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The three color highlighter pen process

A great piece of advice for anyone looking to improve how they integrate award criteria into their tender processes is to follow my three highlighter pen process.

Take three highlighter pens (different colors) and when you are reviewing a specification for the first time, highlight passages depending on the requirements.

Example

Yellow: Mandatory requirements (e.g. the door must be 40mm x 2,000mm x 500mm)

Blue: Mandatory requirements that require verification/validation (e.g. the door must be able to be opened from the outside, and the tenderer is required to verify that the door will be able to be easily opened by a person with reduced mobility without the need for the use of special tools).

Pink: Qualitative requirements (e.g. the door will have a minimum verifiable usable life of 15 years, however it is desirable that the door will exceed this figure and offer extended warranties beyond 15 years).

When you are complete

All yellow highlighted paragraphs can be put into a compliance check spreadsheet linked to the respective clause number on a pass/fail basis.

All blue highlighted paragraphs can be put into a compliance check spreadsheet linked to the respective clause number on a pass/fail basis, but requiring a supporting document to verify compliance (e.g. a drawing, an image, a calculation etc.)

All pink highlighted paragraphs are then where you apply the award criteria.

You will find this approach will simplify the process and focus the mind on the areas where qualitative benefits exist.

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