For the client's procurement team, the most important part of the tender submission is normally the commercial submission, where information about pricing, discounts, financial incentives and any other commercial conditions are presented. This will often be separately evaluated by a commercial sub-team, while the other parts of the tender submission are evaluated by a technical team.
Prepare the commercial response
To optimize the production of the tender response, the enterprise will also allocate resources to working on the commercial submission, perhaps exclusively for larger tenders. They will have to carefully study the tender documents in order to carry out their tasks.
Understand the scope of work
- Assess the scope of work presented in the tender documents, and the risk of an increase or decrease in the scope
- Identify the contract duration and any options to extend it
Understand how the pricing works
- Carefully read and understand the price structure and charging mechanism presented in the tender document
- Identify all terms and conditions that affect how and when goods and services can be charged for
- Understand all penalty mechanisms and incentive arrangements
Build a cost model
- Develop a plan for the cost of providing the goods and services based on the tender scope and conditions
- Include any capital requirements or start-up costs
- Factor in provision for assessed risks, commercial penalties, discounts or incentives
- Include the option to model different scenarios such as changes in scope
Develop the pricing model
- Based on an understanding of the cost and risk model, determine appropriate price level to meet enterprise targets
- Assess pricing against expected competitor pricing levels and market intelligence from comparable tenders
- Follow the relevant management approval process and review and refine the pricing until approved
- Complete relevant tender files with the pricing information, remove formulae and check for accuracy
Compile the tender submission
The tender support team that are compiling the completed response will have a number of specific checks that they will need to look out for.
- Check spreadsheets or files for format, formulae, completeness and page/print layout
- If required, prepare duplicate but un-priced copies of pricing files
- If required, apply any password protection or encryption
- If separate pricing files are being submitted, check any cross-referencing in the tender submission documents to align file name(s).
- Check and gather any other input required for the commercial submission, e.g. commercial exceptions, supplementary price books, etc.
- Add to the tender response being compiled as appropriate, i.e. in binder or as files for electronic delivery or portal upload
The commercial submission is just as much a marketing document as the technical part, so it is important that the commercial pages look just as professional as the rest of the tender.