KnowledgeProposals and private tenders
GUIDE
Proposals and private tenders: the complete guide
In a private tender, the client sets the rules. That gives you more room, but also more uncertainty. This guide puts the articles in the order of a proposal process: understanding the request, writing the proposal, price and terms, presenting and following up, and learning.
Phase 1
Understand the request
What kind of request it is, how the client chooses and who has a say. Only when that is clear do you know whether bidding pays off.
- RFI, RFP and RFQ: what is the difference, and what do you do with them?What a request for information, proposal and quotation are, what the client expects from you, and when an RFI is worth the effort.3 min read
- Responding to an RFP: how to handle a request for proposal, from receipt to presentationResponding to an RFP in the private market, step by step: deciding whether to bid, breaking down the request, asking the buyer questions, a compliance matrix, answers that answer the question first, price and terms, the presentation and what to do after the decision.10 min read
- How buyers select suppliers, and what you do with it as a bidderHow supplier selection works in business, seen through the buyer’s eyes: the purchasing process, the Kraljic matrix, supplier selection criteria and scoring models, total cost of ownership and supplier evaluation during the contract. And what you do with it as a bidder, in your proposal and in the conversation.10 min read
- The decision-making unit: who decides on your proposal?Who sits in the decision-making unit, why you should not forget procurement and the assistants, and how to find out who has a say.3 min read
- Bid or no bid: when should you tender, and when not?Which questions always need answering, which outcomes mean you are better off not bidding, how to weigh your chance of winning, and how to organise the decision, from sales and operations to management.3 min read
Phase 2
Write the proposal
A proposal that starts with the client’s problem, with a summary the decision maker reads and a layout that helps instead of distracts.
- How to write a business proposal that wins: structure, content and checklistHow to write a business proposal for a business client: the structure from summary to next step, what makes a proposal persuasive, which details Dutch rules require, whether a proposal is binding and how long it stays valid, with a checklist before you send it.10 min read
- How to write an executive summary for a proposal: the page that is read firstHow to write the executive summary of a proposal or bid: who reads it, a six-part structure, length, when to write it, the most common mistakes, and whether a summary counts in a European public tender. With a fictional executive summary example.10 min read
- Differentiation in bids and proposals: how to show why youWhat differentiation in a tender or proposal is and what it is not, how to find your differentiators, how to move from feature to benefit to proof, how to carry win themes through your whole bid, and how evaluators look at it.10 min read
- Why the design of your proposal matters: the psychology of first impressionsWhat the look of a proposal does to how a client reads it, why you match the design to the client and the decision-makers, and how to use images that are about the client rather than about you.4 min read
- Why Atvalio does not produce generic textsAI can write a proposal text in seconds, but rarely an excellent one. How Atvalio makes sure texts are concrete, in your own voice, and genuinely different for every customer.4 min read
- SLA and KPIs in your proposal: make quality measurable without tying your own handsHow to draft a service level agreement and choose KPIs you can actually deliver: what goes in an SLA, what makes a good KPI, fictional examples for cleaning, grounds maintenance, security and facility services, and what to do with penalty clauses in a Dutch public tender.10 min read
- Writing tenders with AI: what works, what doesn’t and what to watchWriting tenders with AI: where ChatGPT and other language models really help with a public tender or proposal, where they go wrong, what to do with confidential documents and personal data, and what the EU AI Act means for you as a bidder.9 min read
Phase 3
Price and terms
How to build the price, how long you are bound by it, how to let it move with costs and how to negotiate without giving it away.
- Pricing a proposal: cost price, markups and hourly rateHow to price a proposal for business services: calculating cost price, markups for overhead, risk and profit, working out an hourly rate, fixed price or time and materials, and how to present the price in your proposal.10 min read
- Is a quote binding? Validity, withdrawal and general terms under Dutch lawIs a quote binding in the Netherlands? What Book 6 of the Dutch Civil Code says about how long a quote is valid, withdrawing a quote, a non-binding quote and whose general terms apply between businesses.10 min read
- Price indexation: how to stop your margin disappearing over the contract termWhat the CPI is, which indices Statistics Netherlands (CBS) publishes, which indexation methods are common, and how to build a shrinking margin into your pricing, even when you do not know how long the contract will run.7 min read
- Price and negotiation in a private tender: hold on to your marginHow to keep room for a second round or best and final offer, why dropping too far makes you less credible, and where your margin leaks away after the award.3 min read
Phase 4
Present and follow up
After you send it, the second half begins: the pitch, the follow-up and the difference between winning as a newcomer and keeping a client as the incumbent.
- The presentation after your proposal: how to win the pitchHow to prepare for a presentation or pitch in a private tender, why short and to the point wins, and why you put yourself in the client’s shoes.2 min read
- After sending: how to follow up a proposal, and learn from losingWhy you follow up straight away in a private tender, what to agree right then, and how to get an honest answer after losing.3 min read
- Keeping your contract as the incumbent supplierWhy an incumbent has a head start in a private tender, where that head start ends, and why you should dare to offer a lower price than you get today.2 min read
- How do you win a private tender?What a private tender is, why you have a head start when the client already knows you, which kind of proposal fits (small, large or special) and where it usually goes wrong.3 min read
Phase 5
Learn and organise
After every proposal, ask why you won or lost, and set up your process so the next one is faster and better.
- Win-loss analysis: learn from won and lost tenders and raise your win rateHow a win-loss analysis helps you learn from won and lost tenders and proposals: what information you get after a Dutch public tender and what you can request, how to run a debrief, a fixed review format, what to measure across tenders and how to raise your win rate.11 min read
- The bid management process: roles, planning and a fixed way of working for small businessesHow a small business organises its bid management process: the stages from spotting a tender to the review afterwards, who takes which role when the team is small, a bid timeline planned backwards from the deadline, and a bid library that makes every next tender faster.10 min read
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