Most bids are lost before they are written
The decision to pursue a tender matters more than the quality of the writing. A five-question test helps you make it well.
Most bids are lost before anyone writes a word. They are lost at the moment a firm decides to pursue a tender it was never well placed to win.
Firms tend to look for the cause of a loss in the submission itself. The writing was thin, the formatting was off, the price was high. Sometimes that is true. More often the problem sits upstream. The firm could not show the experience the grid asked for, or it chased work that suited a competitor better, or it entered a contest decided on price when its strength was quality. Better writing does not fix any of those.
The evaluation is fixed before you start
A public tender tells you, in advance, how it will be judged. That is the most useful fact in public procurement, and the most often ignored.
Federal guidance on CanadaBuys is explicit. Bids are evaluated against mandatory criteria, point-rated criteria, or both, and the minimum and maximum points for each criterion are set out in the tender notice. Mandatory criteria are assessed on a pass or fail basis, and a bid that fails any one of them is considered non-responsive. The buyer’s own guidance also notes that mandatory criteria cannot be waived once the solicitation has closed.
In British Columbia, the Province describes the same principle: submissions are evaluated against the criteria set out in the solicitation documents. Some scored processes, such as a Request for Qualifications, require a minimum score.
So the outcome of a bid is shaped, in large part, by the fit between your firm and the criteria. You can read those criteria on the day the opportunity is posted. That is when the real decision should be made.
The cost of saying yes too often
Every pursuit draws on the same small group of people: the ones who know the work, hold the credentials, and can write about it with authority. When a firm says yes to every tender that looks roughly relevant, those people spread thin. The strong pursuits get less attention than they deserve, and the weak ones still lose.
A disciplined no-bid decision is a way of protecting the bids you should win. It also gives your team a clear reason for the work they do take on.
A five-question test for any tender
We put every opportunity through the same five questions before any writing starts. They are simple to ask and uncomfortable to answer honestly.
1. Can we meet every mandatory requirement, as written, today?
Read the mandatory requirements line by line: licences, certifications, insurance, named personnel, years of experience, site visits, and any security requirement. On federal work with security requirements, buyers ask offerors to submit a completed Application for Registration form with their offer, and the Contract Security Program confirms whether offerors meet the requirements before award. If the answer to any mandatory is “almost” or “we could arrange it”, treat it as a no until you can prove otherwise.
2. Can we clear the minimum score with evidence we already hold?
Rated criteria reward demonstrated experience. Look at what each criterion asks you to show, then list the projects, references, and people you would actually cite. If you would have to stretch a marginal project to fit, or name someone who is not available, the minimum threshold is at risk.
3. Do we understand the buyer’s problem better than the notice does?
The firms that score well have usually understood the buyer’s situation before the tender was posted. They have delivered similar work, studied the buyer’s earlier contracts, or sat through a debrief. If everything you know about this buyer comes from the notice itself, you are starting behind.
4. Can we win on the stated basis of selection?
Federal tenders may be awarded to the lowest-priced compliant bid, to the best overall value on a combined score, or to the highest technical score within a stated budget. Each favours a different kind of firm. If the award goes to the lowest compliant price and your model is built on senior expertise, ask whether you can compete without discounting the work into a loss.
5. Can we deliver it well without harming the work we already have?
Winning a contract you cannot staff is worse than losing it. Check who would deliver, when, and what they would stop doing. Check cash flow too: know how long you can carry the costs of delivery before the first payment arrives.
How to use the test
Answer the five questions in writing, and keep the answers with the opportunity file. A failed mandatory ends the pursuit. A weak answer on any of the other four needs a stated reason to proceed, and someone senior should own that reason.
Revisit the decision when the buyer issues new information. A change to the scope, the schedule, or the criteria can turn a no into a yes, or the reverse.
If a criterion is unclear, ask. CanadaBuys advises suppliers to put questions about point rating to the contracting officer by the deadline for questions, and the Province of British Columbia notes that suppliers can ask questions about a posted solicitation before it closes. A question asked early costs nothing. An assumption that turns out wrong can cost the bid.
A disciplined no-bid decision is a way of protecting the bids you should win.
What a no-bid decision buys you
Over time, recorded decisions become a pattern. You start to see which buyers, contract types, and selection methods suit your firm, and which do not. That pattern is worth more than any single win, because it tells you where to spend the next pursuit.
Losses feed the same record. CanadaBuys explains that unsuccessful suppliers can request a debriefing, which covers the name of the successful supplier, the contract value, and an outline of the reasons the debriefed supplier was not successful. Ask for one every time, and add what you learn to the file.
The firms that win public work consistently are rarely the ones that bid on everything. They are the ones that decide early, decide honestly, and then put their full effort behind the few pursuits that fit.
Sources
- “How bids are evaluated and selected”, CanadaBuys, Government of Canada. https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en/getting-started/preparing-sell-government/how-bids-evaluated-and-selected
- “Specifying evaluation criteria”, Buyer’s Guide, CanadaBuys, Government of Canada. https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en/buyer-s-portal/buyer-s-guide/plan/method-selection/specifying-evaluation-criteria
- “Conduct a technical evaluation”, Buyer’s Guide, CanadaBuys, Government of Canada. https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en/buyer-s-portal/buyer-s-guide/receive-and-evaluate/offer-evaluation/conduct-technical-evaluation
- “Security in solicitations of offers”, Buyer’s Guide, CanadaBuys, Government of Canada. https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en/buyer-s-portal/buyer-s-guide/plan/contract-security-and-privacy-requirements/security-solicitations-offers
- “Following up on a bid”, CanadaBuys, Government of Canada. https://canadabuys.canada.ca/en/getting-started/preparing-sell-government/how-bid-tender-opportunities/following-bid
- “Government procurement processes”, Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/bc-procurement-resources/sell-to-government/government-procurement-processes
