A love letter to tender management

Tania Field, Principal Tender Specialist (Sydney)

When I’m in the middle of a challenging bid process and there’s work to be crunched and the pressure is palpable, I usually think “Argggggghhhhhh” and some other evil thoughts. I often have moments where I reflect on how tough the job is physically and mentally based on numerous factors such as value, strategic importance, internal jobs at stake. I feel pushed, stretched, and have brain strain, and am tired. I often imagine myself sipping a beverage (or doing absolutely nothing) once the bid is lodged. A simple fantasy! But despite all that, I really do love tender management.

So, what’s to love about tenders?

There’s a bunch of reasons why I keep stepping up to the plate and taking a swing at more tenders. And, why I think you should seek out a career in tender management, tender coordination, or tender writing and/or why you should jump at the chance or seek out opportunities to be part of a tender team. Here are the reasons I love working on bids and tenders.

1. People

An opportunity to meet lots of different people at one time or over a series of tenders and years. I have worked in small and large bid teams. In one, we submitted the EOI as a two-person show. Boy did we laugh about the most stupid things. On my most recent bid we communicated with more than 150 people and shared an office with 60. That’s a lot of new colleagues to potentially like and get along with.

2. Learning

Whatever the role you take in a bid you will invariably learn from it. You learn about the client/project requirements (some very technical aspects too), the bid process (systems and tools), your role (and your own professional development), the organisation or joint venture/consortium (the strategy, value proposition). It’s one big learning experience. One of the best pieces of advice I received years ago from a manager was: while you can learn from great leaders, there’s potentially a richer experience in observing and learning from other people’s mistakes.

3. Teamwork

Tenders are fabulous opportunities to ‘go on tour’ together over a course of weeks or months to compete as a team working toward a common goal. I fondly remember one of my most formative tendering experiences working on an unsolicited proposal that went for over two years. The team at different points went from 12 people up to 60, and at the time I felt like we were solving a giant Rubik’s Cube. It was such hard work but extremely rewarding and I knew the work we were doing was much bigger than us.

4. Opportunity

Bids require input from across a range of disciplines and it opens your mind to new people, information and experience. You just don’t know what opportunities will be presented to you. I was invited back into a tender team once they were awarded the job, to support the team to project manage the implementation. They were essentially establishing new services and updating methods and services to include all of the promises made in their tender response. It was so wonderful to see the tender come to life and understand what winning the business meant to this team.

5. Growth

Bids can be very challenging experiences which push us beyond limits. Any experience I’ve had that required me to perform ie an exam, provided an opportunity to learn something new about the subject matter or myself. I remember the first time I facilitated a strategy session, and I ended up crouching awkwardly writing notes in the remaining white space on the whiteboard, all within the first 40 minutes – funny but true. I don’t write in such big font anymore (haha).

6. Transferable skills

We come into tenders with lots of transferable skills such as leadership, coaching, project management, writing and build even more skills such as strategy development, critical thinking, resilience, problem solving, responsiveness. I know people that come from different backgrounds and professions such as science, administration, legal, commercial, construction, and this makes for a very interesting team dynamic and learning experience.

7. Inside scoop

It’s an extraordinary privilege to be involved in and understand what it takes to build the next commercial tower, rail infrastructure, or deliver the next generation apprenticeship program. In some cases we are tendering on projects that will change the face of society and help to shape us, and as tender writers we are the first to hear about it. Talk about a scoop! I once supported NSW’s first online design excellence competition in relation to an unsolicited proposal, all from my bedroom during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney. And we had involvement from lots of parties from across seven different countries. Yes, these types of tenders take extraordinary commitment. However, I probably would never have had that opportunity if I’d chosen a different path. Cool is an understatement.

Next time you get the chance to participate in a tender then I suggest you go for it – it will most likely challenge you as you learn new skills and solve problems – however, the benefits are extraordinary if you can embrace the opportunity that lies before you.

Tender Plus is a tender consultancy based in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Find out more about what we do here.