Quels sont les outils et les ressources essentiels pour la rédaction des soumissions et le contrôle de la qualité?

I would also look to contact the client/funder to go through their requirements and try and drive out the hidden nuances of what they are actually looking for. Quite often in my experience I find clients/funders don't give exact specifications of what they want in an RFP which can (and has many a time) lead to bidders going off on an incorrect tangent.

Finding a tool like Tender Copilot that helps free up your time to be able to read in detail the bid documentation and make your bid specific to the clients criteria can be a real game changer. Often establishing where to focus can also be a challenge and Tender Copilots “Key point to cover” function can really help with this.

Reading through the requirements in some detail taking some notes, so you can work with your team to make sure you can meet their needs - otherwise it is not an ideal opportunity. Again a thorough Bid/No Bid process needs to kick in at this point. A pre-existing relationship with the client is always advisable, personally I don’t think blind bids work. Often there will have been pre-qualifying questions with a selection of suppliers, so if you haven’t been included in that process, they may have already completed their sift of preferred suppliers, regardless of any proposal you put forward. Research as always is key. Understand your client- the value proposition and solutions they are looking for as well as understanding their why?

Knowing the requirements becomes necessary before we start working on any assignment. In the similar manner we need to understand the key tentents of the RFP. Reading the document and cull out key details like Scope, Deliverables, Scoring Mechanism, Evaluation criteria, Page Limits and any Submission Guidelines. Before the RFP comes out their should be proper Competitive Intelligence of the client where we get to know the ultimate decision maker with any preferences, needs and any expectations from vendor. This phase can help you to build Win Themes and Differentiators/USP and how you will align with overall Bid. Customizing and personalizing based on the specific need of customer will add differentiation to the Bid.

Knowing the requirements of an RFP is akin to reading the playbook before a big game. It's the foundational step that informs every subsequent move you make. Without a deep understanding of what the client needs and how they'll assess your proposal, you're essentially flying blind. So, dig into that RFP as if it's a treasure map—because, in many ways, it is. Decode the requirements, align them with your team's strengths, and you're well on your way to crafting a winning proposal. Just remember, you wouldn't bake a cake without checking you have all the ingredients first, right?

If there any areas of ambiguity within the RFP, or any missing information that you need to form a solution and pricing, raise clarification questions. However, be aware that answers with clarifications will likely be shared with all bidders.

I would always recommend doing an element of market research into the client to gain an understanding of the business and the market place. A full understanding of the client needs and project requirements is fundamental. The bid documents must be read, understood and digested to ensure compliance and also to align your value proposition with their needs. Where clarity is required, clarification questions can be asked to the client to glean more information which can help you decide whether to proceed with a submission in some cases. A bid/no bid discussion or process is recommended at this early stage to ascertain your chances of success and if you have the time and resource to produce a compelling submission.

All about KYC and answering those pain points you can discover and uncover in any inbound tender request or by researching your client, understand what keeps them up at night.. Best way to do this: - Research, research and more research - Leverage co-pilot/ labour augmenting tools (Like BidScript) to make sure you are not adding extra resource intense tasks onto your plate. - Talk to the client directly & settle any uncertainty Bid/ No-Bid planning reviews involving all stakeholders are key, ensuring everyone agrees the opportunity is viable & suitable

Planning your bid should have started way before RFP issue. What capture management have you undertaken? How have you influenced the RFP? What touchpoints have you had with the client evaluators? Have you tested your proposed solution with them? What pre-work have you done in sourcing/writing/editing case studies and resumes?

The approach is wholly dependent on the type and size of the bid. Like any project, you wouldn't employ full PM structure for something that is tiny... What you need to do is align your timelines to the client/funder's RFP timelines for submission as there are normally multiple levels/layers of submission (RFP, site meeting, adjustments, questions etc).

A Bid Management Plan is an effective tool to control the production of the actual bid. It will clearly assign who is doing what and by when. The Bid Manager will usually take responsibility for managing this process to ensure everything stays on track to ensure a timely submission.

Planning the Bid starts before the RFP is released to all the vendors; it should start at the Competitive Intelligence stage itself. What are the steps which you have taken to understand the needs and requirements of coming out with RFP. What is the kind of solution which client is looking for and what is non-negotiable for him? What are the main discriminators and differentiators which make you unique in the list of other vendors? How is the connect with the client decision makers and how our solution is customized to their needs. How well proof points/Case Studies/References we have to showcase our strength/expertise in the customer domain and technology.

This should be done in the prior step. KYC and research on an inbound RFP/ solicitation notice (if no prior relationship) should formulate the strategy, win themes, timelines, responsibilities and desired outcomes before any bid/ no-bid review. You don't want a fragmented decision making process when deciding whether or not to bid for an opportunity ... this will only lead to a fragmented completion process. Again, use tools available on the market (BidScript) or suitable alternatives to help project management, bid pipeline creation etc

In my experience, recognising and aligning to format limitations is crucial when strategizing and drafting your bid submission. Clients often set specific page or word boundaries and may impose constraints on the use of images, diagrams and tables. Adapting your response to conform to these limits is imperative; otherwise your risk wasting valuable time drafting a response that is non-compliant with the tender guidelines and client requirements.

