and produce engaging technical responses.

For further advice on writing technical bids, or to learn more about tender writing in general, get in touch with our Hudson Succeed team today. Alternatively, have a look at our virtual learning environment. Tender VLE (www.tendervle.co.uk) is the first of its kind to provide advice and tips on all things tendering.