Review your bid while there is time to improve it

A review should help you improve a response. If it happens just before submission, there may be time to correct wording but little room to change the approach, find missing evidence or resolve a contradiction.

Build review into the work from the start. A small team can do this with short, focused checks rather than a large formal meeting.

Check the plan before the prose

Before drafting a substantial answer, write down what the question asks, how it will be evaluated, your proposed response and the evidence you will use.

Ask someone with relevant knowledge to check the plan. Have you understood the requirement? Is the proposed approach deliverable? Does the evidence support it? At this stage, changes are usually easier to make.

Review a draft with a clear purpose

Once the answer has enough substance, ask for specific feedback. Different reviewers may need to look at different things:

• A delivery expert checks accuracy and feasibility
• A commercial colleague checks pricing assumptions and commitments
• A reader unfamiliar with the work checks whether the explanation is clear
• The person responsible for the bid checks relevance to the question and criteria

Avoid asking everyone to comment on everything. Explain what you need from each person and when you need it.

Check AI-assisted answers against the source

A fluent answer can still be inaccurate, generic or unsupported. If AI contributed to a draft, check names, figures, examples and commitments against the source material.

Ask whether the answer describes your actual business and addresses this particular buyer. The reviewer needs to check the substance, not just whether the writing sounds convincing.

Leave time to act on feedback

Set a review deadline that allows time for changes and a final check. Give someone responsibility for deciding which comments to accept and resolving conflicting advice.

Prioritise issues that affect compliance, accuracy, evidence or the clarity of your offer. Wording preferences should not crowd out more important work.

Finish with a submission check

When the response is stable, check the submission instructions, required documents, word limits, consistency and approval. Allow time to upload and confirm the submission through the buyer’s process.

This final check matters, but it serves a different purpose from reviewing the quality of the answer.

Put one review point in your next bid plan

Start small: agree when the answer plan will be checked, who will do it and what they should look for. Then leave time to respond to their feedback.

If you need an independent view of a draft, a fixed bid review provides practical feedback with an agreed scope and timescale.