Bid to win: Aligning your proposed solution to the right agenda
Large Government tenders. Those who rely on them for their business know how much of a serious undertaking they can be. Our MD Rodd is an old hand at tendering, and has been part of teams pursuing Government (and corporate) contracts around the world. Defense, aviation, construction, communications you name it!
We asked Rodd what his top five tips were for winning major Government and corporate tenders were. Here’s what he had to say…
Pick the battles you can win!
All too often many large organisations jump into tenders before really having a long hard look at their likelihood of success
- Does the tender you are about to undertake fit squarely into your own business strategy?
- Do you know who the decision makers are? Do you they have a favorable opinion of your company?
- Are the Government’s objectives and issues with the project clearly known?
- Do you have the right resources not only meet the requirements, but to nail the submission process?
If you answered ‘No’ to any of these questions, then you should strongly reconsider your position
Work hard to get the right solution and value proposition
Two absolutely vital ingredients for a winning bid. Its kind of obvious, but get either of these factors wrong in a bidding situation and you’re toast. You can have the most tapped in, aligned lobbying effort in the history of bidding, but if it is the wrong price (value proposition), or the wrong proposed solution, its only a pipe dream – and an expensive one at that.
Compliance v Responsiveness
Many bid managers and proposal writers focus, quite rightly too, on complying with the tender’s requirements. Formulating compliance checklists, and a response matrix will help you get your bid document ‘must haves’. Attention to detail is vital here.
But there is another level of responsiveness over and above compliance, where professional communicators use their gift to weave a worded response which addresses the Government’s unspoken needs and political ‘hot buttons’. Which leads us onto…
Understand the ‘unspoken’ agenda
When a tender becomes one of national significance, that is, the decision making bodies involve those of a Ministerial level or above, then it is more than likely to have an unspoken ‘political’ agenda. Understand and responding to this is the key to winning bids. I’ve seen bids favored by the bureaucracy as the best technical solution, only for the political decision makers to circumvent that advice to meet a set of ‘national interest’ factors
Appoint specialist bid team resources
All too often, bid teams are stretched to the breaking point as the submission deadline looms. Lack of the right ‘hands on deck’ when the pressure is on, and insufficient resourcing around certain functions can be the death of a bid. Bluegrass can help you build a specialist bidding team; from high end political advisory, through to full blooded “hands on deck” bid proposal teams, we can build the team to help you win! Why not fire us a line…
