What if, just for one day, I called the shots in the world of bidding?
Imagine it. I wake up tomorrow not as the one chasing bid text at the eleventh hour but as…the buyer. Suddenly, I hold the budget, the power, and – best of all – the right to set the rules. Naturally, I’d do a much better job than those procurement pros we all complain about.
My First Executive Orders
The first rule? Retire the mindset of “Just get the bidders to give us an immediate answer.” Unless someone has invented a time machine, no team can deliver useful responses at that pace.
Second? Realistic deadlines. No more 10-day turnarounds for 500-page proposals, expecting bidders to solve world hunger, reinvent supply chains, and still undercut competitors who appear to run on free labour.
Next? Evaluation criteria often feel like riddles. If I were in charge:
“Innovation” would mean genuine innovation – not a new logo colour – and it would be weighted highly
Past performance would entirely outweigh flowery language
Pricing models would be clear enough to grasp without employing a maths professor
The way to score points (and the differences between each point score) would be easy to comprehend and evaluate
I’d also enforce the “One Question, One Answer” rule. No more 17-part sub questions hidden inside a single sentence.
Feedback That Works
Vague feedback is pointless. Instead of “Your submission lacked innovation,” I’d offer something useful, such as “Your solution was strong, but Section 4.2 needed more implementation detail and a timeline.”
I would demand that feedback to bidders was always clear, constructive, and actionable.
The Buyer’s Reality
Here’s the catch. As appealing as this fantasy is, it only works from the outside looking in. Buyers rarely have the freedom to design the perfect process. Instead, they juggle:
Stakeholders who constantly change requirements
Budgets tighter than a jar lid you can’t open
Regulatory demands piling up like paperwork mountains
Departments all pushing their own priorities
A dreaded request for “one more change” is rarely mischief. More often, it’s finance cutting costs, compliance updating rules, or a stakeholder pushing last-minute needs. Buyers aren’t (usually) villains – they’re professionals managing endless compromises. (A bit like a bid manager?)
The Lessons I Would Draw
The real competitive edge in bidding is about empathy. When you understand the buyer’s world, you can craft solutions that ease their headaches, strengthen their business case and balance innovation with proven delivery.
The best bid professionals don’t just submit proposals; they make life really easy for decision makers. Imagining myself as Decision Maker for a Day is fun but the smarter move is to think like one every day.
That’s how bids are truly won!
Andy Haigh
Andy is an expert in bidding and tendering, specialising in competitive formal bids into EU Public Sector organisations. He is an authority on EU procurement legislation and can bring all these capabilities together to initiate and drive major complex bids through to a successful completion.
