Developing the Right Bid Process

Having a bid process may seem like yet another layer of bureaucracy and paperwork, but without it you face the risk of bids not being to a good enough quality, not being submitted, or potentially resulting in an undeliverable service if you win. A good process will mitigate these risks, ensuring that there is proper governance, risk management and quality management at every stage of a bid.

The first step in developing a process is understanding the needs and limitations of your organisation. For needs, are you going for one bid a year or five a month? If it is one a year, you can have a relatively time-consuming process that ensures you have the best chance of winning that one bid. If it is five a month, then you may need a streamlined process to ensure that it is not overly time-consuming. For limitations, the size of your organisation and who the decision-makers are will determine this. If you are a small organisation with one/few decision-makers, you will need a process that takes into account the time commitments of each individual, balancing this versus what will develop high-quality and winning bids. If you are a large organisation, you may have the luxury of being able to have a time-consuming process, even if you are going for multiple bids a month. Regardless of your needs and limitations, make sure your process works for you, rather than you working to the process.

Outlined below is a summary of a process I have implemented and worked to in multiple organisations, with small adjustments depending on needs and limitations.

• Personnel:

  • Bid Manager

  • Bid Writer

  • Bid Sponsor (Oversight and Governance)

  • One SME per key area required (e.g. Service Delivery, HR, IT, etc)

• Division of each bid timeline into four equal blocks of time

• Block one:

  • Bid strategy development - timescale confirmation, win themes, roles and responsibilities, pricing strategy

  • Bid kick-off - all involved personnel to meet and discuss the opportunity and bid strategy

  • Question planning

  • Information gathering - working with SMEs to get the right information, content and examples

• Block two:

  • First draft - ensuring the structure and key content is right, as well as identifying gaps in information

  • First review - ensuring the draft is meeting the specification and reflects what the organisation wants to say

  • First draft finances - ensuring the bid is affordable

  • End of first draft review meeting - checking the bid is on course, CQs have been asked (if required) and any risks are identified and mitigated

• Block three:

  • Second draft - all information gaps filled, win themes and USPs written in, experience/evidence/examples throughout the bid

  • Second review - ensuring that all of the above is in and that the bid reads well - consider a mock evaluation at this stage

  • Second draft finances - is it still affordable? If so, is the pricing competitive?

  • End of second draft review meeting - as per first draft review meeting

• Block four

  • Finance completion

  • Written content final changes - any finishing touches, examples, etc - as well as ensuring the finances are reflected in answers as required

  • Sign-off by key decision-makers

  • Submission.