Tender writing services
When an invitation to tender lands, the clock starts. Our tender writers take the full response off your desk — quality questions, method statements, case studies and the compliance wrap-around — and hand back a submission built to score.
What tender writing covers
An ITT is the scored stage of procurement: the buyer has decided you’re credible (usually via a selection questionnaire) and now wants to know exactly how you’d deliver, at what price. A typical tender response includes:
- Quality / technical question responses
- Method statements and delivery plans
- Mobilisation and transition plans
- Social value commitments
- Case studies and contract examples
- CVs for key personnel
- Risk registers and contingency plans
- Pricing schedule coordination
We write all of it, in one consistent voice, mapped question by question to the published evaluation criteria. If you want to see how marks are actually awarded before you start, our guide to how tenders are scored is the place to begin.
The difference between writing and tender writing
Most businesses can describe what they do. Tender writing is a different discipline: decoding what each question is really asking (there are usually three requirements hiding in one paragraph), deciding the strongest order of argument, and evidencing every claim so an evaluator can defend a top score to their moderation panel. Generic marketing copy reads well and scores poorly. We write answers that are easy to mark — because the marker is the only reader who matters.
Our tender writing process
Free document review
Send the ITT pack. Within one working day you get an honest view of winnability and a fixed quote — or a reasoned “don’t bid” if the numbers are against you.
Win strategy and answer plans
A kick-off call agrees your win themes. We then plan every answer — points, evidence, structure — and share the plans for sign-off before drafting.
Drafting with your experts
Short, focused interviews with the people who deliver the work. Drafts arrive in agreed batches so review never bunches at the deadline.
Reviews, polish, submission
Two structured review rounds, a plain-English edit, final compliance check and portal upload support.
Public and private sector tenders
Public tenders follow published rules — advertised on Find a Tender or Contracts Finder, scored against fixed criteria, governed by the Procurement Act 2023 (our plain-English summary of the Act covers what changed). Private sector RFPs are looser: relationships matter more, the criteria may be unpublished, and presentation carries more weight. We write both, and adjust the approach — not the standards — accordingly.
What it costs
Every tender is quoted as a fixed fee from the actual documents — typically driven by the number of scored questions and their word counts. Regular bidders save with a retainer, and a maintained library of reusable bid content cuts the cost of every subsequent response. The first review and quote are always free.
Sectors we write tenders for
From FM contractors and security firms to care providers and staffing agencies — the evaluation logic is the same, but the evidence buyers expect is not. Twelve sector pages cover the specifics.
What you provide, and what we handle
One worry stops businesses outsourcing tender writing: the fear it’ll consume more of their time than doing it themselves. In practice the opposite is true. Across a typical tender you provide perhaps two to four hours — a kick-off conversation, one or two focused interviews with the people who deliver the work, and your review of drafts. We handle everything else: reading the documents, planning the answers, drafting, evidencing, editing, compliance-checking and the portal upload. You stay the authority on your business and your numbers; we do the heavy lifting of turning that into a scored submission. Most clients are surprised how little of their week a professionally managed tender actually costs them.
Tender writing for the Procurement Act era
The Procurement Act 2023 reshaped how UK contracts are advertised and awarded, shifting the award basis to the Most Advantageous Tender and sharpening the focus on wider value and transparency. Our tender writing reflects the current regime — from the language of the new notices to the heightened weight on social value and outcomes — so your responses speak the buyer’s current vocabulary, not last decade’s. Our plain-English guide to the Procurement Act covers what changed, and we write every submission consistent with it. The fundamentals are unchanged — answer the question, evidence everything, write for the evaluator — but the framing matters, and a tender that reads as current carries quiet credibility with the people scoring it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a tender response take?
Two to three weeks is comfortable for a typical single-lot ITT. We regularly deliver in ten working days when deadlines demand it, but earlier engagement always shows in the quality scores — the planning stages are where bids are really won.
What’s the difference between bid writing and tender writing?
In practice the terms overlap: “tender writing” usually means responding to a formal ITT, while “bid writing” covers any competitive proposal. The craft is identical — our bid writing page describes the wider service.
Can you just write some of the questions?
Yes. Plenty of clients keep the technical answers in-house and pass us the high-weighted quality questions, the social value response or the executive summary. We quote per question set, so partial support is straightforward.
Do you handle the pricing schedule?
We coordinate it — making sure the commercial submission is complete, consistent with the quality answers and compliant with the buyer’s format. The pricing strategy itself stays with you; we’ll flag how the scoring formula should influence it.
What happens if we lose?
You get a wash-up either way. If the result goes against you, we review the buyer’s feedback with you, identify exactly where marks were lost, and feed that into the next bid — losing tenders are the cheapest training data you’ll ever get.