Guide · 8 min read
How to win government contracts
Public procurement is a marking exercise, not a sales pitch. An evaluator sits with a scoring matrix, reads your answer against a published set of criteria, and awards a number. Bids that read beautifully but do not address the criteria score badly; bids that are plainly written but answer every element of the question score well. Understanding that mechanism is most of the job.
Read the evaluation criteria before you write a word
Every compliant tender tells you how it will be assessed: the split between price and quality, the weighting of each quality question, and usually a scoring scale with descriptors such as 0 for no response, 3 for a satisfactory response and 5 for an excellent one. That document, not the specification, is your brief.
Work out where the marks actually are. A 70/30 quality/price split with a 20% weighting on mobilisation means the mobilisation answer is worth 14% of the total score, often more than shaving your price. Spend your writing time in proportion to the weightings, and be aware that under the Procurement Act 2023 regime award criteria must be linked to the subject matter of the contract and disclosed in advance, so there should be no hidden basis for the decision.
Check the pass/fail elements separately. Insurance levels, financial ratios, mandatory policies and any minimum standards are usually assessed before quality scoring, and failing one of them removes you from the process no matter how strong the rest of your bid is.
Answer the question that was asked
Break each question into its component parts and answer them in order, using the buyer's own headings where the format allows. If the question asks how you will mobilise, who will be accountable, and how you will manage risk during transition, an evaluator needs to find three distinct answers. Anything they have to infer tends not to be credited.
Write concretely. "We have extensive experience of similar contracts" is unscoreable. "We currently deliver a comparable service for two district councils covering 1,400 properties, with a named contract manager and a two-hour emergency response" is a claim an evaluator can mark and, if asked, verify. Named roles, numbers, timescales and specific processes convert into marks; adjectives do not.
Respect the word count and the format. Overlong answers are commonly truncated at the limit, so the strongest material must appear early. Attachments that the tender did not ask for are frequently disregarded.
Evidence beats assertion
The most reliable structure for a quality answer is method plus evidence plus outcome: state what you will do, show that you have done it before, and give the result. Evidence can be a comparable contract, a KPI figure, an audit result, a certification, a case study with a named client type, or a documented process you can attach if requested.
Keep an evidence bank so you are not inventing this under deadline pressure: current insurance certificates and levels, accreditations such as CHAS, SSIP, ISO 9001 or Cyber Essentials, accident and RIDDOR statistics, staff turnover and training figures, three to five reference contracts with values and dates, and your standard policies. Most tenders draw from the same pool of facts.
Never overstate. Public buyers can and do check references, and a misrepresentation is grounds for exclusion, as well as being a fast way to acquire a contract you cannot deliver.
Social value is a real score, not a paragraph of goodwill
Central government applies a minimum weighting to social value in most procurements, and many councils and NHS bodies weight it at 10% or more. It is scored like any other quality criterion, which means generic statements about being a responsible employer earn very little.
Commit to specific, measurable, contract-linked actions: a stated number of apprenticeship weeks, local labour percentages within a defined travel-to-work area, spend with SMEs and VCSEs in your supply chain, hours of school or college engagement, carbon reduction measures tied to how you will actually deliver this contract. Then say who owns each commitment and how you will report it.
Only promise what you will deliver. Social value commitments frequently become contractual KPIs, and under-delivery is visible for the whole contract term.
Why bids lose
The recurring reasons are unglamorous. Bidding for work outside your evidenced capability. Missing a mandatory document or a portal deadline. Answering a different question from the one asked. Writing marketing copy instead of method. Ignoring the word count. Pricing without reading the volumes or the KPI regime, then withdrawing or failing later.
Always request the feedback you are entitled to after an award decision. Standstill correspondence and debrief information typically include your scores against each criterion and the winning bidder's relative position. Three or four debriefs from the same buyer will tell you precisely which answers are costing you marks.
If you want a structured second opinion before you commit, 123 Tenders can run a Tender X-Ray on a notice to set out what the buyer is asking for and how the response is likely to be scored, a Match Score against your company profile, and a Bid / No-Bid view. A Bid Pack produces a first draft for you to review and edit, a starting point that still needs your evidence and your judgement before submission.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the cheapest bid the one that wins?
- Not usually. Most public tenders use a most advantageous tender basis combining price and quality, and quality weightings of 50% to 70% are common. Abnormally low prices can also be challenged by the buyer before award.
- How much detail should a quality answer contain?
- Enough for an evaluator to score every element of the question against the published descriptors, within the word limit. Structure the answer around the question's parts and lead each part with the substantive point rather than background.
- Can I ask the buyer questions during a tender?
- Yes. Clarification periods exist for exactly that, and answers are normally published to all bidders. Asking early about ambiguous requirements is legitimate and often decisive.
- Does losing a tender tell me anything useful?
- It should. Ask for your scores and the feedback available after the award decision, and compare them across bids. Repeated low scores on the same criterion point to a fixable gap in evidence rather than bad luck.
This guide is general information about UK public procurement, not legal or financial advice. Thresholds, rules and portal requirements change: always check the official notice, the buyer's own tender documents and current government guidance before you rely on anything here.