Work through a realistic tender — Media & communications

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 — Produce a public-information campaign

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

A public transport authority wants occasional passengers to understand a revised ticketing service. The brief includes a short film, social-media versions and accessible information. Success is useful understanding by the intended audience, not just a large number of impressions.

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.

“All rights included” leaves media, territory, duration and future editing unresolved. Ask which uses are intended and whether third-party components must support those uses before selecting music or performers.

A late factual correction after filming can require a reshoot. Consolidated approval before filming reduces exposure. Specify the change process and the assumptions behind production and third-party usage costs.

Item	Cost (currency units)
Creative and production work	16,000
Rights and performers	4,000
Versions and accessibility	4,000
Total	24,000

Total cost is 24,000. To retain 20% of the selling price as profit, price is 24,000 ÷ 0.80 = 30,000. If “Reshoot” adds 3,000 to cost without a price increase, profit becomes 3,000, or 10% of price. Preserving 20% would require 33,750, 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

Check copyright, image and personality rights, advertising restrictions, required languages and accessibility rules in the relevant territories. WIPO explains the concepts but national law and licences determine permitted uses. A public buyer’s request does not remove third-party rights.

Local creative response formats and rights 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. Use a delivery register of approved versions, technical formats, caption files, source files and rights records. Report campaign reach separately from evidence of understanding or behaviour; never attribute every change to the campaign without a defensible method.

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.