Chapter 17: Presenting CVs

Overview

Clients normally require bidders to identify the people they propose to assign to the work, and to supply information that will allow a person's competencies to be assessed against his or her intended responsibilities. The managers evaluating the bid want to judge how closely the qualifications and experience of the individual match the competencies they regard as essential to the success of the work. When they read CVs, they are looking for evidence not just that the person possesses these competencies, but that they have been applied successfully in comparable assignments to achieve benefits for clients. They may ask for this information to be provided in the form of a full CV or as a r sum summarizing an individual's professional experience. In some contexts - for example, where the contract involves a large contingent of teams and units - you may not be asked to include individual CVs or you may be required to identify only core personnel; in other contexts, the tender may have to include a CV for each person engaged in the work. Whatever the scale of the contract, whether it is just you that is named or a team of people, the information given in a CV and the way it is presented can determine the fate of a bid.

It may be tempting for firms to include the same names and staff inputs at the same time in bids for different clients in the hope that at least one bid will turn out successful. Clients are well aware of the practice of 'double-booking'. As part of a strategy to counter the risk of selecting a bid on the basis of resources that are committed elsewhere, they may require CVs to be accompanied by a statement from the bidders promising that the persons nominated as team members will be available on time to fulfil the inputs shown against their names in the work programme. They may also require individuals to provide commitment letters to this effect and to sign and date their CVs, certifying that the content is correct.

Putting alternative CVs in a bid is not recommended. In scoring CVs as part of the bid evaluation, clients will usually take account only of the weaker alternative.