I don’t know about you, but from a bidding perspective, it feels like things have been slowing down for a while:  first we had Purdah, while the Election process was underway, then a ‘holding back’ of ITT releases in expectation of the Procurement Act launch in November this year, and now a further hiatus as we learn that the new Act won’t be launched until end February 2025.

Here we consider three major implications of these combined delays – and how, as government Suppliers, you can mitigate these and get ready for when the floodgates finally do open (and they will!).

 

Implication #1: Your 2025 growth targets are shot to pieces. 

Companies that rely on winning government business will likely see a significant proportion of their 2025 pipeline dip. Bids pushed out to the right usually mean contract awards and subsequent revenue flows will also be right-shifted.  How do you fill the looming gap in your revenue targets?

Mitigations:

  1. Pivot your attention (and your resources) to the Private Sector (if that is a viable market for you) – but do it quickly – sales cycles are not quick, even there.
  2. Look at the Frameworks you are on – do any of them allow for Direct Award? If so, talk to your clients / prospects and see if their need for products / services can be filled that way. Never underestimate a government department’s lack of knowledge when it comes to frameworks, specially the pan-government CCS ones.  Help find them a different route to market.
  3. Are you the incumbent? It’s likely you will be extended if your contract is up for re-tender in the next 12-18 months. Take the opportunity – where possible – to negotiate for a longer extension than you may at first be offered. Offer favourable commercial terms. All government Commercial Teams are likely to be under pressure in the Spring.  Help to take one more thing off their plate. Which leads to…

 

Implication #2:  The floodgates will open in the Spring.

You may well be overwhelmed by the number of contract notices / ITTs that get released post Feb 24th 2025.     How do you avoid running around like a headless chicken trying to decide what to bid?  How do you compensate for a rubbish 2025 by winning as many tendered contracts as possible and thereby recognise an upside in 2026?  How do you prepare for success?

Mitigations:

  1. Review each department’s commercial pipeline and spend priorities. (hint – AI can help with targeted research). That tells you what is likely to be released.
  2. Understand the strength of any incumbents (hint – AI can also help analyse and summarise competitor strengths and weaknesses relative to contract opportunities). That informs an early qualification decision.
  3. Make some strategic decisions now about your ‘Must Wins’ – and start your Capture process in earnest. On what contracts will you bid as Prime, where will you subcontract (and to whom), who will you need to partner with? What are your knowledge / skill / insight gaps?  Fill them, and then qualify again.
  4. Think tactically – do you have the team, tools and resources to cope with this wave of opportunity when it comes? Take an objective look at your capacity and start to right-size the team. Do you need more bid writers, more solution architects, more cost modellers? Where are your weaknesses?
  5. Think about your Library – what state is your Bid Library in? Do you have all the collateral, including service descriptors, model answers, capture intel etc.  Get it sorted while you have the luxury of time. And above all, get it sorted in a targeted way – know what you are going to need relative to the opportunities you have decided you will be bidding.
  6. Manage expectations. You know the Procurement Act is delayed. Your CEO probably neither knows nor cares.  Be very clear now about what is happening in the market – and why you are going to be asking for budget – resources and / or tooling – in order to capitalise on the opportunities next Spring

 

 

Implication #3:  The world of bidding has changed – and will continue to change, with the emergence and adoption of Generative AI.  

Generative AI is going mainstream and nowhere more so than in the realm of bids and proposals.  The government has recognised it (see link here to the PPN released last Feb on GenAI in Procurement) and has explicitly approved its use. Early adopters of tools such as AutogenAI are starting to see significant returns on their investment in terms of increased capacity and improved win rates. This is true at the Enterprise, mid-tier and SME levels.

(Let’s be honest, this discipline is long overdue a technological break-through. For decades, bid writers have worked late nights and long weekends, in highly pressurised environments – where stress and anxiety have been par for the course.   Astute organisations are now harnessing the power of Generative AI to support those teams – leading to incr3eased retention, reduced churn, and a more technologically enabled and empowered working environment.)

The implication here, then, is that if you are not also adopting this technology and equipping your teams, it will be like sending your army into a 21st Century battle equipped with 20th Century weaponry.

Mitigations  

  1. Understand who is responsible for bringing AI tools into your organisation and tell them what you need – the bidding use case is not always obvious to your Tech team!  You need to educate and advise what you need – and be clear about the consequences if you don’t get it.
  2. Do your research – speak with your peers, look at online resources, attend webinars / conferences. Which platforms are recommended?  Which have the security / functionality / service wrap that you need? Which companies deeply understand the world of bidding?  Get your demos booked in now.
  3. Don’t buy general writing tools. Bid writing is an art and a science – you know that. Sure, there are lots of platforms out there that can help you write a losing bid more quickly – don’t buy those. Bids are binary. They are won (or lost) on the tiniest of margins. It’s not good enough to write merely a good or great bid.  You have to write the best bid. Platforms like AutogenAI have been designed by bid writers for bid writers – helping them optimise evaluation scores and increase competitive advantage.
  4. Move quickly. Spring is less than 6 months away. You wouldn’t want to be the only bidder using a calculator to populate their cost model when everyone else is using Excel.  Similarly, next Spring, your bid team don’t want to be trawling your Sharepoint for case studies, manually cutting word count and editing-in win themes – when they could have a tool that does that for them in seconds. Bids are hard enough – don’t start at a disadvantage.

 

At AutogenAI we help clients adopt, learn and embed GenAI tooling in their bid armory. We can have you up and running within a couple of weeks, giving you plenty of time to learn, adopt, deploy and optimise before those Opportunities land.

Interested in learning more? Get in touch today.