What does a single bid actually cost?

Most organisations underestimate bid costs by two to five times. The true cost includes bid team labour hours, senior stakeholder time, loaded hourly rates, and direct costs such as printing, design, and subcontractors.

How is cost per win calculated?

Cost per win is the total monthly tendering spend divided by the number of bids won. At a 25% win rate, each won contract carries the cost of four bids.

How much can structured tendering infrastructure reduce bid costs?

Organisations using structured reuse, evidence governance, and AI-assisted drafting typically see more than 80% reduced time spent per bid. The reduction applies to labour hours; direct costs such as printing and subcontractors are unaffected.

Tendl Free calculator

Bid Cost Calculator

Do you know what a single
bid actually costs you?

Most organisations track contract value and win rate. But they never add up the hours, the coordination overhead, the senior time pulled in, the rework, and the direct costs.

The number is usually two to five times what people expect.

This calculator works it out in under five minutes: Enter your bid volume, win rate, and your known cost per bid, or let us help you calculate it from first principles. You will see the full economics of your tendering operation, including the cost of every win, every loss, and what would change if you improved.

It's yours, now, for free.

Your real cost per bid

Enter it directly or calculate it from team hours, rates, and overheads. Most teams are surprised.

The full annual picture

Monthly spend, annual spend, cost per win, and the cost of every losing bid. All in one view.

What would change

Three scenarios showing the impact of better qualification, higher win rates, and more efficient process.

Takes 5 minutes.

tendl.ai Tendering is Sales

Bid Cost Calculator

See what tendering actually costs your business.

About you

So we can personalise your report. All fields required.

Full name *

Position / Title *

Company *

Email (optional — unlocks full report later)

Your bid activity

These three inputs drive the entire calculation. Use your best estimates. You can adjust them later.

Bids per month

Total submissions across all opportunities

bids

1200

Current win rate

Estimated percentage of bids won

1%100%

Average contract value

Typical value of a contract won

$10K$5M

Your cost per bid

Enter the people, hours, and rates involved in a typical bid. The calculator works out your true cost per bid from first principles.

Bid team

People on a typical bid

Hours per person

Per bid, not per week

Avg hourly rate (loaded)

Salary + on-costs

Senior stakeholder time

Senior people involved

Hours per person

Per bid

Avg hourly rate (loaded)

Direct costs per bid

Printing, design, subcontractors, data

Calculated cost per bid$8,375

Your bid economics report is ready.

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TendlBid Cost Calculator

Annual tendering spend

Before a single contract is won. Every year. Regardless of win rate.

Cost per bid

Labour + overhead + direct

Monthly spend

The true cost of winning work

Cost per bid

Cost per won bid

What would change

If you improve win rate by 5 points

Extra wins per year

Extra revenue per year

If you kill 20% of low-probability bids

Cost saved per year

Hours recovered per year

Use the Go/No-Go Scorecard to identify which bids to kill

10 criteria, 7 auto-no flags, and a Bid / Bid If / No Bid decision in 10 minutes.

What would Tendl save you?

Tendl reduces the labour costs of each bid through structured reuse, evidence governance, and AI-assisted drafting. Direct costs (printing, design, subcontractors) stay the same. Select a reduction level to see the impact.

We typically see more than 80% reduced time spent per bid.

Every organisation is different. The actual reduction depends on your current process maturity, the complexity of your tenders, and how much reusable content you already have. But for most teams running structured bids at volume, 80% or more is common, not exceptional. The reduction applies to labour hours only. Direct costs such as printing, design, and subcontractors are not affected.

Estimated Tendl cost

$0/mo

Book a demo to discuss your numbers

This is what bidding costs. Tendl changes the economics.

The numbers above are what tendering costs without infrastructure. Tendl reduces cost per bid through structured reuse and AI-assisted drafting, improves win rate through qualification discipline, and recovers capacity by eliminating rework and coordination overhead.

Structured go/no-go workflows that kill unwinnable bids early

AI-assisted response engineering grounded in your institutional memory

Evidence governance so compliance gaps never slow you down

Weighted revenue forecasting across your entire pipeline

Throughput pricing: you pay for usage, not a subscription

Book a demo

Tendl tendl.ai

Do you know what a single
bid actually costs you?

Bid Cost Calculator

About you

Your bid activity

Your cost per bid

Your bid economics report is ready.

The true cost of winning work

What would change

Capacity recovered

Your inputs

Do you know what a singlebid actually costs you?

Bid Cost Calculator

About you

Your bid activity

Your cost per bid

Your bid economics report is ready.

The true cost of winning work

What would change

Capacity recovered

Your inputs

Do you know what a single
bid actually costs you?