Writing bid proposals for tenders requires several hours of diligent work. It overwhelms professionals, as managing multiple documents and distilling the required information into a proposal is challenging. 

Leveraging AI tools to streamline your bid writing process can save countless hours of mind-numbing work. It can help you write engaging, competitive tender responses without the last-minute hustle. 

Whether you're an experienced bid manager or just beginning with the tendering process, this detailed guide will show you how to leverage AI to:

• Examine and analyze RFP/ITT documents
• Build clear, winning bid strategies by outlining the bid proposal
• Write persuasive proposal sections
• Develop the proposal sections
• Refine and perfect the final bid submission

Let’s get started!

Step 1 - Examine and Analyze RFP/ITT documents

Dealing with Invitation to Tender (ITT) documents—which can be as short as a few pages or as long as hundreds—can be a long and tough job. Extracting all the info from them by hand takes a lot of time, making it perfect for AI to help out.

In this guide, we'll show you how to use ChatGPT's new canvas feature to write your bid. Just open ChatGPT and pick the GPT-4 model with canvas from the list.

Instead of reading the most boring documents in the world, you can ask ChatGPT to analyze and summarize them for you. After selecting the GPT canvas model, upload the ITT document along with the following prompt. It will help you extract all the key information and the questions from the document. 

Prompt:

I am preparing to write a bid for the invitation to tender. The document is attached to this prompt. Help me understand the document by extracting all the key information that will help me write a bid. 

The things that I want to know are:
- What are the top challenges faced by the client
- What exactly are they looking for in a solution? Provide key points
- What might be the evaluation criteria for the bids
- Analyze and list all the factors that might help me, and you write a winning bid
- Provide a checklist of items needed in the bid

List anything else that you think I should know. Also, make sure to provide citations for the answers in the section/s containing that information for verification. It should preferably be on a table. 

ChatGPT generated a table with all the required information.

Of course, you can ask follow-up questions to get more details that you consider essential to cover before starting the bid writing process. Ask your questions by adding them to the list of questions in our prompt. Or, you can format and devise your own questions. 

Also, if you want detailed citations with page numbers and everything, instruct ChatGPT to format the citations in a table so they are easier to scan for accuracy checks. 

Step 2 - Build Clear, Winning Bid Strategies By Outlining The Bid Proposal

Of course, you need a bid strategy to outline the bid proposal. Now, you might be wondering how I should start the bid. What would go on in the first paragraph? With ChatGPT’s canvas feature, you can now say goodbye to writer’s block. 

Create a semi-filled template for the bid proposal (AI is always best when it assists man and doesn't do everything on its own). Follow the prompt below and see how we did it. It might give you an idea of how to start a prompt that outlines your requirements and gives you exactly what you need. 

Prompt:

Craft a semi-filled template for the bid proposal in a canvas, please. Add sections as per the template requirements.

Fill the sections with details, including questions and bullet points that need answers. The questions should be based on those in the Invitation to Proposal document. 

Provide suggestions on the resources that I need to answer the questions. Also, suggest rarely needed documents inline in the canvas.

Ensure that you list and suggest all the required documents I need to craft a winning proposal outside the canvas.

‍Consider this: Iterate your prompts as needed. Add suggestions to a prompt and generate a detailed output that suits your requirements.

ChatGPT will open a canvas window right next to the prompting window. The canvas is the best place to develop and refine our bid. It contains a list of questions that need to be answered to create an all-inclusive bid. 

Step 3 - Write Persuasive Proposal Sections

To write persuasive proposal sections, you need to collect relevant documents. The documents will answer the questions. Find the appropriate documents in your FAQs section, or you can list the answers to the proposal questions by copying them from your website. 

Extracting the answers to each question manually can be a lot of work. Leverage the power of AI to expedite the process. For this tutorial, we will use Amazon VDI documentation.

Use the following prompt to generate answers to the questions extracted from the ITT document. Upload the relevant documents to help ChatGPT generate the answers.

Prompt:

[attach the documents using the attached function]

The attached documents provide knowledge management for the tenders. It has answers to many questions for the bid proposal. Answer the bid proposal questions you wrote using these documents and update the outline in the canvas with the given answers.

