AI ESTIMATING · M&E
Short answer: An Excel tender register works well while one person keeps it and the number of open tenders is small. It stops working when nobody can see closing dates, outstanding supplier quotes and follow-ups at a glance. A tender tracker that reads your existing spreadsheet gives you that view without changing how you record tenders.
What should a tender register track?
Most M&E subcontractors already keep a tender register in Excel or Google Sheets. The useful ones record, for each tender:
- Project name, main contractor and the person you deal with.
- Trade: electrical, ACMV, solar or a mix.
- Date received and closing date.
- Supplier RFQs sent, and which quotes are still awaiting reply.
- Status: open, submitted, won, lost or withdrawn.
- Submitted value in RM.
- The next follow-up date and what it is for.
If your register has these columns and someone keeps it up to date, you have most of what you need. The question is whether people can get answers out of it quickly.
When does an Excel tender register stop working?
The spreadsheet itself rarely breaks. What breaks is how people use it. Common signs:
- Only one person knows how the sheet is laid out, and everyone asks them.
- Closing dates are missed or noticed late because the sheet is sorted by date received.
- Nobody can say, without scrolling, which supplier quotes are still outstanding.
- Follow-ups on submitted tenders happen when someone remembers, not on a set date.
- Different people keep their own copies, and the copies disagree.
- When the owner asks "what's our win rate?", someone spends an afternoon filtering.
If two or three of these sound familiar, the problem is not the data. It is the view.
How do you calculate tender win rate?
Win rate is the number of tenders won divided by the number of tenders decided. "Decided" means the result is known: won or lost. Leave out tenders that are still open or awaiting an award, and tenders you withdrew from or that were cancelled.
For example, if 20 tenders have been decided and you won 4 of them, your win rate is 4 out of 20, or one in five. It doesn't matter that another 10 tenders are still waiting for a result. Counting those as lost would make your win rate look worse than it is, and counting them in the total at all would mix decided and undecided work.
A few things make the number more useful:
- Split it by trade, by main contractor and by size of job. A single overall figure hides where you do well.
- Record the result date, so you can look at win rate over a period.
- Chase results on submitted tenders. If many tenders never get a recorded result, the win rate is based on too few decisions to mean much.
How should you handle follow-up dates on tenders?
Every open or submitted tender should have a next follow-up date and a note of what it is for. Without one, follow-ups depend on memory.
| Stage | Follow-up for | When to set it |
|---|---|---|
| RFQs sent | Supplier quotes awaiting reply | Shortly before the reply-by date you gave suppliers |
| Before closing | Tender queries, missing addenda | Early enough to get an answer before the closing date |
| Submitted | Result or clarification from the main contractor | A set interval after submission, agreed in your firm |
| Clarification or negotiation | Revised price or answers to questions | The date you promised to reply |
When a follow-up is done, record the outcome and set the next date. A tender with no next date and no result is one that has been forgotten.
Excel vs a tender tracker: what's the difference?
A tender tracker doesn't hold different information. It shows the same information in a way that answers daily questions without filtering.
| Question | Excel register on its own | Tender tracker |
|---|---|---|
| What closes this week? | Sort or filter by closing date | Shown in one view, nearest first |
| Which supplier quotes are outstanding? | Scroll each tender's columns | Listed across all open tenders |
| What's submitted and waiting for a result? | Filter by status | Shown with its follow-up date |
| Who needs a follow-up today? | Depends on someone checking | Shown on the day it's due |
| What's our win rate? | Manual count | Calculated as won divided by decided |
Do you have to stop using your spreadsheet?
No. For most small and mid-sized subcontractors, the spreadsheet is the right place to record tenders. People know it and it is easy to edit. The gap is the view on top.
The UkurBQ tender tracker reads from the tender register spreadsheet you already keep. It gives you one view of open tenders, closing dates, supplier quotes awaiting reply, submitted quotes, follow-ups and win rate. Your team keeps updating the same sheet in the same way; the tracker reflects it.
If your register is missing columns, such as follow-up dates or result dates, those are worth adding whichever way you go. A tracker can only show what the register records.
FAQ
Should withdrawn tenders count in our win rate?
No. Win rate is won divided by decided, and decided means won or lost. Track withdrawn and cancelled tenders separately.
How often should the tender register be updated?
Whenever something changes: a tender arrives, a quote comes back, a tender is submitted or a result is known. A short daily check of follow-ups keeps it current.
Can the tracker work with Google Sheets as well as Excel?
The tracker reads the firm's existing tender register spreadsheet. Ask on the call how your register is kept and we'll confirm how it connects.
We only have a few open tenders at a time. Do we need a tracker?
Maybe not. If one person can see everything in the sheet and nothing gets missed, the spreadsheet is enough. A tracker helps when more tenders or more people are involved.
Try it on a tender you've already priced
Send one past tender. We return a draft BQ with every quantity traced to its sheet, so you can compare it with your own. Free, under NDA.
Book a free BQ test