Writing a Bid or Tender

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At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

2.1. Identify a bid, a tender, a PQQ or EOI
Any business entity should have a mission, a vision and clear aims and objectives. In identifying an appropriate bid or tender, the following questions should be asked:
Is it a bid for funding, a tender or a Post Qualification Questionnaire or Expression of Interest? is the application a single stage application or are there two or more phases? Can my business carry out what is required by the funder? Does my business have the capacity and does it fit with the company’s strategy, values and ethics? Having answered these questions, then it is necessary to find out, in detail, what is required to meet the funder’s objectives and priorities.

2.2. Prepare to write a bid or tender
To write a bid, do you have everything you need?  In particular, the time and the resources. Required resources include the necessary strategic documents and any other requirement of the funder or source of the tender. It is important to think in terms of targeting the funder, to be realistic, be real (no waffle or false information) and it is important to remember that even a failed application, can result in valuable feedback to take forward to the next attempt.

2.3. Write an effective bid document
It is essential that the application includes clear aims and objectives, or alternatively identifies a problem and the solution foreseen. It is essential to explain the need for your project, identify clear target groups and impactful results in terms of outputs and outcomes.  A good application should also consider life beyond the funding programme, with respect to dissemination, exploitation and sustainability. A successful application should include innovation in some form, this lesson suggests some effective ideation techniques to aid creative thinking. Just like in project management, when writing a bid or a tender, DEFINE and PLAN what you intend to do, carry it out and evaluate the outcome.

20 minutes

This lesson will take you approximately 20 minutes to work through, that is, if you just follow the explanations.

70 minutes

With additional reading this lesson should take you in total about 70 minutes to complete.

4 hours

With additional reading and a review of the academic articles, journal articles or advanced concepts the lesson should take you closer to 4 hours to complete.

Consider the project cycles: DPIE and PDCA. The importance of a storyboard and/ or a mind map for visualisation.


There is a shopping list that you need to be aware of before starting to write a tender or bid, for example:

  • Policies and/ or Strategy – does your organisation have the necessary policies and strategies
  • Capital or Revenue – what is the bid or tender for? What will it fund?
  • 5 Ps  Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
  • Records  keep a record of all your funding applications
  • References   not academic references but business and personal references
  • Insurances – Public liability, for example
  • Storyboard   Creative Thinking –  innovation will determine success of the bid.

Maybe use creative thinking techniques to develop new ideas and approaches to existing problems. Innovation is a creative solution to meet an existing need. The effectiveness of Ideation and Springboarding.

Always think of why (you want to do this); how (do you have the capacity and the skills) and what (you need to do). Reference to Simon Sinek.

further material

Here you can watch a short introductory video on the lesson and key topics.