Plan the bid
Overview
This standard is for you if you are involved in planning the bid. It focuses on the relevant actions and procedures involved prior to writing and submitting your 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:
- collate all relevant bid documentation and obtain confirmation of the 'bid no bid' decision
- conduct due diligence audit to adhere to the relevant standard(s) of care in relation to bidding activities and opportunities
- assign a bid manager and establish a team of professionals to work on the bid, allocate all relevant roles and responsibilities
- guide the bid team to build the most appropriate solution(s) in accordance with the customer's requirements
- evaluate the suitability of the bid against the criteria specified in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) and establish the percentage of likelihood of being successful
- propose a potential strategy, solutions and approaches to the bid in consultation with the bid team and key stakeholders to maximise success chances in line with the bid assessment/scoring criteria
- create a bid schedule, showing resources, key milestones, deadlines, review dates and deliverables
- confirm bid submission requirements, agree and develop the presentation format for the bid by using the relevant templates
- develop your organisation's strategic plan with bidding opportunities to define organisational direction and goals
- where appropriate, review the opportunity capture strategy/solution and re-assess the 'bid no bid' decision
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- all relevant legal, regulatory and ethical requirements relating to the bid
- the current best practice(s) relevant to bidding
- the appropriate process for collating all bid documentation
- how to obtain the information required to develop a bid plan
- the relevant principles of bid suitability evaluation against the criteria specified in the proposal
- how to interpret assessment/scoring criteria and evaluate the likelihood of success
- how to develop your organisation's strategic plan to amplify the service development potential
- how to select and apply the most appropriate format, design and writing style for a bid and document planning approaches
- the submission requirements, relevant actions and solutions in relation to bid opportunity capture strategy
- the methods of re-assessing the 'bid no bid' decision
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Scope Knowledge
Values
Behaviours
Skills
- Creative thinking
- Critical thinking
- Developing processes and procedures
- Evaluation
- Planning
- Team working
- Strategic thinking
Glossary
Assessment/scoring criteria: refer to the standards of judgement and ranking or to the priority used to assess offers and compare alternatives put forward by respondents to quotes and tender. Some examples of scoring criteria include: Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT), Best Value and Lowest Price Technically Acceptable.
Bid manager: the person responsible for leading the bid. This could be a dedicated full-time role or an additional role for an existing member of staff.
Bid team: a group or an individual responsible for developing the bid solution and deliverables.
Capture planning: is the process of identifying opportunities, assessing the environment, and implementation of winning strategies aimed at capturing a specific (usually larger scale) business opportunity.
Due Diligence (DD): is an audit of a business or a responsible person prior to signing a contract. DD also refers to the investigation a seller does of a buyer. The items that may be considered are whether the buyer has adequate resources to complete the purchase, as well as other elements that would affect the acquired entity or the seller after the sale has been completed.
Invitation to Tender (ITT):** is a procedure for generating competing offers from different bidders looking to obtain an award of business activity in works, supply, or service contracts.
Links To Other NOS
CFAM&LFA5 Manage projects
CFASAL012 Develop sales proposals and quotations