Contracts Advance: Bid Sign-Off & Continuous Process Improvement
Following the final review, only minimal changes to be the bid should be required prior to final sign off before submission. The final document should be sent to the person(s) identified in the Bid Strategy with responsibility for sign off and approval. Submission should occur at least a day before the deadline.
Submission should be confirmed with either an email of receipt or a screenshot of portal submission. This should be circulated to the bid team with a summary of actions which may include; presentation practice, people allocated to respond to clarification questions or bid debriefing.
Debrief & Scoring Review
After each bid, a debrief should be conducted. This enables a good practice to be identified and embedded, and conversely areas that didn’t work well and require improvement for the next bid. The debrief should include an assessment of the quality of the submission and extend it to the overall bid process. It is important to reflect on how the bid was managed and the strategic approach adopted given that these areas will have heavily influenced the quality of the submission.
Mobilisation
In many cases, the mobilisation or implementation of a contract is not included in the bid process. We recommend that meetings are held with the operational team post-submission to ensure they are aware of key dates and the contract deliverables. This should not be surprising or ‘news’ to them if you have taken the appropriate action of including them in discussions throughout bid production. Mobilisation will ensure planning, performance and maintain reputation – meaning the credibility of future bid submissions is not undermined.
Strategy & Summary
It is important to create feedback loops between business strategy and bid management/production. If feedback suggests that a customer does not value your product/service, then it is unlikely you will win future business with this customer without amending your strategy. Your strategy should be formally reviewed and updated frequently with monthly feeds based on a combination of pre-bid engagement and bid submission feedback, that allow for adjustment.