Work through a realistic tender — Events & live production

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to defend a bid decision and prepare a consistent submission.

Common to all countries

Make a decision that survives delivery

A bid review has three separate gates: admissibility, a credible route to a competitive score, and the ability to deliver at an acceptable return. A high score cannot cure an inadmissible offer; a technically possible offer can still be commercially unsound. Give each unresolved issue an owner and a decision deadline before the submission cut-off.

Assemble the final response from the controlled requirements and evidence registers. Check names, totals, document versions, signatures, portal fields and uploaded files. Use an independent read-through to find contradictions between the method, staffing and price. After a permitted test of the submission workflow, allow time for the actual upload and retain the receipt. A finished PDF on your computer is not a submitted offer.

Worked example — Deliver a two-day public festival

This is a fictional teaching case. Quantities, prices and contractual conditions below are assumptions for the exercise, not legal requirements or market benchmarks.

A city commissions a two-day outdoor festival with an accessible programme and reliable visitor information. The contract includes setup and dismantling. The opening performance is only one milestone in a wider production operation.

Review position. The team can deliver the base requirement, but one clarification remains open and the extra cost below is not included in its original price. Submission is five working days away; this is a case assumption.

The brief names an expected attendance but does not identify the approved venue capacity or who manages admissions. Ask for the operational boundary and competent validation before pricing staffing and equipment.

Adverse weather may require a reserve indoor arrangement or cancellation. Cost the selected contingency and read which party bears supplier cancellation charges. A general promise to “adapt to weather” leaves both price and authority unclear.

Item	Cost (currency units)
Production and technical suppliers	32,000
Staff and visitor services	16,000
Permissions, rights and overhead	8,000
Total	56,000

Total cost is 56,000. To retain 20% of the selling price as profit, price is 56,000 ÷ 0.80 = 70,000. If “Reserve weather arrangement” adds 7,000 to cost without a price increase, profit becomes 7,000, or 10% of price. Preserving 20% would require 78,750, only where the procurement permits that price. A cost increase does not automatically entitle the supplier to a contract price increase.

Country specific — what to verify

Identify local event permissions, venue and fire requirements, employment rules, music rights and relevant security licensing. HSE guidance is a useful planning reference for Great Britain; it is not the approval process for every country or a substitute for competent event-safety assessment.

Local event authorizations and submission schedules. Use the destination-country module and the actual tender pack. The sources below are references with their own scope; they do not form a single worldwide regime. For the general method, revisit the foundations.

Put it into practice

Prepare a final review with four decisions: admissibility, clarification, return and submission. State the conditions for a yes and the conditions requiring a no. Produce three response headings linked to requirements.

Model answer

Model decision: conditional bid, not immediate approval. Obtain the official clarification, confirm evidence and resources, then decide the price or withdraw before submission. Do not conceal non-compliance in a prohibited qualification. The three response sections are understanding the need, method and resources, then controls and acceptance. Keep readiness records, supplier handovers, incident logs and a signed site-return record. After the event, compare attendance and accessibility feedback with the stated objectives and document actions for the next edition.

Keep this worksheet in your working file. The quiz below checks the lesson’s decisions; passing it is neither a professional qualification nor a guarantee of an award.