Note down the answers that you are unable to find or are unsure about and list them like you listed the documents list.

Please provide citations to verify the answers in terms of where the info exists in the documentation.

Inform me about the resources mentioned within this document that need to be accessed to get an answer. I will provide the contents of the document. 

It did a good job answering the questions. Make sure to double-check the hyperlinks ChatGPT generated. Sometimes, AI may generate URLs that actually lead to 404 error pages. 

Step 4 - Develop The Proposal Solutions

One of the best features of Canvas is its editing mode. You can tweak, refine, or rewrite any text on the go. If you want to regenerate a paragraph or a sentence, select a text and click the cute little ‘+’ button that pops next to it. Write a prompt to get an explanation for the text. 

Even though Canvas is still in beta mode, it can do a pretty good job with the explanations. However, we can’t tell you exactly what prompt will generate what result. You’ll have to play around to find what you need. 

We used the following two prompts to get a workable document populated with sections covering most points.

Prompt:

Transform the provided outline into a comprehensive, professional section of a bid proposal.

Requirements:
1. Content Expansion: Flesh out the outline with detailed content to create a fully developed proposal section that aligns with the objective of a bid submission.
2. Structure: To organize the content hierarchically, use a multi-level numbering format (e.g., 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, etc.).
3. Formatting:
- Include headings for each main section.
- Use bold text where appropriate to emphasize key points and headings.
4. Consistency: Ensure a consistent tone, formatting, and flow that matches professional proposal standards.

And: 

Prompt:

Create comprehensive drafts for all necessary sections to be included in the final bid proposal. Ensure each section is appropriately structured using multi-level numbering, consistent hierarchical formatting with clear headings, and incorporates bold text to highlight key information.

At this stage, you should draft each section while verifying that the expanded bullet points are accurate. Since Canvas is editable, you can remove or edit any point or add more information. Your expertise will shine here.

Canvas also provides several built-in tools to streamline your writing process. Simply hover over the pencil icon in the bottom-right corner to access options like:

• Suggest Edits: Receive inline suggestions and feedback from ChatGPT.
• Adjust Length: Easily make the document longer or more concise.
• Change Reading Level: Shift the reading level anywhere from Kindergarten to Graduate School.
• Add Final Polish: Review the text for grammar, clarity, and overall consistency.

These features can help you enhance each section with ease and precision.

We also applied the length increment and decrement options across different sections to capture enough detail about the solution.

Step 5 - Refine And Perfect The Final Bid Submission

The final step is to prepare this bid for submission. We want to polish it. Use the following prompt to give the document a final makeover. 

Prompt:

Can you make this bid more persuasive and appealing? Consider it from the client’s perspective and make this bid proposal appealing so it shows that we care about solving their problem.

Consider the following tips to achieve this:
Put the Customer First: Prioritize the customer by using their name more frequently than our company’s and adopting their language and terms. This approach makes communication more relatable and tailored.
Craft Persuasive Messaging: Build each section as if making a compelling case, using clear evidence and strong points to back up your statements. Structure your content to guide the customer toward choosing us.
Highlight Our Value Clearly: Paint a clear picture of what the customer can expect from working with us. Emphasize the benefits they’ll gain and connect our offerings directly to their needs, demonstrating how we provide value tailored to their objectives.

Note: You can exit the canvas interface for writing long prompts. You can keep the split view if you like the view!

Most companies do not like industry jargon. However, it might help explain things to professionals. To add a bit of depth to your bid, you can attach a document containing commonly used industry terms. Some jargon might be beneficial for a convincing bid proposal. 

Prompt:

[Attach a pdf or a document]

Consider the attached guide and add relevant industry terms to the bid you are writing. Please do not overdo it. Use it sparingly and only in places where it is needed. Use only where it is expected. 

There you have it. Please remember that the bid is only 80% complete. You might need to edit it to suit your needs and any requirements ChatGPT might have missed. It’s not the final step in your bid proposal journey. It’s a draft. By using AI, you have saved a couple of hours. However, you have to finalize it to ensure that you submit a winning bid.