Ever since South Africa won the 2010 World Cup Soccer Bid, the country has grown extensively and a need for more skilled labour has shifted markets and created employment.

 

People often questioned me what does a bid manager do as most have never heard of it before. I then have to explain to them using an excellent example that when SA was bidding with other countries to win the World Cup Soccer Bid , a team of highly skilled individuals where put together to co-ordinate and manage the bid process from the initial bid kick-off phase to the final sign-off phase of that bid.

 

Bid Manager’s are NOT born overnight it takes years of experience and skill to be able to culminate that passion and desire of producing the best results only ending in the awarding of contracts.

 

Bid Management is a rare and specialised field as it is a combination of project management and having both a basic technical and practical financial skill set. Amongst the confusion with organisations I find that there is a huge mis-interpretation of a Bid Manager’s role from being one of Presales to a Contract Specialist and sadly this is not a bid manager’s functionality at all. We are by no means ‘Glorified Secretaries’ either. HR within companies needs to identify the level of the person required and clearly define the job description before going to the market to advertise. There are different levels of the function, one being a bid administrator who does the cosmetics of the proposal, “make pretty as they say”. Then you get a more of Junior Bid Specialist focusing on the co-ordination and assistance to the Bid Manager on complex offers and that can also function independently on small offers.

 

Last but not least the ultimate Bid Manager who is quick on his/her feet and whom is able to combine that rare talent into consolidating, compiling and identifying the best strategy, setting the specific deliverables in achieving the desired outcomes of a winning proposal. Identifying talent is critical and recruitment agencies need to understand the differences in skill level. A well groomed Bid Manager is someone who has at least a minimum of 4 years constructive work experience and a seasoned Bid Manager that has 5 years plus of bid experience is the best choice for the picking. A no nonsense person on the level of seniority is the right person for the job and can deal with executive management and make decisions in the best interest of both parties the customer and your organisation. It takes the right kind of person that can be assertive and tactful in setting the delivery dates and parameters in order to produce that winning bid.

Companies need to abide by a strict stringent Quality Assurance, Corporate Governance and Business Process that has to be adhered. The Art of bid management is having the right tools and framework and a dynamic team of diverse resources to pull that bid together.

 

This past two years the market has picked up tremendously having been approached myself by over  25 organizations is very overwhelming but however it is sad, as most companies’ don’t know what a bid manager does and for those that do can’t really afford to pay the market related salaries.

 

It is very disappointing when companies feel they can recruit junior staff to do a complex and integrated functionality and then suffer the consequences of employing the wrong set of skills and often don’t get to see the results they where expecting. Some companies in general don’t want to pay for skill and experience therefore it is very frustrating from that perspective. Often companies appoint junior administrators into bid management roles without any prior Bid Management experience , this is unethical as for bid managers that have years of experience are turned away because companies would rather employ cheap resources to do the role.

 

Bid management has become such a demand in the market yet the supply has been very little. When Call Centres hit SA by storm likewise Bid Management is the new buzz in industry making companies to re-look at sustainable growth and having a bid manager on board has become vital. Companies never saw the benefits until now of having someone to challenge the various aspects of the business. For most companies to welcome change is a good thing as they say “Change is as good as a Holiday”. For companies to succeed and develop in terms of benchmarking themselves with international companies, we need to apply the best practices in order to move forward and keep up with the times!!

 

Companies need to review and analyze the market in order to meet client’s expectations and requirements so that they keep up with the pace of new technology and demands as we are in competitive times. You need to ask yourself are in tuned with your customers and are you meeting your clients requests?? Once you know the answer you will reap the rewards.

 

If you don’t do it excellently, don’t do it at all. Because if it’s not excellent, it won’t be profitable or fun, and if you’re not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there?

Robert Townsend – Business Quotes and Proverbs