How to successfully apply for bids

Tenders or requests for a proposal have become an important sales channel in many areas of the business world. Although almost no company can pass on them, there still are a lot of problems to achieve a high rate of success. This is rather tragic, as more than 400 billion Euros worth of goods and services are sold through bid requests Germany-wide.
In addition, bids require a relatively small effort of those who want to submit an offer. In this article, we will discuss some fundamental points to help raise your success rate when applying for requests for proposal. Sometimes, government bids can vary from region to region.
The tips in this article mainly refer to construction requests for proposal in accordance with German law but are kept fairly general.

1. The Fundamentals of Public Procurements
2. A meticulous Application for bids
3. Filter for suitable Opportunities
4. Conclusion: Greater Success with bids
5. Keeping an Eye on Costs and Benefits

1. The Fundamentals of Public Procurements

We have compiled a short overview of bids for newcomers. In summary, let us say that bids are a bidding medium. For buyers, the advantage of a request for proposal is that it helps to collect all offers in a central place for easy comparisons. For the bidder, bids have the advantage of smaller requirements and a simplified application process. In Europe alone, there are thousands of platforms listing bids and Building Radar is bringing them all together. The use of bids constantly increases year by year, especially within the public domain where bids are prescribed by law for a construction value from 5.186.000 Euros within the “Government Procurement Agreement“ (GPA).
Interestingly enough, bids are rising in popularity even within the private sector. It is, therefore, important that your company is prepared for this new trend as best as possible since the rise of bids indicates a market that is getting more and more competitive as a result of transparency. If you are a specialized company in a highly competitive market, it could be a huge benefit for you if you found out about new bids before your competitors. In the end, the quality and timeliness of your application will decide who wins the request for proposal and you will have enough time to prepare an optimal application.

2. A meticulous Application for bids

There are various criteria that decide over who wins a request for proposal. They are, however, clearly communicated to help you to adjust your application accordingly. A key is to find out about the request for proposal as soon as possible. The sooner you know about it, the more time you have to prepare your ideal offer. Within the public sector, the lowest price is often the deciding criterion for whoever gets awarded the request for proposal. More preparation time is therefore very helpful for an optimum calculation of your offer and to find the perfect balance between price and service.
Often, especially within the private sector, there are other decisive factors as well. Still, it is a significant advantage to be able to have enough preparation time for your application.

3. Filter for suitable Opportunities

The key is to pick the bids that are best suited for your needs and prepare your application as soon as possible. There are countless construction projects worldwide and it would be a pity if missed out on any of them. As already mentioned, this work is currently not executed to its optimum. It is tedious and time-consuming as an average research manager needs 5.5 hours per day to look for bids. Entrust this work to Building Radar – especially in regard to the importance of finding the right bids – and save time and costs.

4. Conclusion: Greater Success with bids

The success of a request for proposal should be seen as a great chance. They are fair and transparent. Every construction company additionally has the chance to get to know about every construction project worldwide and check whether it would be worth it to apply. Illegal agreements are prevented from promoting fair competition. Only the quality of the applications decides. This means that every construction company now has a larger market to offer its services to. Smaller and young companies are protected from discrimination as well.
In conclusion, the momentum of the market is being promoted through the increased use of bids – a circumstance from which all parties can benefit.

5. Keeping an Eye on Costs and Benefits

Besides the optimization of your own offer, you should keep an eye on costs. Perhaps it makes sense to concentrate on only a few bids instead of applying for a wide variety.
Building Radar is your partner in search of the perfect bids for your company. Often it is less promising to focus on a lot of bids and lose sight of your core competencies. A wide variety of offers also means a high price point as every offer needs to be checked and thoroughly calculated.
It is therefore much better to concentrate on only a few bids that perfectly fit your company profile. This way, you will have enough time and manpower to adjust your services according to every offer. Bids call for a certain and precise service. Should your company be committed to a specialized service, it is important that you only apply for tenders that request exactly the product you offer. In contrast to construction projects, the issuer of a request for proposal exactly knows what services he is looking for. Offers for other bids to convince them of your product are not too promising.
Especially when it comes to public procurement, it is important to know that pricing reviews are not uncommon. In 2014, subsequent invoice cuts occurred for every third offer that was reviewed. Try to implement a transparent price policy.