So, implementation of the UK Procurement Act (2023) has been delayed until 24th February 2025 – to allow time for a new National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) to be produced.   An NPPS sets out the Government’s strategic policy priorities for public procurement – it is therefore imperative that the new regime commences with a statutory NPPS aligned to its specific priorities.

 

We are now starting to see the impact of this delay on the Commissioning activities of Government Departments:   Procurements are being delayed, existing contracts being extended, and in some cases Commissioners are making use of the ‘Direct Award’ clauses in Frameworks.   All of this means that there will inevitably be much less ‘bidding activity’ than is usual at this time of year (and we all know Christmas is usually a Commercial team’s favourite time to issue an ITT!).

 

Here at AutogenAI, we have been putting some thought (some a little tongue in cheek) into what bid professionals might do during this unexpected ‘lull’.  We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

 

1. Go on holiday!

Given the storms here in the UK, a bit of winter sun might be just the tonic.   You’ll be ready to face the torrent of procurements that get released post 24th February

 

2. Enjoy Christmas (for once!).

This may never happen again. Your family may well ask who the stranger is at the Christmas Dinner table though….

 

3. Sort out your content library.

Seriously.  Take a long hard look at what you’ve got in there.  Get rid of anything obsolete, update anything that needs updating (CVs / organograms / accreditations etc), and identify where you have gaps (case studies, statistics, testimonials etc)

 

4. Tighten up your qualification process.

It is inevitable that the floodgates will open post 24th Feb and you will have some tricky decisions to make.  Agree now what your ‘must wins’ are – and start preparing for those. Know who, how and why you will qualify deals in or out.  This will save a lot of false starts and heartache next spring.

 

5. Equip your teams with the best proposal AI software in the market (hint: that’s AutogenAI).

This ‘downtime’ is the ideal opportunity to procure, embed and optimise your proposal teams’ use of AI.   Not only will you not get this chance again (when do bid teams ever have gaps!), you will gain the advantage next Spring of being able to bid more, at a higher quality than ever before.  The use of AI in proposals is inevitable.   Those who go early and go hard will gain competitive advantage over those that don’t.

 

To learn more about how AutogenAI can transform your bid and proposal writing process, contact us today.