4 benefits of data-driven bid work in the Go/No-Go phase of the bid process

Many bid teams have well-oiled bid processes. Even so, at Tendium we see there's a lot of time to save by working data-driven. One part of the process where a lot of unnecessary work can be cut is the Go/No-Go phase, when the team decides whether to move forward and write a tender or not. In this article we dive into how data-driven bid work creates efficient decision-making processes.

What is data-driven bid work?

Let's start from the beginning. What do we actually mean by data-driven bid work? It's about using data to make fact-based, proactive decisions.

But don't you always do that? A decision to submit a tender isn't something you consult a horoscope about. It's based on someone having looked at the procurement documents and requirements, and made a more or less thorough assessment. Isn't that fact-based already?

Of course. But the question is which data you have access to, and how easily accessible it is.

The clever thing about Tendium's services is that they're built on high-quality procurement data. Through AI analysis, qualification requirements and other relevant information are extracted from the procurement documents and presented in a clear, searchable way. This enables data-driven bid work. So, what are the benefits?

1. Faster identification of relevant procurements

An important part of the bid process is, of course, finding relevant procurements. Most public-sector suppliers have a monitoring profile that one or more colleagues follow, alerting them when something interesting appears. Good so far. But how much work does it take to determine which procurements are actually relevant?

In traditional monitoring services, the monitoring profile is set up with fairly broad searches. Some procurements might be quick to rule out, while others require you to download the documents and start reading and listing requirements. If you also supply in an industry with a high volume of published procurements, this process can quickly become very time-consuming.

With data-driven bid work you get more accurate monitoring profiles and more information to quickly make an assessment from. In Tendium's platform you can set up monitoring based on more parameters than in typical monitoring services, for example based on keywords mentioned within the procurement documents.

When you then assess whether a procurement is relevant or not, you have information from the procurement documents presented directly in the platform – we call this automatic summaries. If there are specific qualification requirements you always check for, you can set up keyword searches, so any passages where the word is mentioned are highlighted and presented in the platform.

2. A better foundation – better decisions

After an initial assessment of procurements, many bid teams hold an internal meeting where a more final Go/No-Go decision is made. At this meeting, the past week's interesting business opportunities might be reviewed, with scope, value, requirements and similar being presented. Either someone has spent time compiling and presenting all the relevant information, or meeting participants are told to look at the procurement documents themselves.

With data-driven bid work, decision-makers in these internal meetings get an easier, better foundation for making decisions. The automatic summaries give a clear overview of the potential business opportunities, meaning less time has to be spent manually compiling information. It's also easier for a colleague to step in if the person responsible falls ill or has too much on their plate, for example.

We hear from our customers that data-driven bid work means participants in decision meetings are better informed and can therefore make better-grounded decisions. And it saves valuable time.

3. Less wasted time on irrelevant business opportunities

A real time-waster in bid organisations is working on a procurement that, late in the process, turns out to be a poor business opportunity. Several people may have already spent significant time reviewing and compiling information, and starting to write a tender. That's why bid teams want to rule out irrelevant procurements as early as possible.

With data-driven bid work, the right information is easily accessible early in the process. It's quick to find key blockers and get an overview of the procurement. When better, more well-grounded decisions are made in the Go/No-Go phase, fewer irrelevant procurements slip through. That means less unnecessary time is wasted writing tenders that either never get submitted, or won't lead to a deal.

4. Learning and transparency within the organisation

As we've seen, there are many efficiency gains to be had in the bid process by working data-driven. But there are other benefits too. By working with procurements in the Tendium platform, important data is also created. When you find an interesting procurement, it's saved to what we call a bid area – a kind of shared noticeboard where you see every tender in progress. The tender then moves through a workflow until it's either rejected or a tender is submitted.

Through this workflow you can see at which stage of the process you most often decide not to move forward with a tender. Do you spend a long time on procurements that later turn out to be poor matches? If so, why did they slip through earlier assessments? This lets you learn and further streamline the Go/No-Go process.

With a shared overview of every procurement the team is working on, it's also easier for someone to step in if a colleague goes on holiday, for example, and easier for a team leader to keep control of several parallel processes.

To sum up: with data-driven bid work you use data to make fact-based, proactive decisions throughout the bid process. You get access to relevant information earlier and save time at every stage of the Go/No-Go phase. That lets you put more energy into what really matters – winning tenders.