Proposal Response Templates
Access Orbidal extensive library of professionally written, best practice proposal templates to gain a high scoring head start when preparing responses.
Discover some examples of high scoring response content below.
Most popular
Understanding of Need
Understanding of Need winning template
The Understanding of Need document is used by Orbidal either in direct response to a query in a tender/RFP or as an alternative to an Executive Summary. The purpose of the Understanding of Need Section is to establish empathy with the buyer – to give them reassurance that you understand what they are trying to achieve, the context within which they are trying to achieve it and the challenge to be overcome and opportunities to be exploited along the way.
We divide it into 4 sections as set out below:
Context
The first section is the context that caused this tender to arise. Bear in mind that few buyers ‘choose’ to go to tender. It is a process they are required to undergo to comply with legislation, satisfy a need that can’t be met internally or because they are driven to it by some other factor. They are unlikely to state too bluntly in their tender why they are going to tender. They will typically just say what they want e.g. ‘refresh of their website to align with current usage models’ rather than the motivation behind the request e.g. “We have become irrelevant to our audience through years of underinvestment and now we are under severe pressure to rectify this’.
Example:
The Event Management Unit of the Department of Economics has traditionally managed events for the State within its core duties. Over the past 10 years events delivered by this unit have experienced declining attendance in part due to underinvestment in the improvement of the service delivered. This has had an impact in terms of the outcomes achieved in delivery of hallmark events of national and international importance, commemorations and other large scale events.
This tender, while seeking an Event Management Partner to deliver a programme of events, must fundamentally achieve the Departments objective of achieving the highest quality of service, whilst ensuring ongoing value for money and efficiency in the delivery of services.
In compiling the introductory text it is often useful to refer to the strategic plan of the buyer and to align this tender with the relevant objectives within that plan.
Example:
The Events delivered support the mission of establishing Ireland as a leading location for high profile events and specifically the objectives of:
- Showcasing Irelands ability to deliver large events
- Providing opportunities for the SME ecosystem of providers to the event to increase their profile; and
- Generating measurable goodwill towards Ireland and grow event sizes by 10% year on year
Challenges & Opportunities
This section is where you demonstrate insight and understanding of the challenges and opportunities that the tender gives rise to. Some tenders are focussed on addressing challenges (e.g. internal knowledge, resource shortages, etc), while others are focussed on opportunities (e.g. increasing efficiency, maximising footfall, etc). It’s important to recognise that both tend to exist within the same tender.
This section builds on the previous one, the challenges and opportunities follow on from the objectives and mission set out in the context. Ideally you will be able to identify some insights that demonstrate your thought leadership (over and above the basic ability to deliver on the tender)
Example:
The Department is challenged to succeed in the face of external factors like increased supplier choice, price rises, changes in the competitiveness from key markets and environmental concerns over air travel. Other challenges include capacity constraints in Dublin and tourism ‘hotspots’.
As noted in the 2019 mid-year review, Brexit dominates uncertainties, a situation that has been made worse with the Northern Ireland Assembly stalled and a hard Brexit more likely by the day. With Britain delivering 38% of all overseas visitors to Ireland and around 21% of all overseas tourism revenue, the issue remains acute.
Despite these challenges, growth in overseas visitors remains consistently high. Visitors from the US, Germany and Italy and the Nordic region are pushing far ahead of those from Britain and this has created a buoyancy in the event management sector that the Department is well positioned to capitalise on.
Growth in this sector will be determined by the willingness of the Department to make investments in leveraging the power of digital media and content-led marketing. The recent Department campaign demonstrates that a powerful story well told is a key enabler of interest from abroad.
The Department’s achievements to date are hugely significant, however our view is that they should be seen as establishing a baseline as to what is expected and to be improved on year after year. It becomes increasingly challenging to grow at 10%+ year on year, however the Department have shown the appetite to do so. There is no reason why the Department should not be ranked at the very top when it comes to popularity and quality of event management.
Our Approach
This section builds on the insight developed above. It sets out how you will cater for this insight in the context of their specific requirements. You also need to articulate your approach in the context of award criteria often drawn from Capability, Commercial Proposition, Financial stability, Track record, Scale and flexibility, Customer satisfaction, Conformance and Environmental Issues.
What you are trying to demonstrate here is that you have (for example) the ‘capability’ to achieve the desired outcomes and that your approach fits into the overall strategic approach.
Upon reading this section they should see you as a ‘strategic partner’ rather than simply a delivery agent. Award criteria varies from contract to contract – you must follow this as it is how they will score and is the most important to cover.
Example:
Over the past four years, we have worked with the Department of Education and similar organisations to you in delivering leading event management strategies based on a multi-channel integrated approach.
Our approach, awareness and knowledge of the Department enables us to be your ‘safe-pair-of-hands’, ensuring that the baseline established for the value of your events is exceeded while facilitating and addressing the challenges and opportunities that will arise during the reinvigoration of the strategy.
