What is the importance of evaluation reports after a lost tender?

What is an evaluation report?

An evaluation report after a lost tender is a document in which the contracting authority provides feedback on your bid. This report usually contains detailed information about the evaluation of your tender, including how you scored on various award criteria, such as price, quality, risk management, and more. The evaluation report provides valuable insights into why your tender was not successful and what improvements you can make to increase your chances in future tenders.

Why is an evaluation report important?

An evaluation report is essential because it shows you where your tender fell short and how to improve next time. Instead of viewing a lost tender as a failure, you can use the evaluation report as a learning opportunity. The feedback helps you recognize patterns, correct recurring mistakes, and be better prepared for future tenders. The evaluation report acts as a strategic tool to refine your internal processes, your approach, and your communication with the contracting authority.

Benefits of evaluation reports:

• Insight into areas of improvement: The report shows where your enrollment fell short and provides targeted feedback to improve your approach.
• Increased success rates: By consistently learning from lost tenders, you can optimize your bids and increase your chances of success.
• Better competitiveness: By strengthening weaknesses in your bid and analyzing stronger competitors, you can compete better in future tenders.

How do you use an evaluation report effectively?

1. Always ask for an evaluation report:

Not every contracting authority automatically provides an evaluation report. If it is not made readily available, it is important to proactively ask for the report. Contracting authorities are required, in most cases, to provide feedback to bidders. Asking for this feedback shows that you are serious about your future participation and willing to learn.

Tip: Don't just ask for quantitative scores, ask for qualitative feedback that helps you understand why certain choices were made.

2. Analyze results on award criteria:

When you receive the evaluation report, carefully analyze the feedback by award criterion. Look at the parts you scored low on and identify the main weaknesses in your bid. These can range from an inadequately developed risk management plan to a less competitive price. Pay particular attention to recurring feedback in multiple tenders.

Example: If you find that your bids repeatedly score low on technical specifications, it may mean that you need to invest in better project management or technical expertise.

3. Compare your entry with that of the winner:

The evaluation report often provides insight into how you performed relative to the winning bid. Compare your score to that of the winning party to understand where the difference in rating was. This helps identify where your strategy was not adequately aligned with the award criteria.

Tip: Try to figure out what the winning party did differently. This can help you determine which elements deserve extra attention in your future bids.

4. Involve your entire team in the evaluation:

Share feedback from the evaluation report with your entire tender team. Involve everyone who contributed to the tender, such as project managers, technical specialists and sales teams, in analyzing the results. This ensures that everyone involved learns from the feedback and helps to improve the process in the future.

Tip: Organize a post-tender review meeting where you will discuss the report, identify areas for improvement and identify action items for future bids.

5. Establish action items for improvement:

Based on the analysis of the evaluation report, you can develop concrete action points to improve your future tenders. These can range from improving the quality of your EMVI elaboration to developing a better pricing strategy. It is important that these action points are specific and measurable so that you can follow up and integrate them into your next tender.

Example: If the feedback indicates that you have not presented sufficient risk management measures, set as an action item that you include a more detailed risk management plan in future tenders.

6. Learn from your mistakes and avoid repetition:

One of the main benefits of evaluation reports is that they help you avoid repeated mistakes. Make sure you learn from the mistakes and shortcomings mentioned in the report so you don't repeat them in future submissions. By applying a consistent improvement process, you ensure that your submissions keep getting stronger.

Tip: Keep a logbook in which you collect all feedback from previous evaluation reports, so you can identify recurring problems and make more targeted improvements.

Common mistakes when using evaluation reports:

• Not taking action on the feedback: Receiving an evaluation report only makes sense if you actually take action to improve the weaknesses mentioned. Make sure the feedback is not ignored, but turned into concrete improvement plans.
• Too much focus on price: Sometimes the tendency is felt to reduce price only in response to an evaluation report. However, this can come at the expense of quality. A good balance between price and quality is more important than simply being the cheapest option.
• Lack of team involvement: Evaluating a lost tender is not a one-man job. Be sure to involve the entire tender team to discuss feedback and make improvements together.

Conclusion: What is the importance of evaluation reports after a lost tender?

Evaluation reports provide valuable insights that will help you improve your future tenders. By thoroughly analyzing where your tender fell short and taking action on the feedback, you can significantly increase your chances of success in subsequent tenders. The evaluation report is a crucial part of a learning process that allows you to continuously improve and optimize your tender team and strategy.