Tender Bidding Explained Simply

Tender Bidding: A Practical Guide to Winning Work

Tender bidding is the process of competing for contract opportunities — usually from the public sector — where you submit a proposal in response to a published tender notice. It’s how organisations prove they’re the right supplier for the job.

At Thornton & Lowe, we don’t just explain tendering — we write and manage winning bids every day. We’ve helped businesses secure contracts across sectors including construction, healthcare, facilities management, consultancy, recruitment and transport. This article will walk you through what tender bidding involves, how it’s scored, and what makes a bid stand out.

What does tender bidding actually involve?

When a public body or private buyer needs goods or services, they publish a contract notice. This sets out exactly what they need, how long it’s for, and how they’ll choose a supplier.

If you want to compete, you’ll need to register on their procurement portal (e.g. Proactis, Atamis, Jaggaer) and submit a full proposal by the deadline. This typically includes:

• A pricing schedule (showing how much you’ll charge)

• A technical or quality response (explaining how you’ll deliver the work)

• Supporting documents, such as policies, certificates, case studies, and financial records

Buyers then score each bid using published evaluation criteria, which often split into:

• Price (usually 30–60%)

• Quality (how well you’ll deliver the work)

• Social value or added value (e.g. local employment, carbon reduction)

The top-scoring bidder wins the contract.

How We Help with Tender Bidding

At Thornton & Lowe, we act as your bid team – whether you need a fully managed response or just expert input. Here’s how we support you:

• Opportunity identification – we help you choose the right tenders to go for
• Bid writing – we write persuasive, compliant content tailored to the buyer’s scoring
• Review and edit – if you’ve written a draft, we’ll audit it for clarity, scoring strength and compliance
• Training and strategy – we can build your in-house skills and help you improve your win rate

We’ve supported clients bidding for everything from £50k Quick Quotes to £500m frameworks – and our focus is always on results, not just submissions.

Want help with your next tender?

If you’re bidding for public or private sector work and want to improve your chances of winning, we can help. Whether you need a single response or long-term bid support, Thornton & Lowe’s team of in-house experts will work alongside you to plan, write, and submit strong, well-scored bids.

Get in touch today to discuss a live opportunity or find out more about how we help.

5 Tips for Successful Tender Bidding

1. Never use generic content If your quality answers can be copy-pasted into any bid, you’ll likely score low. Every response must directly address this buyer’s contract and priorities. Reuse structure – not wording.
2. Show proof, not promises Saying “we deliver high quality service” isn’t enough. Use short case studies, performance data or KPIs to back up every claim. For example: “We achieved 99.8% on-time attendance across 243 housing sites last year.”
3. Start from the scoring guidance If the question is worth 10%, and the buyer lists 4 things they’re looking for, you must hit all 4 clearly. If you don’t structure your response around their scoring breakdown, you’ll miss marks.
4. Don’t submit without a final compliance check Many clients we’ve supported lost marks before working with us simply because they didn’t label their attachments correctly, used the wrong file type, or missed a word limit. We use a bid compliance checklist to avoid this.
5. Use buyer terminology Use the language the buyer uses in their tender documents. If they refer to tenants, don’t call them service users. This makes it easier for scorers to link your answer back to their requirements.

Common mistakes we help clients avoid

• Bidding for everything, rather than targeting what you’re likely to win
• Missing mandatory criteria, like accreditations or financial thresholds
• Writing a ‘sales pitch’ instead of a structured, evidence-based response
• Leaving the submission until the last day, risking failed uploads or formatting issues
• Not reviewing the buyer’s contract terms early, which can expose you to risk