Event Management is not an end in itself but is a means to an end. We recognise this and we know that what matters is your objectives – our aim is to assist and facilitate them. We will be your partners, supporting your needs and seeking the optimal solution to achieve your goals. An important part of our role is to bring new and innovative thinking and insight to you, to challenge approaches and provide solutions that help to achieve your objectives.
Our service is led by senior resources with significant strategic capability who have the judgment and experience to interpret emerging travel and tourism trends, to react appropriately, to inform future initiatives and to challenge thinking as appropriate.
The Department should have cost-saving expectations and our approach, as set out in more detail below, ensures that our content services and digital spend is based on a rationale to achieve the optimal outcome for the Department.
A key component of our job is dealing with a rapidly evolving market, where new usage trends rise and fall amongst different demographics, but where everybody expects instantaneous and world-leading information and services, constantly.
Your challenging new environment, with its attendant opportunities, will necessitate a high degree of data analysis as you move forward. Our approach recognizes the balance between risk and innovation as one factor in commercial decision making. We will identify and analyse risks before presenting you with content options and campaigns, together with all of the information necessary to make informed decisions. We are decisive in our advice and best-in-class when it comes to the tourism sector.
Outcomes
The final section is where you tie your approach to the challenge. Opportunities and objectives to deliver measurable and tangible outcomes. Upon reading this section the buyer should be satisfied that you not only understand what they are trying to achieve, but that you have keen insights that they may not have thought about themselves and that you have a clear approach to accomplishing outcomes that are relevant and demonstrate value for money. Remember that they are not running this competition because they want to, they are doing it under some pressure and therefore demonstrable alignment between strategic drivers and outcomes is very important.
Example:
This as much as any time is one of transition and change for the Department – not least because the world is changing. Our firm is a source of stability and support. In addition to extensive experience in supporting clients with similar initiatives, our longstanding history as event managers means that we understand the drivers for you and what matters to you in achieving your goals.
In working with you we will:
- Increase average footfall by 10%+ through a combination of tightly focussed marketing and pre-event catalyzation activities
- Reduce the cost per attendee by 7% based on our analysis of your events through the previous year
- Reduce your resource requirements by 4 person-months per year through increased automation and development of reusable of digital assets.
Our insight allows us to see and support the opportunities identified above, while understanding your sensitivities and concerns, both internally and in the context of the premium event management sector generally.
We welcome the opportunity afforded by this RFT to represent our credentials as your trusted advisor. We will bring our experience in working with your peers, the diversity of our proposed team, and our progressive thought leadership to the service of you into the future.
Response categories
Understanding of Need
Understanding of Need winning template
The Understanding of Need document is used by Orbidal either in direct response to a query in a tender/RFP or as an alternative to an Executive Summary. The purpose of the Understanding of Need Section is to establish empathy with the buyer – to give them reassurance that you understand what they are trying to achieve, the context within which they are trying to achieve it and the challenge to be overcome and opportunities to be exploited along the way.
We divide it into 4 sections as set out below:
Context
The first section is the context that caused this tender to arise. Bear in mind that few buyers ‘choose’ to go to tender. It is a process they are required to undergo to comply with legislation, satisfy a need that can’t be met internally or because they are driven to it by some other factor. They are unlikely to state too bluntly in their tender why they are going to tender. They will typically just say what they want e.g. ‘refresh of their website to align with current usage models’ rather than the motivation behind the request e.g. “We have become irrelevant to our audience through years of underinvestment and now we are under severe pressure to rectify this’.
Example:
The Event Management Unit of the Department of Economics has traditionally managed events for the State within its core duties. Over the past 10 years events delivered by this unit have experienced declining attendance in part due to underinvestment in the improvement of the service delivered. This has had an impact in terms of the outcomes achieved in delivery of hallmark events of national and international importance, commemorations and other large scale events.
This tender, while seeking an Event Management Partner to deliver a programme of events, must fundamentally achieve the Departments objective of achieving the highest quality of service, whilst ensuring ongoing value for money and efficiency in the delivery of services.
In compiling the introductory text it is often useful to refer to the strategic plan of the buyer and to align this tender with the relevant objectives within that plan.
Example:
The Events delivered support the mission of establishing Ireland as a leading location for high profile events and specifically the objectives of:
- Showcasing Irelands ability to deliver large events
- Providing opportunities for the SME ecosystem of providers to the event to increase their profile; and
- Generating measurable goodwill towards Ireland and grow event sizes by 10% year on year
Challenges & Opportunities
This section is where you demonstrate insight and understanding of the challenges and opportunities that the tender gives rise to. Some tenders are focussed on addressing challenges (e.g. internal knowledge, resource shortages, etc), while others are focussed on opportunities (e.g. increasing efficiency, maximising footfall, etc). It’s important to recognise that both tend to exist within the same tender.
