From Comments to Contracts: Making Reviewer Feedback Count
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✅ Blog 6 of 7 in our Tender Review Series
Links to all 7 blogs in this series are at the bottom of this page.
What do you do with the feedback after a tender result?
If the answer is “not much,” you’re missing one of the most valuable (and underused) opportunities in the whole tendering process.
Because commissioner feedback is a roadmap. It tells you exactly where you lost marks — and, more importantly, how to gain them next time. Providers who work with a bid writer for domiciliary care or a bid writer for learning disability services often use feedback as fuel to refine and strengthen future submissions.
📋 Typical commissioner feedback
Post-tender feedback usually includes scores and short bullet points. Examples might be:
- ❌ “Limited detail on how outcomes will be measured.”
- ❌ “Could have included more service-specific examples.”
- ❌ “The response lacked clarity around risk management.”
If you treat these as one-off criticisms, they won’t help you. But if you treat them as themes to fix and templates to improve, your next bid will be stronger.
🛠️ Build feedback into your templates
Once you’ve identified recurring issues — like vague impact descriptions or underdeveloped equality sections — build them into your standard templates:
- ✅ Add example boxes or prompts where detail was weak
- ✅ Strengthen boilerplate content on quality assurance or outcomes
- ✅ Make evidence, metrics, and service user voice more visible
Don’t wait until the next deadline to fix it — do it now. This is particularly important if you handle bid writing for home care services, where commissioners expect tailored, outcome-focused responses every time.
📈 Internal reviews count too
If you’re not getting commissioner feedback, don’t panic. An internal review can identify the same weak spots.
Ask questions like:
- 🔍 “Would a commissioner understand our model from this?”
- 📉 “Are we evidencing impact or just describing activity?”
- 📚 “Is this answer generic or genuinely tailored to this tender?”
The answers will help improve clarity, credibility, and scoring potential — just like external feedback would. That’s why many providers combine internal reviews with external proofreading and review support to maximise their chances of success.
📣 Want help analysing and applying feedback?
We offer tender review and improvement support that helps you turn missed marks into stronger future bids.
📞 Contact us here
Let’s make sure you don’t miss out next time.
📚 Catch up on the full Tender Review Series:
- 💡 1 of 7: Why Most Tender Responses Fall Just Short — And How a Review Can Fix It
- 🧠 2 of 7: More Than Typos: How Tender Reviews Shape Strategy, Not Just Spelling
- 🔍 3 of 7: Finding the Flaws: Why Even Good Tender Answers Miss the Mark
- 🎯 4 of 7: Inside the Scoring Sheet: What Commissioners Really Want to See
- ✍️ 5 of 7: How to Polish Your Tender Like a Pro (Using Track Changes Strategically)
- 📈 6 of 7: From Comments to Contracts: Making Reviewer Feedback Count
- ⏰ 7 of 7: Last Chance to Improve: When to Review Your Tender (And When Not To)