Focus on the client – talk about their needs and how you can solve their problems. When you write about yourself, it’s to prove you have the skills, experience and organisation to fulfil the client’s requirements.
Help the client by coming up with ideas – from alternative ways of doing things to how to tackle possible worries about future maintenance and staffing implications.
If the client has provided a qualification document, make sure that you cover everything in the document.
Value for money and not price alone decides most bids. Bring something to the work that can’t be done by the client or your competitors. Emphasise business benefits, service improvements, risk reduction, low maintenance, quality, reliability, previous satisfied customers, lifetime costs, etc.
Analyse all the cost and pricing factors of the contract. Don’t ignore fixed costs such as wages for staff who could be working on something else.
Consider the possibility that certain information filed in connection to a tender could be subject to disclosure under the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information.
Contract management – show you have the resources to do the work in a cost-effective way to meet the client’s needs, hit deadlines and respond flexibly to changing situations.
Show you’ve thought about – and can manage – potential financial, commercial and legal risks that could cause contract failure.
Give details of your team. Emphasise strengths – CVs should highlight successes with similar projects as well as qualifications and experience.