7,000 winning words in two days
Bid managed by Mark Cosens, Cosens Consult
The short version. A Leeds City Council tender landed alongside several other bids on the same deadline, leaving two days for seven scored method statements of 1,000 words each. Set-up took minutes. The first draft took three hours. The directors commented within a day, signed it off, and the bid went in. The award letter arrived three weeks later.
Two days, and not only this bid
The Leeds City Council tender did not arrive on a quiet week. It landed alongside several other bids, all chasing the same deadline. Mark had two days.
What was actually at stake
Length was never the threat. Anyone who writes bids for a living can produce words at speed. What a hard deadline really threatens is the bid itself: the contract you do not so much lose as fail to turn up for.
Blue Apple Training wanted this one. It covered the Key Worker Support element of the Employment West Yorkshire programme, part of the DWP Economic Inactivity Trailblazer and the wider Work and Health agenda, funded through West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Work that helps people build confidence, overcome barriers, access training and progress into sustainable employment.
Seven thousand words
The pricing schedule and the supporting forms were already complete. What remained was everything that gets scored: seven method statements at a thousand words each, to be written, edited and proofread inside 48 hours.
Each answer has to meet the question the buyer actually asked, in the order they asked it, against the published criteria, carrying evidence that traces back to something Blue Apple could stand behind. Fast is easy. Fast and right is the job.
One folder, one pass
Set-up was a folder: tender documents in one subfolder, support files including past winning bids in another, instructions in a third.
Bidwin Core then ran setup, vet, draft and quality assurance in a single pass. Three hours later there was a solid first draft, with Mark steering it as it went.
What three hours bought
Not a shorter day. A better bid.
Blue Apple's directors read the draft properly and returned their comments within a day. Mark applied them, the directors signed the bid off, and it went in, reviewed by the people whose name was on it.
Three weeks later, the award letter arrived.
What this is, and what it is not
One tender. Blue Apple's track record won the contract, and Bidwin's job was to get that track record onto the page, in Blue Apple's own voice, inside the time there was.
Mark has seventeen years in the sector, so this is a tool in experienced hands rather than a test of how it behaves in new ones. We are not publishing the contract value, the evaluation score or who else bid, because those are not ours to publish. One win is a result, not a rate.
At a glance
| Client | Blue Apple Training |
|---|---|
| Buyer | Leeds City Council |
| Contract | Key Worker Support, Employment West Yorkshire |
| Funding route | West Yorkshire Combined Authority, DWP Economic Inactivity Trailblazer |
| Scored narrative | 7 method statements, 1,000 words each |
| Time available | 48 hours |
| Set-up | Minutes |
| First draft | 3 hours |
| Client turnaround | Comments within a day, then sign-off |
| Outcome | Awarded, three weeks later |
Frequently asked questions
How long did the first draft take?
Three hours for all seven method statements, 7,000 words in total, with Mark steering it as it went. Set-up beforehand was one project folder with subfolders for the tender documents, the support files and the instructions.
Did the AI write the bid on its own?
No. It wrote the first draft. Mark steered it through the run and applied his own judgement to what came back, and Blue Apple's directors reviewed, commented and signed off before the bid was submitted.
Was any of the evidence invented?
No. Bidwin drafts only from the support files in the project folder, cites the file behind each claim, and flags anything it cannot evidence rather than filling the gap. The evidence here was Blue Apple's own, including previous winning bids held in the same folder.
Does it sound like the client or like an AI?
Like the client. Setup derives a house style from the organisation's own winning bids and the drafter writes to it. Blue Apple's support files included their previous winning bids.
Every figure in this case study comes from the account written by Mark Cosens, the bid manager who ran the submission, and it is published with Blue Apple Training's agreement to be named. Contract value, evaluation score and competitor numbers are not published. Last reviewed 5 August 2026.
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