Across your bid · Stage 2
Every requirement extracted. Every unclear point asked in time.
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.
Requirements and clarifications are tracked the same way: as items in your own template, each tied to its source passage and graded against what you actually wrote.
Before / With SEQUESTO
Before
- Someone copies requirements from a PDF into a spreadsheet by hand. Row 214 is missed. Clarification questions are written the night before the deadline, and only to fix gaps. The compliance matrix says "compliant" because a paragraph mentions the topic.
With SEQUESTO
- James extracts every requirement into items from your template, row by row. Clarification items are collected during extraction and drafted early, with suggested clarification questions that point the buyer to your strengths. The coverage check grades each requirement against what you actually wrote.
EXTRACTION
How do you extract every requirement from a tender?
Ask James to extract them. James reads the tender documents and creates one structured item per requirement or question. Each item follows your team's own template, so a requirement looks the way your team wants it to look: the requirement text, a reference number, the source section, an owner, a status.
01
One item per requirement
Each requirement, question or clarification becomes its own item.
02
Built from your template
Items follow your template, not a fixed format.
03
Where does it say that?
Every item links back to the passage in the buyer's document. When someone asks "where does it say that?", the answer is one click away.
Linked to the exact source passage
SPREADSHEETS
Spreadsheets, extracted row by row
A 300-row supplier questionnaire is not a document to summarise. It is 300 answers you owe.
01
Every row of every tab
James reads every row of every tab in code, so nothing is skipped because a sheet was long.
02
Sorted before extracted
Before creating items, James sorts the rows: headings, instructions, examples and calculated cells are left out, each with a reason. Rows that are unclear come back for your review instead of being turned into questions by guesswork.
03
The buyer's structure kept
You can split a tab into sections, each landing in its own folder, so the structure of the buyer's file is kept in your bid.
CLARIFICATIONS
Clarification questions, drafted before the Q&A deadline
Most tenders give you one window to ask questions. Miss it and you price the risk instead.
01
Tracked like requirements
In SEQUESTO, clarifications are tracked like requirements, in your team's own format or one taken from the library.
02
Drafted in the tender's language
While James extracts requirements, he also extracts the points that need a question to the buyer: contradictions, missing quantities, vague service levels. James then drafts the question text in the tender's language, for your team to edit and send.
03
Questions that favour you
A clarification question does more than fill a gap. The buyer's answer goes to every bidder, so a well-chosen question can turn the buyer's attention to the area where you are the strongest. James knows your strengths from your past bids, certificates and references. He spots the vague points where a precise answer would favour a team like yours, and suggests the questions that bring them to the buyer's attention. For example, a service level that doesn't say how it's measured, when you have the best record on exactly that measure. You decide which ones to send.
COVERAGE
Your compliance matrix, kept honest by the coverage check
A compliance matrix is only useful if it is true.
01
Every requirement graded
Once your answers exist, James's coverage check grades every requirement against the deliverable itself: compliant, partially compliant, missing, not explicitly required, requires client clarification or requires internal confirmation.
Nothing to set up.
02
Complete only when covered
A mention is not an answer. James may not call a document complete while any requirement is partial, missing or awaiting a decision.
03
Statuses feed back
A status such as "requires client clarification" feeds straight back into your clarification list, and "requires internal confirmation" tells you which SME to chase. The check also catches leftover placeholders like "[TBD]".
WORKED EXAMPLE
Example: a 300-row French supplier questionnaire
A French industrial buyer sends a questionnaire fournisseur as an Excel workbook: four tabs, 300 rows, a column for "Exigence", a column for "Commentaire éditeur" and a compliance column. Tab two mixes section headings, instructions and real questions.
01
Read and sorted
James reads all 300 rows. Headings and instructions are left out with a reason. Each real question becomes an item in your "Question" template, in its own folder per tab. Six rows are unclear and come back for review.
02
Contradictions found
Three requirements contradict the DCE on delivery times, so James creates three clarification items and drafts the questions in French.
03
One strategic question
He also suggests one strategic question: the buyer asks for "full traceability" without saying at what level, and the company's references show it already tracks every batch. James suggests asking whether batch-level traceability is expected. If the buyer says yes, every bidder has to match a standard this company already meets.
04
Sent before the deadline
Your team sends the questions before the deadline, with a list that matches the buyer's numbering.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. James reads every row of every tab in code, so long sheets are not cut short. Headings, instructions and examples are left out with a reason, and unclear rows come back for your review. Each real requirement or question becomes a structured item rendered from your own template, linked back to its row.
Yes. Your team decides how requirements, questions, clarifications and risks are laid out, each with its own template and fields. James writes every extracted item in that template. SEQUESTO adapts to each team's own bid process: custom stages, fields, document types and workflows, without code.
Yes. James extracts clarifications alongside requirements: contradictions, missing figures, vague terms. James drafts each question in the tender's language for your team to edit. Your team decides what to ask and sends it.
Yes. Beyond contradictions and gaps, James spots the vague points where a precise answer would favour your team, based on your past bids, certificates and references. He suggests the questions that turn the buyer's attention to the areas where you are the strongest. You decide which ones to send.
Your way, or ours. SEQUESTO comes with a standard way of building it: from the extracted requirements and the coverage check, with every requirement checked against statuses such as compliant, partial, missing or needing clarification. If your team already builds its compliance matrix its own way, with its own columns, statuses and layout, SEQUESTO follows that instead. Either way, before a bid is marked complete, James checks every requirement against the finished document.
It is not counted as answered. A mention is not an answer. James may not call a document complete while any requirement is partial, missing or awaiting a decision. You get a list of the gaps, each tied to its requirement, so you know exactly what to fix.
Yes. James works in the tender's language. Clarification questions are drafted in that language too. When answers go back into the buyer's workbook, answer, question and compliance columns are recognised in 13 languages, including French, German, Dutch, Spanish and Polish.