The 20-Minute Gate Check

Three weeks writing a submission that was never winnable costs a contractor more than losing on price ever does. And almost every one of those losses was decided by something stated plainly in the documents, on a page nobody opened until week two.

Answer what you can and you get a verdict with the reasoning — Bid, Bid if, or No bid, the same three marks we use in the weekly issue. No sign-up, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

Run it against a notice we have written up

Pre-fills what the documents demand. You supply your own position.

The money

Contract valueTurnover threshold stated leave blank if noneYour annual turnover

Years of accounts requiredYears you can file

The gates

Can you meet every insurance level stated, today?

Employer's, public, product where supply is in scope, and professional indemnity.

Do you hold every mandatory accreditation and scheme?

Held now, by you and by any subcontractor you would name.

Has any expression of interest or selection stage already closed?

Being registered on the portal is not always the same as entering.

Days to the submission deadline

Have you found the pass or fail sections in the methodology?

They are not scored. They are doors.

Why it asks for both sides

Turnover thresholds, insurance levels and mandatory schemes live in the tender documents, not in the notice feed — so no tool can read them off a listing. For the five or six notices we write up each week we have already dug them out, which is why those can be loaded above. For anything else you supply both sides, and the check does the part people skip: applying it honestly before any writing starts.

How we judge a tender sets out the rest of the method — fit, scoring, price and verdict. Closing soon shows what is open in the next 30 days if you need something to run this against.