Notice of information: 5 tips

An important moment during tenders is the information note. How do you use this moment of contact with the client? We provide tips from 16 years of experience in tenders.

Interaction moments in a tender

During a tender, there are several moments of contact between bidders and the client. From the written note of information to verbal dialogues and specialist consultations. All are important moments in a tender. You use them to gather information, test possible solutions and clear up any uncertainties.

There is much to be gained from dialogues and specialist consultations. A lot of time is generally spent on these in the preparation process, and rightly so. However, there are still many tenders without dialogues. There you have to make do with the information note.

Get more out of the memorandum of understanding

The information note is still far from being used to its full potential. There are many reasons for this. For example: team members start reading in late, questions are not properly tracked or deadlines are not well understood. But it all boils down to the same thing: the information note is not always considered an important moment in the tender process.

And that's why it's time to take the brief a lot more seriously. Because if you prepare your questions well and ask them in the right way, you will get answers that will actually help you. Below we have listed 5 tips for the information note.

TIP 1. Prepare well

Take the time to review and understand all procurement documents. Make sure all documents are assigned to one or more team members. Everyone writes down any ambiguities and questions they encounter. Discuss these with each other to determine which questions to ask the client in which way.

TIP 2. Get the tone right

Pay attention to the way you ask questions. It happens that there are errors or inconsistencies in the tender documents. These were not put there deliberately. Be critical, but do not come across as irritated, pedantic or pushy. Choose a positive, constructive and friendly tone. Then a client is more likely to put more effort into a comprehensive and well-founded answer.

TIP 3. Check all questions

Edit all questions before submitting them. Check for language and make sure a question cannot be interpreted in multiple ways. Also think carefully about the desired answers and adjust the question wording accordingly. Take the time to do this carefully.

TIP 4. Ask individual questions

All general questions and associated answers are shared with all bidders in the information note. If you do not want certain answers to be shared with the competition, you can ask individual questions. State this explicitly with each question and make it clear why individual consideration of the question is desired.

TIP 5. Submit questions on time.

Submit questions a day before the deadline and don't wait until the very last minute. That way you have some room to absorb setbacks, such as if the tender platform doesn't work or something else comes up.

Dialogues and interviews

In more and more tenders, dialogues and interviews are part of the process. These are additional moments to retrieve and verify important information. Take these moments extremely seriously and prepare well. For example, practice various practical scenarios and establish a clear division of roles for the interview.

Brave & Boost specializes in tender support. Among other things, we guide teams in preparing for interaction moments, editing questions for the note of enquiry and providing dialogue and interview training.

More information on tender support can be found here.