Smarter Bidding ProgrammeSelecting and implementing a modern bid & pipeline platform, live by end of September
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Requirements & Process Design

Bid lifecycle, pipeline stages and non-negotiables

Process design comes before tooling. If we can't describe the bid lifecycle in one page, no platform will fix it. This section is the ground-truth reference for the vendor evaluation and the configuration backlog.

The bid lifecycle

Eight stages, one shared language

Every country works the same stages. Country-specific nuance sits in fields, not in a fork of the process.

Stage 1

Identify

Opportunity captured with client, source, deadline and estimated value

Stage 2

Qualify

Go/no-go with scored criteria: fit, competitiveness, capacity, margin

Stage 3

Solution

Bid team assembled, kickoff, win themes, solution shaped

Stage 4

Propose

Content assembled from library, sections owned and drafted

Stage 5

Review

Colour reviews (pink/red/gold) at gated checkpoints, price sign-off

Stage 6

Submit

Final QA, submission logged, client acknowledgement captured

Stage 7

Outcome

Win/loss recorded, feedback captured, revenue booked to ERP

Stage 8

Post-mortem

Structured lessons-learned added to the knowledge base within 2 weeks

Data model

Sources · Platform · Outputs

Sources today

  • Excel bid workbooks
  • Shared drives
  • SharePoint folders
  • Email threads
  • Local country trackers
  • Ad-hoc PowerPoints

The platform

  • Opportunity
  • Bid team & roles
  • Client / prospect
  • Reviewer & sign-off
  • Bid content asset
  • Reference case
  • Pricing model
  • Submission record
  • Outcome & win/loss
  • Post-mortem note

Outputs

  • Live pipeline dashboard
  • Weighted forecast
  • Win-rate by country / segment
  • Bid velocity metrics
  • Content library reuse
  • Executive one-page report

Non-negotiables

Eight rules the design must hold to

  • Every bid lives in the platform, not in Excel
  • Standard stages and fields across all 14 countries
  • Role-based views: bid manager, contributor, reviewer, exec sponsor
  • Colour-review workflow with gated approvals
  • Content library with reuse tracking
  • Weighted forecast at country and group level
  • Win/loss captured for every bid, no exceptions
  • Audit trail on every field change

Country-level flex

Where local variation is allowed

Local currency & taxLanguage of commsLocal approval thresholdsPublic-sector portal fieldsLocal partner disclosuresCountry-specific templates

Local flex is configured, not forked. Every country uses the same underlying object model.