How many procurement portals are there which claim to take the chore our of tendering – e- procurement, the ‘must have’ accessory of three years ago has hardly improved things for those of us involved in tendering.
One thing is clear – largely because of the economic downturn, there’s many more of us tendering - that puts the strain on the procurers and its showing in one particular way … the quality of Feedback – it’s rubbish!
The theory is if one tender succeeds the others, perhaps 99 unfortunates, receive constructive feedback to help them improve.
Yeah Right!
The reality is of course very different!
Failed tenderers don’t get to meet with the procurers. At best formulaic feedback is delivered which is usually not worth a dime. Sometimes they honestly confess they haven’t got the time to give feed back …So tough bananas!
As suppliers we accept entirely that the tender process is riddled with rules designed to ensure equality of opportunity – but there should be a stronger focus on those who don’t succeed this time – we can’t possibly win all the tenders we go into so we need to know why our bid was unsuccessful –in a detailed and informative way. And we need to be able to present our views to the procurement specialists.
By the way - there is one killer question to ask if you ever do get an interview –‘ have you met the winning team prior to the tender?’ Research suggests the answer is almost always Yes!
