No. In most tenders, cover letters earn you nothing on the scorecard. Every hour spent polishing one is an hour you did not spend on a scored answer. I have seen a strong bid lose because of this. The team spent six hours crafting a cover letter worth zero points. The method statement next to it went unchecked.

Why bid teams still write them

Evaluators score against a matrix, not against manners, but the cover letter habit persists. Three reasons keep it alive.

  • Old habits. Personal letters mattered before eProcurement portals took over. The habit stuck long after the process changed.
  • Comfort work. Writing warm, safe sentences feels easier than wrestling with a compliance table or a pricing model.
  • Politeness worry. Teams fear that skipping a letter looks rude. Every buyer we have spoken to ranks clarity and evidence above manners, every time.

What it actually costs you

I worked with a bid team on their first government tender. The response had 18 questions worth 100 points between them. The cover letter was worth zero.

They spent six billable hours drafting, circulating, and re-drafting that letter. That time could have gone three other places. It could have tightened the method statement, worth five to eight extra scoring points. It could have added a second reference project to strengthen a medium confidence answer. Or it could have caught an arithmetic error in the pricing workbook before it became a fatal flaw.

The bid fell two points short of the winner. The team later traced the gap to an under-developed methodology answer. That was the same section that lost time to the cover letter.

What evaluators read first

Ask any experienced evaluator what they open first and the order rarely changes.

  • The compliance matrix and returnable schedules
  • The executive summary, when the tender asks for one
  • The scored questions: capacity, methodology, pricing, and risk
  • The linked evidence: CVs, case studies, and certificates

Notice what is missing. The narrative cover letter.

When the tender forces you to include one

Some tenders require a Form of Offer or Letter of Tender. Treat it as a legal formality, not a sales pitch. It needs three things.

  1. Your legal entity name and the tender number
  2. One sentence confirming your offer
  3. An authorised signature and date

Half a page is plenty.

Three things worth your time instead

  1. A one-page summary that maps the buyer's problems to your results, in plain numbers. Evaluators can take it in within seconds.
  2. A short, evidenced example of how you managed a similar risk for another client. Data, not adjectives.
  3. Headings that mirror the tender's own criteria wording, so the evaluator can score as they read.

Cover letters are not the enemy. They are just not where tenders are won. Treat the letter as a sixty-second formality, and put the hours you save into the answers that carry marks. If you would like a second pair of eyes on your next response, get in touch with our team.