“The only way to win a tender is by missing something” and other furphies.

I am no stranger to the estimating and tendering world; having spent numerous years of my life scouring tender documents for a living. Over this time, I have come across several supposed “winning strategies” in the pre-contract’s division of civil contractors, these include:

• “The only way to win a tender is to miss something”

• “All tenders are a just a shooting match, the lowest price wins”

• “It’s a race to the bottom”

• “Let’s just throw in a number for this one to keep the client happy”.

I’m happy to debunk these furphies. Your overall tendering and business development strategy is what helps you win, followed by your price. So, before deciding to work on a tender, set a meeting with your team, and ask these questions:

• What is our competitive advantage and how will we win this tender?

• How do we differ from our competitors’ price wise? Do we have an advantage?

• Does this client know who we are and what we do?

  -     If so, what engagement activities have we had with this client?

  -     If not, how can we get in front of the client?

• Does this client and their upcoming work align with our strategic business goals?

If you answer the above questions positively, then move onto the following questions:

• What problems or issues is the client experiencing?

• How can we mitigate these issues and or turn them into an opportunity? How can we add value?

• Who are our competitors? What do they do well?

If you decide to tender, and you have invested the time in understanding their key drivers and getting to know your potential client, then it’s time to focus on what the clients wants.

Compliance first, solution second, evidence third.

In other words, give your client respect by firstly answering their questions, then contextualise your solution to their needs by detailing how you will add value, enhance, and improve their project and goals. Finally, walk your talk. Provide evidence that demonstrates your tried and tested solution or detail your experienced personnel, you can also provide case studies, facts and figures, and references from reliable referees.

But most importantly, throughout the tender phase, you need to be constantly asking yourself and your team:

• What is it about our methodology that’s innovative? What can we do better?

• What solutions across the project have we identified?

• Can our program be more streamlined? Can we actually deliver ahead of schedule?

• What cost efficiencies have we identified?

• How about innovative work practices?

• Is our solution non-conforming? Should we submit an alternative solution?

…What you can gather here, is that winning isn’t all about the tender and price, it’s about your overall strategy to tendering.

Written by Jared Candler, Principal Civil Engineer