3 Ways to Produce Better Quality Tender Submissions for Less Cost

3 Ways to Produce Better Quality Tender Submissions for Less Cost

Alan Tawse
26. Oct 2022 | 6 min read

3 Ways to Produce Better Quality Tender Submissions for Less Cost

We see that organizations that have made the change to XaitPorter (a cloud based SAAS solution) as their primary resource for managing the proposal process consistently experience a number of benefits. Let's explore three of them.

#1 Efficiency Improvement:

Gives us the ability to get more done than before, without the need to increase resources.

XaitPorter provides tools for all involved in the process to manage our work via a personal dashboard, showing the projects we are working on, and what tasks and deadlines we have. It also provides a direct gateway to our assigned projects and assigned tasks and is accessible from anywhere with internet access. This gives us the ability to work from home when necessary, or from other locations if we are traveling.

As soon as a new proposal is loaded, and access given to those that will be working on the response, all participants have access to see the project and its contents. Individuals are assigned tasks to write or co-write the various parts of the response. An automated e-mail is sent by the system to alert them of the assignment. It contains a link to that task in the response document and details of any deadline. The same information is updated and available on their personal dashboard.

As you add content to the response document, it is visible to everyone else working on the submission. This is a big benefit for both administrators and writers where multiple contributors may be involved. At the same time, built-in controls manage who has access to write or edit parts of the response and any especially sensitive sections (such as commercial content) can have view access controlled so that only selected individuals can see that content.

Proposal administrators and contributors are often involved in more than one proposal response at a time, so information clearly organized on the user's dashboard provides clarity and structure to simplify their work tasks.

This organization of information for each user, together with the notification process, and automated reminders as deadlines are approaching and (if relevant) missed, combine to make all team members better informed of tasks and progress throughout the proposal process while proposal administrators are better able to manage multiple overlapping projects as detailed status reports are available in real time.

#2 Time Savings:

Are delivered by reducing and removing the inefficiencies you experience with traditional file-based solutions.

As content is added via XaitPorter, it is visible to everyone, so you don't spend any time trying to establish the current version or downloading and opening other documents to review or edit before uploading an updated version. Version control issues are eliminated.

The current content is auto-saved in the background every 30 seconds or so, meaning no drama about accidental lost content. All saved versions are stored and available if required for review and restoration, or can be used to compare selected versions if necessary.

All page layout, fonts and styles are pre-formatted and selected by the proposal administrator. Only a single input of the header / footer information for any document is required, and this can be updated if necessary (for example if a submission date is changed). The change is applied throughout the document.

This simplifies the task for content contributors. The range of editing controls is intentionally limited compared to the vast range of options contained in a standard word processing program. They spend less time on the look of their contribution and this in turn reduces the time a proposal organizer spends on correcting styles and fonts that are not approved or don't fit with the rest of the response.

When the submission document is ready, you export it as a single PDF file, making hard copy printing much simpler than handling multiple separate files in the case of large documents.

#3 Quality Improvement:

Is achieved by applying a consistent layout, branding, accurate indexing and dynamic cross-referencing.

Proposal responses produced in XaitPorter benefit from automation of various tasks such as production of a linked index of all sections, subsections with separate linked indexes to figures, tables and attachments if selected. Any cross-referencing or linking within the response document is dynamic, and will automatically update if there are any changes that affect the placement, such as any change in the structure, figures or tables. Section and subsection numbering, figure numbering and attachment numbering are all automated (but customizable).

Attachments can be integrated into the page layout with the same header and footer as the rest of the document, table formats are customizable to meet company or client standards for a uniform appearance throughout the document. There are also built controls to manage figures, to govern their size, placement, orientation etc., and copies of every figure added are separately stored in an area of the system in the form of an internal picture library, making them easily available to use in other documents.

The automated layout template ensures that your finished documents have a uniform look and feel throughout, with whatever branding is relevant for your organization, and can be controlled to comply with any instructions from the client. XaitPorter users are regularly complemented by their clients who tell them how they notice and appreciate the quality and professional appearance of their submissions.

If you would like to know more, contact your local Xait Customer Success Manager who will be available to discuss any aspect of how XaitPorter can enhance your experience of the proposal process.

Related articles: 3 Best Practices: Proposal Management Writing Collaboration

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Alan Tawse

Alan Tawse

Alan has worked in the oil and gas industry since 1974 in various administrative, operational and managerial roles in the UK, Netherlands and Norway. In 1993 he joined Halliburton in Norway as country manager of their new Drilling Systems division. Following a merger with Dresser industries in 1998, he moved to Business Development where he established a BD support team providing centralised expertise for tendering, contract management, market intelligence and various BD software systems. After managing up to 200 tenders and proposals annually for over 20 years, Alan retired at the beginning of 2020 with plans to explore Norway, and spend time with family overseas, He enjoys downhill skiing in the winter, golfing in the summer and following the Formula 1 racing season throughout the year.

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