19 Jun How do you set, share and follow a Bid Programme?
If you can set, share and follow a well structure Bid Programme when completing a Tender Response, you will avoid last minute scrabbles for input, fast tracked reviews and potential issues with things being missed. With the tender process often being weeks long, the Team can often struggle to see the priority of getting information together, creating plans, first drafts and content when there is ‘loads of time’.
Every tender you enter into should be seen as a ‘must-win’, if it isn’t getting commitment and buy in from the Team into your Programme will be difficult. To win bids you need well-thought out, planned and comprehensive responses to the Client requirements, capturing your win themes, client intelligence and offering. This can only be achieved if a Bid Programme is set up to incorporate all these elements and provide time for discussion, input, writing and review.
When completing a Tender everyone will keep emphasising the end date. For obvious reasons it is important, but the last thing you want to do is to leave it to the last minute. This is where a Bid Programme comes in, it is another tool in the planning of completing a winning bid.
Set it
The most important part of a Bid Programme is setting it up in the first place. We have set out below the standard tasks we usually include in our Bid Programme, which you can the assign timescales to depending on how long you have to work on the submission.
- Registration on Relevant Portal and Download Documents
- Key Stakeholders Read to make Bid-No-Bid decision
- Invite other Parties to Read Documents ahead of a Kick Off
- Kick Off Call/Meeting – agree responsibility, key messages, themes etc
- Agree Timeline and Requirements
- First run and Gap Analysis of documents – library content and new content
- Content/Answer Planning
- Information Request to specific contributors
- First Draft Writing
- Review First Draft
- Second Draft Amendments
- Red Team Review
- Final Amends
- Sign off and submit
Sharing it
Make people responsible and take ownership of the tasks they have been set by sharing the programme and progress against it. This can be via a Job Management System, Team Emails, Progress Update Calls, Bid Review Meetings or Shared File Systems (or a combination of these).
Stick to it
‘The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry’. Robert Burns
Sticking to the programme is now key. If you know that someone else is effected by the deadline you have so they can complete the next stage this will normally keep you on track. In the same way if you are waiting on someone else don’t be afraid to chase them. Holding regular quick review updates is also a good way to ensure that you stick to the dates.
