Only in SEQUESTO · Ready for review
Never "done" until every requirement is covered.
Before a bid is marked complete, James checks every requirement against the finished document and grades it as compliant, partial, missing or needing clarification. A mention is not an answer, and James will not call a document complete while a gap is open.
A document is not finished when every section has text. It is finished when each requirement is answered, and James checks the file you will send.
COVERAGE
Why do requirements still slip through at the last minute?
Most bid tools tell you a document is done when every section has text in it. Then a reviewer finds the requirement on page 47 that was mentioned in passing but never answered, or a "[TBD]" that survived three rounds of edits.
01
Checked against requirements
SEQUESTO checks the deliverable against the requirements instead of against the outline. James, SEQUESTO's AI bid agent, reads the finished document and grades each requirement on its own.
02
Runs on the file you send
It runs on the file you will actually send, including the buyer's original file after it has been filled.
03
One note per requirement
James grades every requirement himself, with a one-sentence note on what the document says and, if it falls short, what is missing. There is nothing to set up.
Before / With SEQUESTO
Before
- "All sections drafted" means done
- A compliance matrix kept by hand in Excel
- A topic mentioned counts as answered
- Placeholders found by the buyer
- Open questions buried in comments
With SEQUESTO
- Done means every requirement is answered or genuinely not required
- A coverage ledger for the actual deliverable
- A mention is graded partial, not compliant
- "[TBD]" and draft notes caught before you submit
- Clarification and internal confirmation questions listed
GRADING
A mention is not an answer
The award criteria ask for "a description of your escalation process, including response times per priority level".
01
What the draft says
Your draft says: "We have a structured escalation process." That mentions the topic.
02
Mentioned, not answered
A mention of the topic does not answer the requirement.
03
Graded partially compliant
The coverage check grades it partially compliant, with a note: "Escalation process mentioned; no response times per priority level given." James may not tell you the document is complete while that row is open.
PLACEHOLDERS
Placeholders and draft notes, caught
Alongside the grading, the check scans the document for working notes that must never reach the buyer:
01
Placeholders
Text such as "[TBD]", "to be confirmed" or "to be completed later".
02
Working notes
Notes such as "open decisions", "working version" or "before final submission".
03
Draft file names
References to draft file names, such as "pricing_v3.xlsx" or "proposal-draft.docx".
04
Findings block completion
Each one found is listed with how many times it appears. Any finding blocks the "complete" call until it is dealt with.
An example: the filled Excel compliance matrix
A buyer's ITT includes a 120-row Excel compliance matrix and a Word technical response. James has extracted the requirements as items, your team and James have drafted the answers, and the answers have been written back into the buyer's Excel.
James runs the check
You ask James: "Is this ready?" James runs the coverage check on the filled workbook and the Word response. You get a ledger: a count per status, one row per requirement with its note, and a list of placeholders found.
A ledger per requirement
The rows marked "requires client clarification" are your shortlist for the next clarification round.
Clarification and confirmation
The rows marked "requires internal confirmation" go to the right SME.
When James can say complete
James can say it is complete when every row is compliant or not explicitly required.
PROCESS
How it works
01
Requirements come from the tender
James extracts each requirement from the tender pack as its own item, in your requirement template.
02
You finish the deliverable
In a SEQUESTO document or in the buyer's own file, filled in place.
03
James grades every requirement
James grades every requirement against the whole document. One status and one note each, plus the placeholder scan.
04
Gaps fixed, check runs again
Gaps are fixed, then the check runs again. Only when nothing is partial, missing, awaiting a decision or unreadable does James call the document complete.
Nothing is skipped quietly. A requirement James could not read is reported as not assessed, and the document is not called complete. A document too long to check in one pass is refused, not cut short.
Related features
Requirements & clarifications
James, SEQUESTO's AI bid agent, turns the buyer's requirements and questions into structured items built from your own templates. Unclear points become clarification questions you can send before the buyer's Q&A deadline.
Learn more →Fills any file the buyer sends
Declarations, supplier forms, data sheets: Word and PDF forms full of tables, checkboxes and boxes drawn on the page. James, SEQUESTO's AI bid agent, fills them in the buyer's own file, from your company's documents. Same file back, ready to send.
Learn more →Finalise & submit
The end of a bid is more than answers. James, SEQUESTO's AI bid agent, finalises the response, fills the buyer's own files, gathers the certificates and attachments the buyer asked for, and prepares the submission package, checked and ready to upload.
Learn more →Collaborate & review
Assign each question to the expert who knows the answer. Write, comment, review and sign off in the same shared documents, with James, SEQUESTO's AI bid agent, working alongside you.
Learn more →Frequently asked questions
Before a bid is marked complete, James checks every requirement against the finished document and grades it as compliant, partial, missing or needing clarification. Each requirement is graded compliant, partially compliant, missing, not explicitly required, requires client clarification or requires internal confirmation, with a short note on what is missing. There is nothing to set up.
Only when every requirement is compliant or not explicitly required, no requirement was left unread, and no placeholder or draft note remains. If anything is partial, missing or waiting for a decision from the buyer or your team, James tells you what is open instead of calling the document complete.
Because evaluators score answers, not mentions. If the requirement asks for response times per priority level and the document only says an escalation process exists, the requirement is graded partially compliant. The note says exactly what is missing, so the writer knows what to add.
Yes. The check runs on the deliverable itself, including the buyer's original file after SEQUESTO has filled it. You check what you will actually submit, not an earlier draft in another format.
Yes. It scans for placeholders and working notes such as "[TBD]", "to be confirmed", "working version" and "open decisions", and for references to draft file names like "proposal_v3.docx". Each finding is listed with a count and blocks the "complete" call until it is removed.
Requirements graded "requires client clarification" are the ones you cannot answer without the buyer. They form a ready shortlist for your next clarification round, or nota van inlichtingen. Requirements graded "requires internal confirmation" go to the colleague who owns the decision.
It does the job of one, on the real document. A compliance matrix kept by hand says what the team believes is covered. The coverage check reads the finished deliverable and grades each requirement against what it actually says.