Bid or no bid: how to decide in 30 minutes

Every tender you bid for uses time you cannot spend on another. A short, disciplined read of the tender pack tells you whether this one deserves it. This guide walks through where to look, minute by minute, and gives you a scoring grid to make the call.

Have these ready before you open the pack

A quick decision depends on knowing your own numbers. Keep these in one place so you are not hunting for them each time:

turnover from your last filed accounts, not this year's forecast
your insurance schedule, with the cover level for each policy
every accreditation and registration, with its expiry date
three recent contracts similar in size and type, with a referee for each
how many more hours, staff or sites you could take on in the next three months

Minutes 0 to 5: the notice

For public contracts under the Procurement Act 2023, a competitive tender is advertised with a tender notice on Find a Tender, the government's central digital platform. Start with the notice, then open the instructions to bidders. Note:

Submission deadline. The date and the exact time. Portals close on the minute.
Clarification deadline. Usually well before submission. After it passes, you cannot ask the questions that might change your decision.
Contract length and value. Check whether the value is per year or for the whole term, and whether it includes extensions.
Lots. How the work is split, and whether there is a limit on how many lots you can bid for or win.
Start date. Count back to see how long you would have to mobilise after award.

Minutes 5 to 15: the pass/fail gates

These are the conditions of participation. Fail one and nothing else in your bid gets read. Check each against your own numbers:

Gate	Where to find it	What to check
Minimum turnover or financial ratios	Selection questionnaire or conditions of participation	Your filed figures, not management accounts
Insurance	Selection questionnaire or draft contract	Each level required, and the cost of increasing yours
Mandatory accreditations	Specification or selection questionnaire	You hold it, or an equivalent, and it is in date at contract start
Experience	Selection questionnaire	Contracts of similar size and type, and referees who will respond

Two rules under the Procurement Act 2023 help here. Conditions must be proportionate to the contract, and a buyer that asks for a particular qualification must allow for equivalents. A buyer also cannot insist on insurance being in place before award, although it can ask for evidence that you will have it from the start of the contract.

Minutes 15 to 25: how it will be scored

The buyer must set out the relative importance of the award criteria in the tender notice or tender documents. Find:

The price and quality split. A heavily price-weighted contract rewards the lowest sustainable cost. Be honest about where yours sits.
The quality questions. How many, their weightings and word limits. Can you evidence each one?
Social value. Its weighting, and whether it asks for commitments you could keep.
Presentations, interviews or site visits. Dates you would need to keep free.

Then check the costs you cannot change:

Staff transfer. If the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) apply, staff move to you on their current terms. Look for the staff list: numbers, pay rates, enhanced terms and pensions.
Contract terms. Payment terms, key performance indicators, service credits and any price review across the term.

Minutes 25 to 30: score it

Score each line 0, 1 or 2. Any line marked "stop" at 0 ends the decision there, whatever the total.

Question	0	1	2
Do we pass every pass/fail gate?	No, and we cannot fix it before the deadline (stop)	Yes, with a fix we can complete in time	Yes, today
Is the value in proportion to our turnover?	It would more than double our business	A big step up we can resource	Comfortable
Have we delivered this service before?	No	Similar, but smaller	Yes, at a similar size
Can we deliver in this area from day one?	No (stop)	We can recruit in time	We already work there
Is our price competitive at this weighting?	Unlikely	Possibly	Yes
Can we evidence each quality question?	Fewer than half	Most	All
Is there time to write it properly?	Under a week	One to three weeks	Three weeks or more
Do we understand the TUPE and contract costs?	No information	Partial	Fully priced
Do we know the buyer or the service area?	No	Some knowledge	Yes, well
Would winning suit our plans?	No	Neutral	Yes

A rough guide to the total, out of 20:

15 or more: bid.
10 to 14: bid only if you can fix the low scores before the clarification deadline.
Under 10: walk away.

These thresholds are a starting point, not a rule. Adjust them to your own experience, and write down why you decided either way. Next time the buyer re-tenders, that note is useful.

When to walk away

You fail a pass/fail gate and cannot fix it before submission.
Price carries most of the marks and your cost base, once any transferring staff are included, cannot compete.
The contract would stretch your cash flow, staff or management beyond what you can safely carry.
There is not enough time to write a quality submission, and a rushed one would score badly.
You cannot mobilise by the start date.
You would win only at a price that does not cover your costs.

Walking away is a decision, not a failure. If the notice is for a framework or dynamic market, check whether it will reopen, and prepare properly for that round instead.

Use the fit check first

Our free tender fit check runs through the main pass/fail questions in about two minutes, including turnover, accreditations, insurance, location and time to deadline. It will not tell you how the price will score or what TUPE will cost, but it can flag a gate you would fail. You can find open opportunities in our live tender search.

If you want a second opinion on a specific tender before you commit time to it, get in touch.

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