As part of the tender evaluation process, criteria are usually established to objectively assess each organisation’s submission, with evaluators scoring an organisation’s ability to provide a solution or service that meets their requirements against these criteria. Frequently, to score top marks you are explicitly asked to demonstrate how you will go above and beyond the specification and exceed the stated requirements. If you do not clearly address this within your response, you’re essentially restricting the maximum score you can achieve for each answer.
Despite how simple this may seem, exceeding requirements is frequently overlooked by subject matter experts (SMEs), who are often short of time and too focused on answering the question within the word / character limit, to remember the evaluation criteria (or for a myriad of other reasons). At Impart we recommend that an “Exceeding requirements” subheading is added at the end of every response where it has been explicitly asked for within the evaluation criteria. This not only makes it easier for the SME to write a complete response that fully addresses the criteria, but also for the evaluator to identify that they have exceeded the requirements, making it far more likely they will award maximum marks.
To demonstrate how you will exceed the requirements, there are two main areas that need to be covered:
You need to clearly explain how your solution / service will build on the requirements. This tends to be question specific, for instance, if the question is asking you to outline how you would meet a target of 20%, you may explain how you will meet a target of 25% at no additional cost.
You need to demonstrate how, by exceeding the requirements, you will improve things for the customer (and their customers) by describing the additional features and benefits that will be delivered:
A feature is a distinctive attribute or aspect of your solution / service (e.g. a crushed ice function on a fridge).
A benefit is essentially the positive outcome or result a customer will experience as a result of the feature. In this instance, the benefit of a fridge making crushed ice is that the customer can quickly and easily prepare and enjoy ice-cold drinks.
By identifying the benefits you’ll deliver, you’re selling your solution / service, setting yourself apart from your competitors and persuading the customer to choose you. A few examples of typical benefits you might want to highlight in your responses include saving time, being cost-effective, improving quality and providing an increased return on investment.
Identifying how you will exceed the customer’s requirements and highlighting the features and benefits of what you’re proposing will reinforce the customer’s confidence in your ability provide a successful solution / service.
If you’d like to know how Impart could support you, please email Richard at richard.tobias@impart.co.uk or call for a no-obligation chat on 03333 448789.