When an organisation sends out an 'Invitation To Tender' (ITT) inviting companies to bid for a web project, the first thing I do is check how they've written the ITT. I was sent one recently, and what I found, was common in what I find in others:

• no styles were used (sometimes not even the default styles are used)
• there was no clear structure and logic in headings and subheadings
• underlining was used in bold headings making it difficult to read words that contained characters that descended below the baseline (such as g, j, p, q, y)
• there were inconsistent spacing between paragraphs—carriage returns were used to create spacing, not paragraph spacing
• features that are generated automatically were added manually, such as page numbers and the table of contents
• multiple tabs were used instead of setting a tab to align text properly
• in a table, text was too close to the table borders—no inset spacing was used
• two spaces was used after every sentence—this is a throwback when we used typewriters, stop it!
• the document was using US Letter, not the standard A4
• there was evidence that the document had been copied from somewhere else and not properly edited to remove the wrong references.

If I tender for this work, a well-structured, properly formatted document would be written explaining how the project would be delivered. Where appropriate, their stated requirements would be challenged and information provided to enlighten them on better delivery.

So I ask myself how would they judge my tender? Although they say that it will be judged by: value for money; ability to meet the requirements; technical capability; quality of case studies, would they recognise the quality of my experience, content and thinking?

And if they don't have an appreciation for the relatively, small details, will they be open to learn and have an appreciation on the larger, more important details?

So should I respond to this ITT? I'm not so sure.