When ‘No’ Isn’t Enough: Getting Better Feedback After Tender Loss
Losing a tender rarely comes with the clarity you need most. Feedback from contracting authorities can be brief, vague, or sometimes absent altogether, leaving teams to guess what truly made the difference. It’s no surprise, then, that we are frequently asked by our clients how they can secure more meaningful, actionable responses. While there is no guaranteed way to achieve this, you should at least have a plan to approach the process. By adopting a structured and proactive method for seeking feedback, organisations can turn even limited input into valuable insight, improving both understanding and future bid performance.
Here is a useful guide for how to do this with the suggested wording to use.
Stage 1 – Friendly, informal request
Begin by simply asking for a breakdown of our scores per question/sub‑question and the comments that supported them. This keeps everything collaborative and gives them an easy route to share what they already hold.
Proposed Template:
“Thanks for sending over the outcome. To help us understand our scoring and strengthen future bids, would you be able to share a breakdown of the scores for each question/sub‑question, along with the feedback that supported those scores?”
Stage 2 – Polite follow‑up
If the first response is too high‑level or if they just don’t come back with the information, then follow up and explain that you still need the question‑level scoring and explanations so you can understand where you dropped marks and improve internally.
Proposed Template:
Too High Level
“Thanks for coming back to us. The feedback so far is useful, but still a little high‑level, so we’re finding it difficult to understand the specific areas where we dropped marks.
Would you be able to provide the individual scores per question/sub‑question and the explanations behind them? Having this level of detail will help us properly review our approach and make meaningful improvements.”
OR
No Response
“I just wanted to follow up on my message below, as we haven’t yet had a response.
We’re keen to understand our scoring in a bit more detail so we can learn from this outcome. When you have a moment, would you be able to share the individual scores per question/sub‑question, along with any supporting comments?
It would really help us identify where we can improve for future opportunities.”
Stage 3 – Formal request if needed
Only if they still don’t provide the detail or if they refuse to do so, then you can reference the Procurement Act requirements, which say that contracting authorities must provide these scores and explain why higher scores weren’t awarded. This keeps you within your rights but avoids escalating too early.
Under the Act, authorities must provide an assessment summary to every bidder.
They must include scores and reasons for each criterion
They must be issued before the contract award notice is published
Provided promptly after the award decision
Proposed Template:
Too high level
“Thank you for your responses to date. To fully understand the assessment, we would be grateful if you could share the detailed scoring for each question and sub‑question, along with the explanations for why higher scores were not awarded.
As you’ll be aware, the Public Contracts Regulations 2025 require contracting authorities to provide this level of feedback as part of the transparency obligations. Obtaining this information will allow us to understand the evaluation properly and ensure our future submissions are aligned with the required standard”
OR
No response
“I’m following up again on our previous requests, as we’ve not yet received a response.
To fully understand the assessment and improve future submissions, we would be grateful if you could provide the detailed scoring for each question and sub‑question, along with the explanation for why higher scores were not awarded.
As you’ll be aware, the Public Contracts Regulations 2025 require contracting authorities to make this level of feedback available, and we would appreciate your support in sharing it at your earliest convenience.”
IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO USE STRONGER LANGUAGE, YOU COULD ADD THE FOLLOWING:
Without a compliant assessment summary, the standstill period is ineffective and potentially unlawful.
The idea is to give them a chance to respond informally first, without jumping straight to quoting regulations unless it becomes necessary. This should help you to protect the relationships, as you don’t want to burn any bridges, but will hopefully allow you to get to the point where you are getting consistent feedback that you can then learn from.
If you would like to discuss this further don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Getting Good Feedback