Bid Team Roles & Responsibilities

Creating a great team is the first piece of the puzzle. 

Successful bid writing and bid management brings together all the key stakeholders at each phase of the bid programme. Ensuring that the team delivers all their crucial elements effectively puts the business in the best place possible to win the project or service it is bidding for.

Build a winning bid team

From our experience, winning teams have clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each team member.

We outline below the headline key attributes of each team member along with a brief list of their responsibilities.

The team leader, responsible for driving for the win

 

Attributes

  • A leader and motivator

  • A winner, understands clients needs and buying behaviours

  • Technically savvy

  • Logical and methodical

  • Comfortable engaging with all levels, internal and external

 

Responsibilities

  • Responsible for the bid

  • Selection of bid team

  • Owns commercial strategy

  • Owns risk

  • Owns solution

  • Owns win themes

  • Chairs reviews

The centre of the team, facilitating compelling compliant submissions and presentations, on time

 

Attributes

  • A good project manager, proactive, plans, senses risks, foresees issues

  • Comfortable engaging with all levels, largely internal

  • Logical and methodical

  • An excellent writer and editor, able to push back and ensure quality and compliance

  • Outstanding attention to detail

 

Responsibilities

  • Mobilise the bid team

  • Project manage the bid and track progress

  • Motivate team / make it happen

  • Bid process and governance compliance

  • Facilitate reviews

  • Interface with bid production

  • Own CVs & Case Studies

  • Bid administration and meeting organisation

The executive promoter of the opportunity, sponsor of the account and ultimately accountable

 

Attributes

  • Senior executive

  • Understands the clients market, usually perceived as a thought leader in their sector

  • Holds sponsorship of the account

 

Responsibilities

  • Provide Executive sponsorship

  • Sponsors the bid / no-bid decision

  • Interface with senior client stakeholders

  • Support and sign off win strategy

  • Support commercial strategy

  • Identification of service resource

  • Ultimate accountability for the bid

Technical leader, likely to be responsible for delivery of the service once secured

 

Attributes

  • Technical experts in their field, confident to lead our solutions and responses

  • Leads the development and verification of our understanding of the clients specifications and requirements

  • Able to lead technical resources in the development of our solution and proposals

 

Responsibilities

  • Develop service delivery model

  • Identification of required delivery resource

  • Write / storyboard parts of bid

  • Support development of commercials

  • Contribute at all bid reviews

The commercial conscience of the team

 

Attributes

  • Commercially savvy and astute

  • Experienced in building financial models to optioneer and test pricing for bids

  • Has access to required data, rates, etc

  • Understands and can coach the team on contractual matters

  • Recognises what represents value for the firm and the client

 

Responsibilities

  • Develop commercial strategy

  • Build pricing models

  • Interface with legal support

  • Quantify commercial risks

  • Read responses to tender queries

  • Present pricing models

  • Contribute to all bid reviews

Team members, technical experts in their fields. Could be in the delivery team once the opportunity is secured

 

Attributes

  • Technical experts in their field, confident to put forward solutions and responses

  • Diligent enough to digest and understand clients specifications and requirements

  • Able to deliver their promised inputs on time

 

Responsibilities

  • Challenge and verify strategy

  • Contribute to solution development

  • Storyboard responses

  • Write content / develop inputs

The creative, shaping the submission with flair and attention to detail

 

Attributes

  • Expert in document delivery

  • Excellent attention to and eye for detail

  • Creative, able to bring a page to life

  • Realistic, can coach the team on timescales for delivery

 

Responsibilities

  • Brand champion

  • Admin support

  • Document concept design

  • Graphics development

  • Content formatting

  • Content co-ordination and printing

  • Uploading / Delivery

The executive gateway signatory, owner of governance and risk on behalf of the board

 

Attributes

  • Independent senior executive

  • Appropriate level of designated accountability, ie: empowered by the board to approve the bid for submission

  • Commercially savvy and astute

  • Usually holds budgets or P&L responsibility

 

Responsibilities

  • Approve bid / no-bid decision

  • Provide feedback on pricing

  • Sign-off commercial strategy

  • Sign-off the pricing and commercial terms to be submitted

  • Read and approve the Executive Summary

A peer review group, mixture of independent professionals

 

Attributes

  • Bring objective considered feedback, centered around client empathy

  • Methodical, with an understanding of compliance

  • Enthusiastic about the opportunity, driving the team for the win, looking to go the extra mile

 

Responsibilities

  • Briefed on the context of the opportunity

  • Briefed on strategy and win themes

  • Read storyboards and draft response before review meetings

  • Provide constructive feedback

  • Bring client empathy