Bid no bid decision matrix free interactive tool for tender opportunities
Stop pricing tenders you can't win. Score the contract against your firm in under a minute. Six axes, one verdict: Bid, Borderline or No bid. Free, runs in your browser, no email capture.
Pick the sector
Different sectors weigh different accreditations and risks.
Tick the accreditations you actually hold
Only count current, in-date certificates you can produce on demand.
Money
Buyers want turnover at minimum two times the contract's annual value, plus three years of accounts.
Turnover ratio: 3.00× the contract value.
Region and capacity
Local mobilisation and spare hours are silent kingmakers in soft FM scoring.
Risk flags
Tick anything the contract requires that you don't already have a track record in.
Strategic reasons to bid
The reasons a borderline tender becomes a yes.
Live verdict
Verdict
No bid
Score
59
Walk away. Pipeline elsewhere.
What's working
- Turnover 3.0× contract, comfortably above the 2× floor
- Already operating in the buyer's region
- No specialist risk flags raised
What's costing you points
- Missing required: BICSc trained operatives; ISO 9001 (Quality); SSIP (CHAS, SafeContractor or Constructionline); Public Liability £10m+
Want this run automatically against every UK soft FM tender as it's published?
Save my profile, run on live tendersHow the score is calculated
Six axes, weighted average, no magic.
Each axis returns 0 to 100. We multiply by the weight, sum the lot, divide by 100. That's your final score. The verdict bands sit at 80 and 60.
Weight 25%
Required accreditations
BICSc for cleaning. SIA ACS for security. NPTC for grounds. HACCP for catering. Below the spec's required floor, the matrix scores you down hard. Optional accreditations add small uplifts.
Weight 20%
Financial standing
Turnover divided by annual contract value. 2× and above is the buyer's typical floor. Under 1× is a hard penalty. Under 3 years trading also costs you points across the financial axis.
Weight 15%
Region coverage
Already operating in the buyer's region scores 100. Adjacent (work nearby) drops to 60. Mobilising fresh from elsewhere scores 20. Local presence is a silent kingmaker on technical evaluation.
Weight 15%
Capacity and mobilisation
Spare hours plus a fast mobilisation timeline scores high. Tight capacity with a slow start hurts. Buyers reject 8-week+ mobilisation timelines by default. They want hands on the floor by week four.
Weight 15%
Risk flags
NHS infection control, defence vetting, school safeguarding, large TUPE inheritance, specialist work you've never done. Each risk you can't already deliver deducts 25 from the axis score.
Weight 10%
Strategic fit
First contract in a new sector, framework call-off, existing buyer in another category, geographic fit. The reasons that turn a borderline tender into a yes, but only when the other axes hold.
Why bid / no-bid matters
The single biggest hit-rate lever for soft FM SMEs.
Hit rate is what makes a bid team profitable. The maths: writing five bids at 40% conversion beats writing twenty bids at 10%, with a fifth of the burnout. The bid no bid decision is what separates those two worlds. Most contractors do it on gut feel. Gut feel says yes far too often.
When to override the matrix
- Borderline + framework call-off. One win opens four years of mini-comps. Take the borderline.
- No bid + first reference. If a sub-60 score is your only route into a sector you want long-term, bid lean and price for the reference, not the margin.
- Bid + over capacity. A high score with no spare hours is a delivery risk. Either subcontract a portion or no-bid.
Questions, answered.
What is a bid / no-bid decision matrix?
A bid no bid decision matrix is a scoring framework that weighs a tender opportunity against the bidder's actual position. It returns a verdict before the bid team commits time to writing, so weak fits get killed early and strong fits get the time they deserve. Done well, it lifts hit rate without growing the pipeline.
How is the score calculated?
Six axes, each weighted: required accreditations (25%), financial standing (20%), region coverage (15%), capacity and mobilisation (15%), risk flags (15%), and strategic fit (10%). Each axis returns 0 to 100. The final score is the weighted average. Maths runs in your browser. No server call.
What counts as a 'bid', 'borderline' or 'no bid'?
80 and above is a bid. 60 to 79 is borderline (a strategic call). Under 60 is a no bid. Most SME wins live in the borderline band, but only when one or two strategic-fit reasons are real. Below 60, the maths is telling you to walk.
Why does turnover matter so much?
UK public buyers typically want bidder turnover at minimum two times the annual contract value, plus three years of audited accounts. Below those numbers, expect a hard reject at the SQ stage even if your delivery is faultless. The matrix penalises ratios under 2× hard.
Is the tool actually free?
Yes. The matrix runs in your browser. No signup, no email capture, no rate limit. The paid version (built into a CleanTender Pro account) runs the same logic against your stored profile and live UK tenders, and feeds reasons straight into your bid drafts.
Will my answers be saved?
No. Nothing leaves your browser. Refresh the page and the inputs reset. Use the 'Save my profile' button in a registered CleanTender account if you want answers to persist across tenders and feed bid drafts automatically.
Which sectors does it cover?
Five soft facilities-management sectors: cleaning, security and guarding, grounds maintenance, waste and hygiene, catering. Each sector has its own accreditation list, its own risk-flag set, and a tuned score floor.
Run the matrix on real UK tenders.
CleanTender stores your profile once and runs this scorer against every soft FM tender we ingest. Free tier. No card.
Read next