Ten tips for creating an effective tender library
Demie Tan, Tender Specialist (Perth)
As tender writing consultants, we know how stressful tendering can be. From juggling tight deadlines to managing input from various contributors, it can quickly become overwhelming. There are, however, ways to ease the pressure. One of the simplest ways is to create a tender library.
If you are new to tendering, a tender library is a collection of vetted and up-to-date content that can be repurposed or used as reference material for future tenders. While every tender is different, there are many key elements that remain constant, such as project examples, insurances and company profile. These are the building blocks that you can use to create a tender library.
A well-managed tender library is an indispensable resource in tendering. Having ready-to-use content for commonly asked questions allows you to focus on the project-specific aspects of your tender.
Here are ten tips for creating an effective tender library.
Structure your folders
Set aside time to plan and create a vision of how you want your tender library to look like. What is an effective way to organise your content?
Benefit: A logical structure saves time and reduces the risk of missing or duplicating information.
Keep it brief
Long file paths and complicated folder structures make opening documents difficult. Keep folder and documents short by aiming for 15 characters or less.
Benefit: Reduces risk of broken links and simplifies navigation.
Capture repeat questions
Review previous submissions to extract recurring content. Time and energy spent on this will prove to be a time-saver on future tenders.
Benefit: Enables targeted content creation focused on frequently asked questions.
Reuse what works
Once you have identified standard responses, rewrite them for ‘general use’ and clean out all client references. It might also be worth having these documents reviewed and approved again by your Subject Matter Experts (SME)s
Benefit: Saves time by having pre-approved responses ready to go.
Regular audits
Set a schedule to review the contents within your tender library once every few months to ensure information is still relevant.
Benefit: Routine clean-ups remove outdated and unused materials, keeping your tender library sharp and efficient.
Store visuals in a separate folder
Graphics enhance the professionalism of your responses. It will be worth maintaining a collection of high-quality graphics that can be reused across different responses for consistency and efficiency.
Benefit: Speeds up retrieval by having all visuals in one place.
Tags and labels
Incorporate tags and labels into your documents to make them easier to locate.
Benefit: Enables quick filtering and retrieval of relevant conten.t
Standardise formatting
Ensure documents in the tender library are formatted in accordance with your organisation’s style guide. Every document should be polished and ready to use, allowing you to focus on tailoring content if required, and not the layout.
Benefit: Accelerates drafting courtesy of pre-formatted materials.
Update as you go
Make it standard practice to update your tender library with new or amended information at the end of every tender to ensure you have accurate content readily available for the next one.
Benefit: Keeps library current in real time and reduces the load before the next bid.
Use document version control
Utilise version control when updating documents in your tender library. This ensures updates are tracked, allowing you to revert to previous version if needed.
Benefit: Minimises errors by ensuring changes are tracked rather than lost.
Ready to improve your tender management process? Start your tender library now and reap the benefits sooner. Alternatively, contact Tender Plus today find out how we can elevate your tender library to set you up for tendering success.