Terms of service
Plain English, because a bid-writing service that hides behind small print is not worth hiring. These terms apply to all work by Deadline Bid Desk, the trading name of Ruben Mocke, sole proprietor, South Africa.
Last updated: 16 September 2026.
1. How a job starts
You email me a tender. I reply with a scope and a fixed price. The contract exists when you email back approving that named product at that price. There is no verbal agreement, because there are no calls.
2. Fixed price
Every job is quoted at a fixed price in writing before work starts. The price does not change because the work turned out to be harder than expected. It changes only if you change the scope — a different tender, a lot you did not mention, extra scored questions — and then only by a new price I quote and you approve in writing before I continue.
I do not charge success fees, commission, or any percentage of the contract value if you win. Many public buyers prohibit contingent fees, and in any case I will not price that way.
3. What is delivered
- Compliance Pack (GBP 450 / USD 595): compliance matrix for one named tender, annotated response outline, three win themes, and one fully drafted answer to the highest-weighted question. Delivered within 12 hours of your written go-ahead, and invoiced on delivery — you receive it before you pay.
- Full Tender Response (GBP 1,450 / USD 1,950, or GBP 1,295 paid in full): every scored quality and method-statement answer written to the published evaluation criteria and word limits, plus compliance matrix and executive summary, formatted in the buyer's templates. 50% deposit to start, balance on delivery. Delivered 48 hours before your submission deadline.
- South African products: eTenders bid response R8,500, funding business plan R7,500, CIDB grading application pack R2,500. Exact price fixed in writing before work starts. 50% deposit by card, balance on delivery.
Deliverables are editable document files, normally Microsoft Word or the buyer's own template. Anything not listed in the scope I sent you is not included.
4. Deadlines
Delivery times run from your written go-ahead, and for the Full Tender Response from the point at which you have supplied the company information listed in section 6. If that information arrives late, the delivery date moves by the same amount and I will tell you in writing when it does.
If I miss an agreed delivery date for a reason on my side, you owe nothing for that job and any deposit is refunded in full.
5. Revisions
- Full Tender Response: one revision round is included. Send your comments consolidated in a single email within five days of delivery. I return the revised draft within 12 hours of receiving them.
- Compliance Pack: no revision round is included. If something in it is factually wrong on my side, I correct it at no charge.
- A revision means changing, cutting and rewriting what was delivered. Answering questions that were not in the original scope, or rewriting to a tender the buyer has since reissued, is new work at a new fixed price.
6. You supply the facts
I write; you are the source of every fact about your business. You must supply, in writing, the case studies, named staff and their qualifications, accreditations and registration numbers, policies and pricing that the tender asks for.
You confirm that what you send me is true and that you are entitled to use it in a bid. I will not invent experience, certifications, references, staff or figures, and I will not write a claim I have been told is untrue. If I believe an answer would mislead the buyer, I will say so and decline to write it in that form.
You are responsible for reading the final document before you submit it. Once you submit it, the statements in it are yours.
7. No guarantee of winning
I do not guarantee, promise or predict that you will win a contract, be shortlisted, pass a functionality threshold, or receive funding. Award decisions are made by the buyer or funder on grounds including price, past performance, competition and factors nobody outside the evaluation panel can see. Nothing on this site is a representation about your chance of success.
8. How the work is produced
I use whatever tools do the job well. Everything is read and edited before it reaches you, and I am accountable for what is delivered. If a tender requires you to declare how your response was prepared, tell me and I will give you a plain written statement so you can answer accurately.
9. Payment
- Compliance Pack: invoiced on delivery, payable within 24 hours.
- Full Tender Response: 50% deposit before work starts, balance invoiced on delivery, payable within 24 hours.
- South African products: 50% deposit by card, balance on delivery.
- Prices are in the currency quoted. Bank charges and currency conversion costs are yours. I do not hold your card or bank details.
10. Refunds and cancellation
- If I decline the job after you have paid a deposit — because the timescale is too short, the tender is outside what I can do well, or for any other reason — the deposit is refunded in full.
- If you cancel before I start drafting, the deposit is refunded in full. If you cancel after drafting has started, I keep the deposit and send you whatever has been written so far.
- If the buyer cancels or postpones the tender after drafting has started, the deposit stands and the drafted material is yours; if the tender is reissued within three months I will update the response to the reissued documents at no extra charge.
- A lost bid is not a ground for a refund. See section 7.
11. Ownership and confidentiality
When the invoice for a job is paid in full, the documents I wrote for that job are yours to use, edit and submit. Before payment I retain them.
I keep your commercial information confidential: I do not name you as a client, quote your documents, or reuse your case studies, pricing or method statements for anyone else. Generic craft — the way I structure a compliance matrix or an answer — remains mine to reuse.
I may work for more than one bidder on the same tender only if every affected client has agreed to it in writing beforehand. If you would rather I did not, say so and I will decline the other job.
12. Data handling
I hold only what I need to do the job and to keep proper records: your emails, the tender documents, the company information you send me and the drafts. Details of storage, retention and your rights are in the privacy notice.
13. Limits
I am a bid writer. I do not give legal, tax, accounting, financial or regulatory advice, and nothing I deliver is such advice. My total liability for any job is limited to the amount you paid me for that job. I am not liable for lost contracts, lost profits or consequential loss.
I am not liable for a missed submission deadline where the delivery date in section 4 was met — uploading to the portal, and doing it on time, is yours.
14. Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction. This does not remove any rights you have as a business under the law of your own country that cannot be contracted out of.
15. Changes
I may update these terms. The version that applies to your job is the one published on the day you gave written go-ahead. Changes are not retrospective.
Contact
Questions about these terms: ruben@deadlinebiddesk.com.