Category list

Contractual matters

Does the client's documentation include a draft contract? Are there items that are at variance with the conditions of contract under which you normally work?
Are there contractual points that call for detailed treatment in the bid?

Overseas contracts

There are additional points relevant to tenders for clients overseas:

If any part of the client documentation is in a language in which you are not fluent, have it translated reliably by someone who is and who understands the technical basis of the contract. Commercial or legal translation agencies may not have the means or procedures to ensure that a translation makes technical sense.
Are there instructions or recommendations about working jointly with a local firm or making a visit to the overseas client? In the latter case, does the client name an official or manager for you to contact?
Do not risk leaving it to local associates to inform the client that you have received the invitation to tender or are intending to submit a bid: confirm this yourself in writing.
Does the client require the bid to be in a language other than English, or to be submitted in the client's language as well as English?
The client may supplement the bid specification with statistics and other data related to the contract. From your knowledge of the client or the country, how reliable and current do the data appear? Will your work programme need to provide for additional surveys and research?
Are there issues of contract law, taxation , foreign exchange, industrial relations and so forth that will need to be defined?

Extension of submission date

In some circumstances, you may feel that the deadline set by the client allows an unreasonably short time to write a satisfactory bid, and you may think of asking for the submission date to be extended. Before making this move, you need to be certain that it really is not feasible to meet the deadline and confident that other bidders too are likely to ask for an extension. You will not want to weaken your competitive position by appearing ill prepared to meet the client's requirements, however demanding these may be.

Clients will generally put back the submission date only in the following situations:

when all or most of the bidders request an extension on grounds that the client can accept;
when the client organization has management problems or disagreements on policy that make it difficult to handle the submission process on the initial timetable;
when one firm that has a favoured relationship with the client needs more time to prepare its bid;
when the programme is disrupted by unforeseen political, social or other factors outside the client's control.

Chapter 8: Managing the Bid

Overview

As soon as you have decided to compete for a contract, you need to organize yourself to produce a bid that does justice to your abilities . If you work on your own and write straightforward bids that mostly take the form of a letter, the task of bid management may involve only keeping a clear head about the way you use your time, structure information and deal with business documents. Your chief concerns will be to make sure that:

your assumptions about the effort the work will require and the price that will make your bid competitive are correct;
the bid appears a presentable document;
it is submitted by the deadline.

When you have to coordinate material from other professionals as well as writing your own input and at the same time keeping fee- earning work going, or if the bid is likely to be a complex document, it becomes clear that bid preparation is a procedure needing to be managed as strategically as any other business activity. How you go about this procedure can be critical to success.

The key is to have it planned out well beforehand and to follow an approach that is systematic - leaving nothing to chance, cohesive - bringing the document together as an integrated effort, and deliberate - progressing in a confident and fully considered direction. Bid management on these lines enables you to make the best use of resources and improve quality and consistency while cutting preparation costs. In short, it brings higher productivity and greater success.