A tender bid is as much about organisation as about documents. A committee works through dozens of files in turn, and the file where they can find things quickly has the advantage. Most authorities now want the bid electronically, which leaves the job of presenting it together, in order and legibly entirely to you.
Whatever the specification says, wins
Nothing in this piece overrides the instruction in the authority's own specification. If it states the order of documents, the file format, the naming or a size limit, follow it to the letter. Failing a formal requirement can be enough on its own to have a bid excluded.
The fastest approach is to download the specification and search it: look for «file», «format», «PDF», «signature» and «size», and note every clause that comes up.
Order the documents as the specification lists them
Tender specifications give the required documents as a numbered list. Build your file in exactly that order. A committee member works with the list in hand; if your file follows the same sequence, the review flows.
- Prepare each document as a PDF: Download anything from official portals directly as a PDF; scan the paper documents.
- Arrange in specification order: In the merge tool, drag the files to match the numbering on the list.
- Combine into one file: The work happens in your browser; your bid is not uploaded to a server.
- Add page numbers: With a numbered file, the committee can ask which page a document is on — and you can answer.
Why page numbers help
In a hundred-page bid, page numbers make a table of contents possible. Putting a contents page at the front, listing where each document begins, makes the committee's job markedly easier.
That small detail makes your file look like careful work. Most competitors will not bother.
Add Page Numbers — Number the pages of a bid so a table of contents becomes possible.
Balancing size limits against scan quality
Electronic tender systems impose size limits. At the same time documents have to be legible — an unreadable document counts as a missing one. You have to balance the two.
- Scan in greyscale at 300 DPI. If colour is not needed, do not use it; it multiplies the file.
- If there is a company stamp or a coloured signature, scan only those pages in colour and leave the rest grey.
- After compressing, always check: is the stamp readable, is the signature sharp, is the smallest type still legible?
- If you are still over the limit, splitting the file is safer than lowering quality.
Never crush the whole file at maximum compression. An unreadable stamp in a tender file can lose you work you had already won. Look at which pages are heavy first — the problem is usually in a handful of them.
Be careful about signatures
Signatures are critical in bids, and authorities generally require a wet signature or a qualified electronic signature. Placing an image of a signature on a PDF meets neither requirement — it is only a picture of a signature.
In practice the right route is to print, sign by hand and scan, or to use the electronic signature infrastructure the authority accepts. Image signatures suit informal situations such as internal correspondence and draft sharing.
A final check before submitting
- Is every item on the specification's list present in the file?
- Does the order match the specification?
- Are time-limited documents such as registration and tax-clearance certificates current?
- Is every page upright and legible?
- Does the file name match what the authority asked for?
- How many hours are left before the deadline? Do not leave the upload to the last hour; system load is a real risk.