Best Practice – Red Team Reviews

It is best practice to undertake a Red Team Review (RTR), also known as a Critical Friend or a peer review, at the end of the bid writing-review cycle prior to submission.

This ensures:

1. The question has been answered fully and is a compelling read

2. Your written messages are aligned to your organisation’s win themes, and the benefits of the service / solution have been highlighted

3. Your writing is clear and concise and there are no grammatical mistakes

4. Terminology is correct and standardised

5. Supporting evidence has been used effectively

6. There is no missing/substandard information

7. It aligns with the requirements of the specification and fully addresses the evaluation criteria

To maximise the value of this internal peer review / dummy evaluation of the final draft response, it’s important it is performed by an impartial team who have had no input into the writing or review process, and by individuals who understand what a good tender should look like. This ensures the review is objective and evaluators can transparently and freely communicate the strengths and weaknesses of the response.

It is vital that, before the scheduled review meeting, each reviewer independently reviews, comments and amends the final draft answers. This means the meeting can focus on discussing their comments and suggested amendments, rather than on reading the bid itself.

In the RTR meeting, all of the feedback / comments / suggested amendments are discussed and appropriate amendments captured and actions given owners, so they can be completed before the bid is submitted.

We recognise that every bid is different as is every organisation and bid team, which is why our flexible approach and ability to organise and lead RTRs has such a positive impact on clients’ bids. Through our best practice approach, they add the final polish to a bid and help to squeeze every possible mark out of the evaluators.

“The Red Team Review is a crucial step in the tender writing process,” Impart Director Simon states. “It not only serves as an objective review of the whole document, but brings stakeholders together who, inevitably, constructively enhance the response through peer discussion and sharing their experiences and anecdotes.”

If you’d like to know how Impart could support you, please email Simon Esbach at simon.esbach@impart.co.uk or call for a no-obligation chat on 03333 448789.