Our Director recently enjoyed a trip to the theatre to see, ‘Sorry Prime Minister’, and whilst the comical inability of the play’s central characters to navigate today’s changing world without an army of civil servants generated many laughs, it also reminded her of the tender bidding process. Without wanting to spoil the play for anyone going to see it, artificial intelligence in the changing world of procurement presents many similar challenges for today’s Bid Managers.
This week UC analysed a series of reports on the realities of using AI in the tender bidding process. Whilst the majority of articles were written by executives with AI tools to promote or indeed defend in several cases, the underlying content behind the headlines revealed some advantages to be had, including;
- AI can be useful for analysing tender requirements quickly
- AI can produce compliant first drafts swiftly
- AI can give you time back in the bidding process. What you then do with it is critical!
However, the bulk of content, dealt with the many disadvantages users had experienced, including;
- Generic AI produces generic responses that don’t win contracts
- AI accelerates poor processes, enabling you to pursue more of the wrong opportunities
- AI amplifies the weaknesses in your bidding system
- The use of AI has led to shorter response timelines in some sectors
- Learning from feedback is rarely worked into the system and used effectively
- Ultimately, AI enables you to fail faster if not tailored and used strategically
So, then what can be learnt from this?
The need to be selective is as important as ever
As a bid writing consultancy company, we work with organisations that only bid to retain existing contracts, ‘a courageous decision,’ Sir Humphry Appleby may say, through to those that bid for every contract published in their target area. The latter often resulting in an overstretched staff team producing poor-quality bids with little chance of success. This did not change with the introduction of AI. Bid teams that used the time AI gave them back to bid for more opportunities, on the whole, found themselves in exactly the same position. The sweet spot then must be somewhere in-between and highlights the importance of having an effective Bid/No Bid decision process.
Time For Reflection and Collaboration Is Critical
Whilst speed may drive efficiencies, it won’t necessarily achieve the desired results. At UC, we’ve understood for some time that winning tenders is about more than just the writing. The application of client intelligence, localised focus, and real-life learning are all essential for bidding success. Working these factors into your bid requires collaboration across teams and time to reflect on the whole bid, rather than simply responding to each question. This is why UC introduced its structured, collaborative three-draft process when working with clients and has seen much success as a result.
Developing A Winning Bid Offer
Even then, in today’s competitive environment, winning that all-important contract is still a challenge. A strategic, well-considered bid will always outperform a perfectly written bid; therefore, developing your ‘Bid Offer’ in response to each tender is a crucial task. Remarkably, however, this is one task that is often missed by bidding teams as they scramble to answer an increasing volume of questions within constantly constricting timescales.
Overall, the reports agreed that success in bidding won’t be achieved by those simply adopting AI for content generation. Rather, it will be achieved by those who build AI into a strategic bidding process.
So, if you’re considering adopting AI, have a chat with us first about developing a strategic bidding process that’s worth amplifying.