Bids that win provide solid evidence, adding credibility to their claims of service excellence and innovation. Funders are more likely to award contracts to someone who’s provided proof and demonstrated their experience with relevant examples.
What can I use as evidence?
The two main ‘types’ of evidence in bid-writing are internal: provided from within, or about, your company, and external: other, evidence-based standards, which are accepted as industry best practice.
Internal Evidence (not an exhaustive list)
This proves what you’ve done:
- Testimonial and/or quotes from current or recent customers, or businesses you work with
- Case studies
- Operational examples
- Key Performance Indicator data
- Outcome data
- Statistical information (management monitoring reports, training information, turnover figures)
- Inspection reports e.g., for health and social care providers quotes from inspections completed by the Care Quality Commission
- Health and Safety data and reports
- Safeguarding register
- Compliments
- Complaints register
- Professional Memberships
- Relevant qualifications
- ISO certificates
- Licences
- Policies and procedures
We appreciate that sometimes there aren’t internal examples which specifically answer the method statement question, particularly for new start-ups.
External Evidence (not an exhaustive list)
This proves it’s worth doing this way based on things around which justify your decisions
- Accreditations/memberships
- Awards you have received for excellence within the area
- Evidence-based practice. A way of working which has been rigorously evaluated, and shown to make a positive, statistically different difference in important outcomes e.g., Academic research, Kings Fund white paper, industry press
- In line with Government guidance to do things in certain way
- Tapped into best practice working guidelines. Worth doing based on things going on around you which justify your decisions.
- Market studies
- Proof of concept
Remember, for evidence to be strong, it must be relevant to the question you’re answering, recent (within the last 2-years at most), and you must be able to substantiate it (back it up with proof) e.g., written account, signed, case notes, raw statistical data etc.