The Bid or No Bid Meeting

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Installment [ 3 ] The Bid or No Bid Meeting By Richard White

The bid/no bid decision should be made before or immediately at the time the RFP released. As part of the decision process, management should convene a meeting of sales, contract management, and proposal writing personnel and address the following questions:

Is there an incumbent contractor?

What is the scope of work?

Do we have a customer-specific solution?

Do we need subcontractors?

If we need subcontractors, have they been identified and signed teaming agreements?

Are subcontractor agreements exclusive?

Are the subcontractors capable of producing the required work? Can they contribute to the proposal writing process?

Who do we know at the procuring agency, and how do they fit into the decision making process?

How does each decision maker view us?

Does each decision maker prefer us or someone else?

Do we know who the evaluators are and have we sold each evaluator?

Is there funding for the procurement?

Why will they select us?

Who is the competition?

What are the win themes?

What differentiates us from the competition?

Can we bid a competitive price?

Do we have the time and resources to write a winning proposal?

What other proposals are being written and how will they impact this decision?

Should other bid decisions be changed?

Collectively, the answers to these questions should clearly indicate whether you should bid or not. Be brutal; writing losing proposals is deadly. Not having answers to some of the critical questions is an indicator for a no-bid decision.