Behind every Invitation to Tender is unspoken subtext.
This Presentation surfaces the factors that help design a Construction Contractor bidding strategy and identify the true value of the opportunities your company is faced with.
Naturally there are no-brainer elements that will impact your decision-making process such as your available resources, project size, conflicting commitments and so on
3. Introduction
• Behind every Invitation to Tender is unspoken subtext.
• This Presentation surfaces the factors that help design a Construction
Contractor bidding strategy and identify the true value of the
opportunities your company is faced with.
• Naturally there are no-brainer elements that will impact your decision-
making process such as your available resources, project size,
conflicting commitments and so on.
4. Who else is involved in the project?
• By unearthing exactly who else is part of this project and to what
extent, cross-referenced with a business’ knowledge of third-parties
involved, a bidding strategy has a third-dimension that can be
leveraged.
• Payment terms, economies of scale and bad reputations are just
some of the new considerations that will help decide whether the
project now has added risk or added reward.
5. Who are we competing with?
• . It’s time to consciously kick that habit.
Who are you up against?
How many times have you been head-to-head with them before and
what’s the been the previous outcomes?
Example: Just like the pre-match stats on the BBC Sport website;
visualize a dashboard of recent relevant history. Who’s currently on form,
what playing conditions are optimum for either side and what angles can
you take advantage of?
• The knowledge is in the organization somewhere; the trick is everyone
getting into the habit of sharing it.
6. What is our relationship with the client?
• The answer to this will help you decide whether you price yourself out
of the tender or go full steam ahead.
• Tenders by nature are designed to be as numeric and quantitative as
possible, but ultimately it is a human doing the scores. So take the
opportunity to capitalize on your personal relationships.
• Do you know why they might prefer you to other clients? Or even vice
versa?
• Finding out the details of the full relationship from your colleagues puts
you in a much better position and bring to light examples of
requirement creep, project mishaps or delayed payments will
massively help shape your decision, or set up prerequisites to your
bid.
7. What is their history with us?
• Similar to above, knowing the extent of history with the client will impact how
you approach your response to tender.
• This is where it pays to keep records of EVERYTHING (even the stuff that
doesn’t feel relevant at the time.)
• Bids won, bids lost, resource spent on winning bids, and losing bids, who
else has submitted a bid, any disputes once the project went live the list goes
on.
• By documenting and having quick access to historic meeting minutes and
actions, there are opportunities to understand how susceptible the client is to
things like embracing new technology and innovations or design and build
models.
• Intelligence surrounding how quick or slow the client is at decision making
will also determine what is proposed and how.
8. Who are the other influencers?
• Identifying all external and indirect influencers of a project is one of the
trickier tasks.
• Associate directors and non-executive staff may all have their opinions
on the subject, and your tender submission has to impress all of them.
• Knowing who is involved, and by how much is completely worth the
time and effort.
9. What do relationships with third-parties involve?
• A solid understanding of client relationships is essential, but
what about your business’ relationships across the supply
chain and with local authorities, architects, consultants and
planners etc.?
• Maintaining positive working relationships is helpful, but
being absolutely certain about affiliations is what is required
when the company’s future is being committed in the form of
a bid.
10. Do we have a competitive advantage? (can we
differentiate from the competition?)
• Before putting pen to paper, highlight the company’s strengths.
• That’s the organization's overall strengths as well as project specific
strengths and advantages.
• Cross-reference those with competitors’ in a project SWOT analysis .
• They are the factors that need to be labored in the bid. Can’t find any
niches? Ask how suited the organization is for this project.
11. What is the procurement process?
• Get the client to confirm the timescales of each round.
• Competitive costs are based on available resource, and not being
able to lock down those resources is a threat to their costs or the
project’s margins.
12. What do we need to invest in terms of bid costs?
• By keeping a detailed account of every tender submission, failed or
successful, eventually patterns and trends will form, if the information
is stored systematically.
• This information will decide how to approach and value future
opportunities.
13. Do we have a good chance of winning?
• A logical question with a simple answer, in theory.
• Answering all of the questions above should give the business a good
feeling about each potential opportunity.
• And if the questions are uncomfortable to answer, it’s likely that the
tender doesn’t fit.