This section builds on the previous one, the challenges and opportunities follow on from the objectives and mission set out in the context. Ideally you will be able to identify some insights that demonstrate your thought leadership (over and above the basic ability to deliver on the tender)
Example:
The Department is challenged to succeed in the face of external factors like increased supplier choice, price rises, changes in the competitiveness from key markets and environmental concerns over air travel. Other challenges include capacity constraints in Dublin and tourism ‘hotspots’.
As noted in the 2019 mid-year review, Brexit dominates uncertainties, a situation that has been made worse with the Northern Ireland Assembly stalled and a hard Brexit more likely by the day. With Britain delivering 38% of all overseas visitors to Ireland and around 21% of all overseas tourism revenue, the issue remains acute.
Despite these challenges, growth in overseas visitors remains consistently high. Visitors from the US, Germany and Italy and the Nordic region are pushing far ahead of those from Britain and this has created a buoyancy in the event management sector that the Department is well positioned to capitalise on.
Growth in this sector will be determined by the willingness of the Department to make investments in leveraging the power of digital media and content-led marketing. The recent Department campaign demonstrates that a powerful story well told is a key enabler of interest from abroad.
The Department’s achievements to date are hugely significant, however our view is that they should be seen as establishing a baseline as to what is expected and to be improved on year after year. It becomes increasingly challenging to grow at 10%+ year on year, however the Department have shown the appetite to do so. There is no reason why the Department should not be ranked at the very top when it comes to popularity and quality of event management.
Our Approach
This section builds on the insight developed above. It sets out how you will cater for this insight in the context of their specific requirements. You also need to articulate your approach in the context of award criteria often drawn from Capability, Commercial Proposition, Financial stability, Track record, Scale and flexibility, Customer satisfaction, Conformance and Environmental Issues.
What you are trying to demonstrate here is that you have (for example) the ‘capability’ to achieve the desired outcomes and that your approach fits into the overall strategic approach.
Upon reading this section they should see you as a ‘strategic partner’ rather than simply a delivery agent. Award criteria varies from contract to contract – you must follow this as it is how they will score and is the most important to cover.
Example:
Over the past four years, we have worked with the Department of Education and similar organisations to you in delivering leading event management strategies based on a multi-channel integrated approach.
Our approach, awareness and knowledge of the Department enables us to be your ‘safe-pair-of-hands’, ensuring that the baseline established for the value of your events is exceeded while facilitating and addressing the challenges and opportunities that will arise during the reinvigoration of the strategy.
Event Management is not an end in itself but is a means to an end. We recognise this and we know that what matters is your objectives – our aim is to assist and facilitate them. We will be your partners, supporting your needs and seeking the optimal solution to achieve your goals. An important part of our role is to bring new and innovative thinking and insight to you, to challenge approaches and provide solutions that help to achieve your objectives.
Our service is led by senior resources with significant strategic capability who have the judgment and experience to interpret emerging travel and tourism trends, to react appropriately, to inform future initiatives and to challenge thinking as appropriate.
The Department should have cost-saving expectations and our approach, as set out in more detail below, ensures that our content services and digital spend is based on a rationale to achieve the optimal outcome for the Department.
A key component of our job is dealing with a rapidly evolving market, where new usage trends rise and fall amongst different demographics, but where everybody expects instantaneous and world-leading information and services, constantly.
Your challenging new environment, with its attendant opportunities, will necessitate a high degree of data analysis as you move forward. Our approach recognizes the balance between risk and innovation as one factor in commercial decision making. We will identify and analyse risks before presenting you with content options and campaigns, together with all of the information necessary to make informed decisions. We are decisive in our advice and best-in-class when it comes to the tourism sector.
Outcomes
The final section is where you tie your approach to the challenge. Opportunities and objectives to deliver measurable and tangible outcomes. Upon reading this section the buyer should be satisfied that you not only understand what they are trying to achieve, but that you have keen insights that they may not have thought about themselves and that you have a clear approach to accomplishing outcomes that are relevant and demonstrate value for money. Remember that they are not running this competition because they want to, they are doing it under some pressure and therefore demonstrable alignment between strategic drivers and outcomes is very important.
Example:
This as much as any time is one of transition and change for the Department – not least because the world is changing. Our firm is a source of stability and support. In addition to extensive experience in supporting clients with similar initiatives, our longstanding history as event managers means that we understand the drivers for you and what matters to you in achieving your goals.
In working with you we will:
- Increase average footfall by 10%+ through a combination of tightly focussed marketing and pre-event catalyzation activities
- Reduce the cost per attendee by 7% based on our analysis of your events through the previous year
- Reduce your resource requirements by 4 person-months per year through increased automation and development of reusable of digital assets.
Our insight allows us to see and support the opportunities identified above, while understanding your sensitivities and concerns, both internally and in the context of the premium event management sector generally.
We welcome the opportunity afforded by this RFT to represent our credentials as your trusted advisor. We will bring our experience in working with your peers, the diversity of our proposed team, and our progressive thought leadership to the service of you into the future.
