A tender is a team effort, but if you don't agree up front on who owns what, important parts of the bid get dropped, deadlines slip, and the response ends up disjointed. Before you start writing, assign the four key roles on the Tender Team so every responsibility has a clear owner.
There are four roles to set on every Tender Team. One person can cover more than one role, but every responsibility below must be owned by someone.
Based on the Delegation of Authority, you will have someone who will be responsible for approving the gates, such as go/no-go, and final submission.
The Bid Manager runs the bid and is accountable for getting it submitted on time and to plan.
Note: This is conceptially similar to the role of Event Organiser in that they plan what needs to be done before, during and after the event, and track that progress.
The Bid Writer owns the written quality and consistency of the response. This role can be - and often is - carried out by the Bid Manager.
Note: Using the same metaphor as before, this would relate to the role of the Event Master, in that they are in charge of the actual creation of the tender materials (like running an event)
Sales owns the client relationship and the commercial shape of the bid.
The Pre-sales Solution Architect owns the technical solution in the bid. This should be drawn from a pool of architects rather than relying on one person.
Maintain a pool of Pre-sales Solution Architects so you are never blocked waiting on a single person.
This pre-sales work is not charged.