In my experience writing bid content as well as reviewing other submissions, a well written coherent bid using clear and consistent language immediately gives a good first impression of the bidding party and helps it standout among the other bid submissions. In other words, for a person reviewing multiple similar bids, extra effort put on the page becomes apparent. I have also found that including various relevant evidence to support the bid submission, even when not explicitly requested, gives off the impression that the bidder has spent a considerable amount of time preparing their bid and has more robust capabilities and operations. Again, this usually improves the overall impression of the bidder.

Writing the Bid is pivotal as every effort should be made to showcase how we standout from the rest competitors. We should follow the instructions of the Bid like Page limits or words religiously and the format which customer is looking for from a vendor. Every claim should be backed by facts like Testimonials/Case Studies where you underline the key problem solved by you with Business Case/Technology and how your solution/product transformed the outcomes.

I agree and yet disagree around the language part. Like anything it needs to be tailored depending on the client. Not all bids are for multi-million pound companies.

Reading and understanding the question is crucial, alongside following the prescribed format in the tender documents, taking note of word or page limits, font and margin sizes etc. Break the question down into sub sections. Use sub headings to make it easier for the evaluator. Don't use jargon or acronyms. Assume the evaluator knows nothing about the subject matter and explain everything. Use metrics and statistics to bring your credibility to your statements and use infographics and images to help tell the story. Seek an independent review from someone who has not been involved in the bid, a second set of eyes can be invaluable. Does it flow, does it read well, have I answered the question?

Having a first draft that cumulates desired win themes embed through new responses based off old high graded responses, in a bid/ no-bid review meeting is extremely beneficial. Subject matter experts and bid writers can start to compose answers, editing any content and leveraging knowledge embedded in their bid libraries - ready for a red pen review. Again - I am a big advocate in automating the mundane tasks around crafting brilliant responses such as ensuring language is cohesive and persuasive, answers are short and concise, tone of voice is professional and is in-sync with your brand values. Use technology for this. Free up more of your time to craft great responses, compelling case studies - and more often!

This, to me, is the most important step in any bid submission process. This should also have the most time allocated to to allow for any rework to the bid once its gone through a few phases of reviews.

As stated in my previous comment, this element is crucial. If you can ask someone not directly involved in the bid to independently review the responses, this can be invaluable. It is important to make sure you answer the question, does it flow, is it easy to read, have you covered off all the requirements within the specification, have you provided evidence to back up your statements? In addition, proof reading, checking for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Reviewing any work which we do any where becomes very important. In the same manner reviewing Bids is most important and appropriate care should be taken to see that whatever we are writing is of topmost quality. Evaluation Criteria should be met under all circumstances. While reviewing we should consider using reviewers which have different expertise so that we get the right and just feedback from them. Spelling, Grammar and Proof Reading of all content with the lens of the customer requirements becomes essential and Independent review becomes important who is from different domain and different service line because if he understands message clearly then the end customer will also be able to understand.

Unfortunately, this is an area we see a lot of middle market organisations, and scaling businesses fall short. This is a resource intensive task. Red pen reviews are incredibly important, it is the final step in ensuring your time and effort has been put to great use. Use technology (like BidScript) to compare your answer to a marking rubric/ requirements doc - to ensure you are meeting those outlines in the RFP/ solicitation notice. Use technology to ensure language, tone of voice, messaging inconsistencies - you don't want thee gaps to undermine your efforts. These reviews are very important and are the last hurdle in the completion of a bid - don't fall here! If you don't have the labour power to do these tasks, use tech!

I've experienced a lot when writing RFPs that people submit their bids after the time. It seems to be more common than not. If there are situations where you cannot submit the bid on time then absolutely get in touch with the client/funder to discuss what, if any options, there are for late submission.

Always leave yourself plenty of time to submit, if it's due in at noon, don't start to upload at 11.50am. If your internet crashes, you will have a problem!! Check, double and triple check you have uploaded everything that is required. Follow the instructions to the letter. Most bids have a checklist of what is to be submitted, if yours doesn't then create your own.

Submitting Bid on time and in the correct format is the most pivotal work for any one submitting the Bid. Everything should be done to work backwards and have appropriate time for submission. All the comments by all stakeholders should be incorporated within time so that the last day is for just formatting, grammar and typos etc. Following instructions in the RFP is sacrosanct. In most of the RFP's I have worked there is an email id given in RFP where we need to submit the Bid and there can be multiple copies like Technical, Commercial Bid and the Main response to be submitted. Also, last but not least we should be share the final resource documents in the repository and share it will all the stakeholders for future references.

Don't do this with one minute to go, leave contingency time incase something slips the bid review stage and make sure to conform with all structure requirements. Ensure you have collated all supporting information, in a nice orderly and legible fashion - everything clearly labelled. Make it easier for the client - it won't go unnoticed. The key point - leave enough time to fix things, if they go upside down.