To Bid or Not To Bid

Bidding on all projects is a colossal waste of your time and resources. Some will say, "You don't win what you don't bid." However, anyone with proposal development experience will tell you that it can be a costly process to produce a winning bid. You should be selective and choose projects you can win instead of squandering your time and money on lost causes. 

So what should owners / executive management, together with their business development, operations, and project management team leads, consider in a Bid No Bid meeting?

Typically, the group or you (if you wear all hats in a small business) should consider the following questions:

• Does this project's scope of work fit the core competency of your company?
• Do you have the resources and capacity (schedule, personnel, capital, equipment, knowledge) to effectively execute this job?
• Can you showcase to the client any previous work?
• Can you mitigate, eliminate or deal with the risks associated with taking on this project?
• What does the competitive landscape look like?
• Is there an incumbent you are trying to unseat?
• Do you need to partner or subcontract any of the work and can you find someone in time?

• Is this a good client to work with? Do they have the money, will, and reputation?
• Do you have a key relationship or a track record with this client that will help you win this project?
• If you win this project, what % of the revenue will it represent for your company?
• Can you make enough margin to make the project worthwhile?

Feel confident going forward with the cost of putting together a bid after considering these questions?
Then, it's a Bid decision! 

​Now you need to determine the reason(s) why you are clearly the best choice for the client to award the project. Onto win theme development....