When to use an appendix

Appendices are used for supporting material which, if incorporated within the body of the bid, would make it poorly structured or too long and detailed. Intelligent use of appendices can convert an average submission into a winning proposal.

The appendix should be used for helpful, supporting or essential material that would otherwise clutter, break up or be distracting in the main text.

Points to consider are that:

• the central topic should be addressed in the main body of the document
• any supporting arguments should not depend on information contained within the appendix
• the appendix should not be used for information that could not be conveniently accommodated in the main text
• summarise the content of the information contained in the appendix within the main text and cross-refer to the appendix.

Appendices may include some of the following:

• printed material asked for in the tender, such as company accounts
• CVs
• case studies and project profiles
• supporting evidence and contributory facts
• copies of company policy statements
• award certificates, registrations and memberships
• specialised data (raw data appear in the appendix, summarised data appear in the body of the text)
• technical figures, tables or descriptions
• questionnaires (questionnaire results appear in the body of the text).

The body of the text must be complete without the appendices and it must contain all the information, including tables, diagrams and results, necessary to answer the question.

Appendices are not usually included in the word count. Therefore, the appendices can sometimes be used to include information that would take the main text over the word or page limit.

Appendices must be referred to in the body of the text; for example, ‘further details of the project are given as a project profile in Appendix D’.

The following is an example of using an appendix to maximum effect when the main question (see Figure 7.1), within the bid documents, limits your answer to a specific word count. You need to be sure that the bid permits additional supporting information to be included within an appendix.

Figure 7.1: Typical question that would benefit from supporting documentation in an appendix

The answer might be along the lines of:

From the above, it can be seen that the question is fully answered with back-up supporting detail given in four sections within an appendix. The supporting documentation is referred to in the answer. Many consultants answering this question might not think of providing the supporting documentation. This might be because they do not have the documentation to hand or believe that such information would be excessive. But including such information gives credibility to the answer and shows a professional approach to training provision. By asking such a question, the client is clearly looking to check that the consultant is up to date with regard to current technology and regulations and is investing in employee training. As long as the information is relevant and adds to your submission, then place all the supportive information within an appendix. No matter how minor the question, you must remember that you want to score as highly as possible. An additional percentage point could make the difference between winning and coming second.

Make an appendix appropriate

When deciding what to place within the appendix, consider the reader or evaluator. The whole purpose of putting together a tender or proposal is to win the project.

We have mentioned before that we need to make our documentation as bespoke as possible. Therefore, only include within the appendix information that:

• supports the main body of the submission
• has been specifically requested, such as company accounts and CVs
• is referred to within the main body of the text.

If you do not work within these guidelines and use the appendix section to incorporate all your standard marketing material, you run the risk of:

• devaluing the bespoke nature of the submission
• the reader or evaluator skipping through the appendices and making the judgement that they are not relevant and thereby perhaps missing some vital information.

Format

When formatting the appendix, consider the following points:

• the heading should be APPENDIX or Appendix, followed by a letter or number (e.g. APPENDIX A, Appendix 1). It would also be useful to name the appendix with a descriptive title, for example ‘Appendix B: Company Accounts’
• each appendix must begin on a new page
• appendices must be listed in the table of contents (if used)
• the page number(s) of the appendix/appendices will follow on from the body of the text
• follow the style of the main body of the document (in terms of font, heading hierarchy, etc.).

Content

When putting content into the appendix remember to make it relevant and bespoke. Sometimes the reader might not grasp the relevance or benefits of the information, so it might be useful to have a box panel at the foot of each appendix and head it ‘the benefits of [insert the topic of the appendix] to [insert the client or project name]’.

Example of an appendix