Document standards

They know
your work.
They cannot
score it.

An evaluator awards on what is in the file. Not on what he knows about you. Reference projects are scored, and what he cannot find in the annex scores zero.

Who this is forFor industrial manufacturers bidding into EU public tenders.

Send one page

Free rebuild. No call. No retainer. Nothing you send is shown to anyone.

Within 48 hours you get that page rebuilt and sent back, plus a list of every fact a buyer would struggle to verify in the original.

Rather talk first. Book 30 minutes.

Tender annexes
Reference project sheets
Certificates of satisfactory execution
The documents named in Annex XII Part II(a)

01 the problem

Stop losing points
you already earned.

You rebuild the same file for every bid. The 2019 sheet uses a template nobody has anymore. The value in the annex does not match the value in the sheet, because one figure includes VAT and one does not. That is a clarification request, and four days to answer it.

The certificate is worse. Nobody asked for it at handover, and a signature obtained on the day is worth more than a request sent two years later.

The work was real. Only the record is missing.

If your reference sheets are already one page each, in one template, with the signed certificate filed against every one, close the tab.

02 the offer

A document standard
your team runs
without me.

One fixed engagement. The typography, the grid, the templates, the naming, and the index that holds every project you have delivered. Built once. Operated by your sales people, not by a designer. Not artwork. A standard.

The two sheets of a reference project annex, shown at an angle.
The record, and the certificate of satisfactory delivery that
goes with it, with the client, the contract values and the
notice references blacked out. — A reference sheet and the certificate that goes with it. Sheet two is the form the recipient signs at handover, while the job is still fresh. Redacted by request.

2 weeksFrom first files to a finished standard

from €600Fixed, agreed before anything starts

1 pagePer project, built once, used every bid

0Designers needed to run it afterwards

Step one

One document

€600 3 to 4 days

The free rebuild is one page and you cannot edit it. This is the whole document, however many pages it runs to, in files you own and operate.

The full spec sheet, reference card or tender annex, not a sample page
The editable source file
Print and screen exports, sized and named for tender portals

Credited in full into anything you buy after it.

The same card goes to an architect, into an email reply, and onto the stand at a fair. Built once, with the signed certificate behind it.

The standard

The full system

€2,400 two weeks

Every document that decides a bid, on one system your team runs.

Templates for spec sheets, reference cards and tender annexes
One reference document built end to end, plus file structure and naming
The index. Every install, by city and year, ready at renewal

All source files, yours to keep. Runs without a designer after handoff. Your €600 credited.

Beyond documents

Identity system

€8,000 six weeks

The document standard applied across the company.

Colour and typographic system for print, screen and product
Signage, vehicles, trade fair stands, product marking
Written guidelines your suppliers can work from
Wordmark or mark

This is the work I have done longest. It is still the last thing you should buy from me. Take it only once the document standard has proved itself. Your €2,400 credited.

03 what you send · what i do

You send

Photos from site, however they are
A voice note. What it is, where, anything notable
A tender you answered recently

No forms. No new software. Nothing to write.

I do

File and name every image so nothing goes missing again
Pull the facts out, and come back to you only with closed questions
Set the typography, grid, colour and the template system
Build the first reference document end to end
Export for print and for tender portals, sized and named
Build the index. Every install, by city and year, ready at renewal

You keep selling.
The reference file
is finished before
the next tender opens.

04 the alternatives

Four ways
to fix this.
Three of them
are not me.

Do it in-house

the week of the deadline

Costs nothing on paper
Done by the person who should be selling
Different every bid
The reason you are reading this

Design agency

full service, retained

Strong craft
Usually five figures
Two to three months
Rarely reads a tender

Hire a designer

in-house, salaried

Always there
A salary every year
Months to recruit
For work that comes up a few times a year

This

fixed engagement

From €600, agreed before anything starts
Two weeks
A standard, not artwork
Built for tender documents and nothing else

05 the questions

Before you ask.

Why two weeks?

Because it is a standard, not a bespoke artwork. The scope is fixed and the method is already built. Projects run long when the scope was never agreed.

We have never bought from outside the EU. How does this work?

You get a proper invoice from a Brazilian sole trader, in EUR or USD, paid by bank transfer or Wise. No VAT is charged on it. In most member states you account for it under the reverse charge, the same way you already handle other services bought outside the EU. Your finance team has done this before. If supplier onboarding needs a form, send it and I fill it in.

Is what I send confidential?

Yes. Nothing you send is published, shown to another client, or used as a sample. Send it redacted if that is faster. If you would rather have an NDA in place first, send yours and I sign it before you send anything.

We already work with an agency.

Good. They do the campaigns and the trade fair. This is one fixed piece of infrastructure that sits under everything they make, and it is handed over as source files, so your agency can pick it up and work inside it. I am not asking for a retainer and I am not asking to replace anyone.

Our documents are in Finnish, German, Swedish. Is that a problem?

No. I build the system. You own the language. Your copy is placed exactly as you wrote it, never translated and never rewritten by me. Every fact is confirmed by you before anything is final. Typography and structure work the same in any language.

What if we do not like it?

Start at €600 and judge the real thing on your own document. If you go on, that €600 comes off the price. On the full engagement you confirm every fact before anything is final, and one round of revisions is included.

Who owns the files?

You do. Source files, templates and the workflow are handed over on delivery and are yours to keep, edit and reuse without me. Nothing depends on a tool you have to rent.

What if you become unavailable mid project?

Files are handed over as they are built, not in one drop at the end. At any point you hold everything produced so far, in editable form, openable without me. Nothing in the system depends on proprietary tooling.

Do we need a designer afterwards?

No. That is the point. The templates are built for people who are not designers. If a template needs a designer to use it, I built it wrong.

You are in Brazil. How does that work?

UTC minus 3. That overlaps with European afternoons and the whole UK working day. The work runs async. Files, voice notes, closed questions. You can book a call if you want one, but the engagement does not need one.

Has this won a tender?

I will not tell you it did. I do not have that number, and if I quoted one you should not believe it. What I can show you is the document and what it does to a reference sheet.

Document standards