Evaluate and develop your organisation’s ability to bid
Overview
This standard is for you if you are involved in evaluating and developing your organisation's ability to bid. It is relevant to in-house bid managers, other related professionals, technical specialists, marketing, sales and business development teams and business owners.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- define your organisation's approach to bidding using the corporate strategy
- carry out a research and gather market intelligence to support your organisation's decision to bid
- analyse information on activities of potential customers and competitors
- evaluate your organisation's ability to bid and its probability of success by taking into account the available budget, skills and capacity to deliver both the bid and the contract
- collate your organisation's bidding strengths, differentiators, and any unique selling point(s)
- develop the appropriate relationships within your organisation to ensure that staff involved in the bidding have the required skills and support
- develop and implement an Opportunity Management System (OMS) to ensure that the appropriate bidding opportunities are identified
- prepare your organisation's bid library from the past bids, outcomes, case studies and other supporting materials and update it accordingly
- seek and develop the appropriate relationships with potential customers / funders
- ensure that key bid target groups and specific targets are in line with your organisation's business strategy and its attitude to risk management
- collate the appropriate processes and procedures
for bid development and review these regularly in line with changing best
practice(s).
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- the relevant legal, regulatory and ethical requirements that relate to bidding and its potential delivery
- the current best practice(s) and appropriate bodies of knowledge relevant to bidding
- your organisation's position in the market and how the corporate strategy fits into it
- the relevant procurement frameworks, including the EU procedures and purchasing thresholds and minimum buyer standards, policies and preferences
- the methods of research, gathering market intelligence and analysing information on activities of potential customers and competitors
- the relevant techniques for assessing your organisation's bidding strengths, differentiators, and any unique selling point(s)
- how to develop and implement an opportunity management system for your organisation in relation to bidding
- the links between the bidding process and your organisation, and the importance of these in identifying the opportunities to bid
- how to structure and develop your company's bid library and ensure that the information is kept up to date
- the factors that must be considered when evaluating your organisation's ability to bid
- how to source the appropriate skills and maintain their relevance to bidding activities
- how to ensure that processes and procedures for bid development are in place and remain fit for purpose.
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Scope Knowledge
Values
Behaviours
Skills
- Data collection and research
- Information management
- Planning
- Reporting
- Strategic thinking
Glossary
Best and Final Offer (BAFO): a customer request for a document that describes an organisation's final price. The customer will request this after the bid has been submitted to help select the final companies to negotiate with. (Source: APMP – Glossary of terms – amended)
Bid library: a repository of texts and resources which can be used in bids, usually stored and searched electronically.
Bid (tender or proposal): refers to the documents required to be submitted in response to a formal invitation to bid (ITB). These may include the prescribed bid response form/questionnaire, drawings, specifications, time lines, charts, price breakdowns, etc.
Commissioning: is a structured way of deciding how and on whom public money should be spent.
Expression of Interest (EOI): is used to identify potential suppliers interested in, and capable of, delivering the required goods or services. Potential suppliers are asked to provide information on their capability to do the work. It is usually the first stage of a multi-stage tender process.
Invitation to Tender (ITT) or Request for Proposal (RFP): is a formal invitation to make an offer for the supply of goods or services.
Opportunity Management System (OMS): is a system that provides information on sales leads or opportunities, along with other supporting information. Typically, these systems provide a visual interface that organises certain kinds of data like customer or potential customer identifiers, transaction status, past purchases and other relevant information that will help to assist sales teams. (Source: techopedia.com)
Pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ): is a questionnaire assessing the suitability of an organisation's commercial, technical and financial capability and provides a method of shortlisting interested parties meeting the required minimum qualification criteria.
Procurement: a system in which organisations seeking a product or service allow other companies or individuals to submit competing offers to win the right to provide the requested product or service or be on the framework to provide a product or service. The process may involve a number of stages including: expression of interest, pre-qualification questionnaire, invitation to tender, request for proposal and best and final offer.
Purchasing guidelines or procedures**: a set of steps that an organisation follows when making purchases of goods or services, which may also include contract value thresholds, triggering different levels of process detail.
Links To Other NOS
CFASAL005 Develop sales strategies and plans
CFAPSU013 Contract for major programmes and projects in procurement and supply
External Links
Official Journal of the European Union www.ojec.com