Red team review for your tender

During a tender or proposal preparation it is a must to have the tender document reviewed at all stages. This makes sure it is fit-for-purpose and gives you the best chance to win the work. The most important review is the red team review that is held towards the end of the tender preparation stage (about 3-5 days from submission date). It makes sure all aspects of the proposal are complete, accurate, comply with the RFT and will provide the best possible solution to the client.

What is the purpose of the red review?

This red team review is an objective and critical review to make sure the bid document will meet the client’s needs and is the best it can be within the agreed framework. Previous reviews have already assessed and decided:

• technical solutions (Grey Beard Review)
• compliance with RFT (Pink Review)
• competitiveness (Black Hat Review)
• bid strategies and key marketing messages (Blue Review)

The red review is a process to critically scrutinise the bid that aims to find gaps and weaknesses so that they can be remedied before submission.

Who should be on the red review team?

The red review team aims to review the tender response document from the perspective of the client. Therefore the team needs to be made up of people that replicate the key decision-makers from the client organisation at both management and technical levels.

The red team must be independent of the bid team. This ensures that they are able to impartially assess the document without being influenced by previous assumptions that might be wrong. They are fresh eyes not clouded by previous involvement.

The red review team needs to include subject matter experts with technical, marketing and financial expertise. It might be necessary to use external consultants to bring in the necessary expertise to review your experts!

How to we undertake the red review?

The red team must assess the document in the same way that the client would. The client will evaluate your submission against the rules, procedures and criteria outlined in their RFT or EOI document. The client will also judge the document on its aesthetics and professionalism. However, you must avoid treating it as just a proofread for spelling and grammar—it is a critical assessment of the document’s presentation and messaging.

Mandatory and desirable requirements

They assess each of the mandatory and desirable requirements based on the material supplied and presented in the proposal. They then score them based on the criteria published in the RFT or RFP.

Tender themes and key messaging

The red team also checks whether the themes and key messaging are clear and that the benefits to the client are identified and obvious.

Once the red review team has completed the review their recommended changes are integrated into the document before submission.