The "how you will do it" answer
How to Write a Method Statement That Scores
A method statement is the tender answer that explains how you will actually deliver the contract - your approach, resources, timeline, and how you manage risk and quality. To score, it must answer the specific question asked, mirror the marking scheme, be concrete and evidenced rather than generic, and stay inside the word limit. It is scored on credibility, not eloquence.
Published by BidSquirrel · checked against legislation.gov.uk and gov.uk · last reviewed July 2026
Almost every scored quality question in a public tender is, underneath, a method statement: "tell us how you will deliver this". It is where bids are genuinely won and lost, because it is where a buyer decides whether you actually know how to do the job or are simply asserting that you do. And it is the answer most small firms get wrong in the same way - describing their company and their values, when the evaluator is hunting for a concrete, deliverable method.
This guide explains what a method statement is, what separates one that scores from one that does not, and how to structure and evidence it so a time-pressured evaluator can award you the marks. It sits alongside our guide on writing a winning quality response, which covers the wider craft of scored answers.
What a method statement actually is
A method statement is a written answer that sets out how you will deliver a specific requirement - the approach you will take, the resources and people you will deploy, the sequence and timeline, and how you will manage the risks, quality and safety along the way. In construction and works tenders it often pairs with a risk assessment (the "RAMS" - risk assessment and method statement); in services tenders it is the "service delivery" or "approach and methodology" answer. The label varies; the job is the same: prove you know how to do this, on this contract, credibly.
Crucially, it is scored against the specific question, not marked as an essay about your firm. Evaluators award marks for a method that is concrete, deliverable and evidenced - one they could hand to your team and watch you execute. A method statement that reads as marketing copy, or that could have been written for any contract, scores as generic and lands in the middle of the scale at best.
Why generic method statements score badly
"We pride ourselves on quality and take a partnership approach to delivery" is the opening of a thousand losing method statements, and it earns nothing. Evaluators are trained - and, since the Procurement Act 2023, expected - to score against the published assessment methodology, which rewards substance over sentiment. A method statement fails when it describes what you value rather than what you will do, when it could be pasted into any bid, or when it skips the awkward, specific parts of the requirement in favour of the comfortable general ones.
The mental test is simple: could the buyer take your method statement, hand it to your delivery team, and see exactly what happens on day one, week one and month one? If yes, it is a method. If it reads as a description of your character, it is not - and the marks reflect that.
How to structure one that scores
Build the answer around the question and the marking scheme, not a generic template. The reliable structure runs: your approach to this requirement, the resources and named roles delivering it, the sequence and timeline, how you manage risk and quality, and how you evidence each of those with real delivery. Keep it specific to this contract's scope, buyer and constraints throughout.
- Answer the question asked, in its structure - if the question lists points (a) to (d), address (a) to (d) in order and label them, so the evaluator can find every mark
- Be concrete: name the roles and their qualifications, state the sequence and durations, specify the tools, methods and checks you will actually use
- Evidence it: point to a comparable contract where you delivered this way, with a value and a measurable outcome, so the method reads as proven rather than proposed
- Address risk honestly: name the real risks on this type of work and your specific mitigations, not a generic "we manage risk carefully"
- Mirror the buyer's language and priorities: if the specification stresses continuity, minimal disruption or social value, show your method delivering exactly those
- Respect the word or page limit: front-load the substance, because content past the limit is usually not read and a strong point buried at the end scores nothing
Evidence, quality and the final read
The jump from an acceptable method statement to a strong one is almost always specificity and evidence, not better adjectives. Where a middling answer says "experienced team", a strong one names the people, their tickets and a contract they delivered together; where a middling answer says "robust processes", a strong one shows the process step, the check, and the record it produces. Tie the method to your real delivery at every turn - it is your own evidence, not generic prose, that a panel cannot dismiss.
Before you submit, read the method statement as a hostile evaluator against the published scale: at each claim, ask "where is the proof, and would I believe this?" Where you cannot point to the evidence, neither can the panel. This is precisely the discipline BidSquirrel applies with you - drafting each answer from your own evidence against what the criterion rewards, scoring its own draft the way a panel would, and stripping the generic prose a panel marks down. The facts and the final words stay yours; what we add is the rigour that turns "how we work" into a method that scores. Our guide on writing a winning quality response covers the wider quality-answer craft.
Take this to a live tender
Reading is the groundwork. When you are ready to act on it, BidSquirrel scores live tenders from major GB sources against your business, tells you which are worth bidding, and drafts the response with you - free to start, no card.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a method statement and a risk assessment?
A method statement sets out how you will deliver the work - approach, resources, sequence, quality and safety management. A risk assessment identifies the hazards and your controls for them. In construction and works tenders they are often combined as "RAMS" (risk assessment and method statement), but a method statement is the broader "how will you do it" answer, of which risk management is one part.
How long should a method statement be?
As long as the word or page limit allows, used well - most tenders cap it, and content beyond the limit is usually not read. Fill the allowance with substance specific to this contract rather than padding: a concrete, evidenced method inside the limit outscores a longer, more generic one every time.
How do I make a method statement specific rather than generic?
Tie every part of it to this contract and prove it. Name the actual roles and their qualifications, state the real sequence and durations, specify the methods and checks you will use, and point to a comparable delivered contract as evidence. The test is whether the buyer could hand your method to your team and watch it happen - if not, it is still too generic.
Turn "how we work" into a method that scores
BidSquirrel drafts each method statement with you from your own delivery evidence, against what the criterion actually rewards - then scores its own draft like a panel would and strips the generic prose a panel marks down. The facts and the final words stay yours.