Bid Consultants: To Use or Not To Use
The process of drafting or responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) can be extremely lengthy and tiring. Some may even call it counterproductive. Without the proper resources, knowledge or experience many businesses — small and large — can struggle to effectively bid on proposals. Due to the complicated nature of RFPs, many firms choose to outsource their RFP tasks to bid consultants. Hiring bid specialists can be an effective and efficient way to tackle the entire process for you. How to decide what’s best for your company? We put together a list of benefits, and potential concerns, your business should consider prior to selecting a bid consulting company.
The Benefits of Using a Consultant
There are many benefits of outsourcing the RFP or bidding process to a consulting firm. Some benefits are as follows:
- Cost of Employees. Reduce the internal work from your employees who would spend countless hours managing this process.
- Experience. Receive the expertise from a firm who has done this countless times before and knows how to manage the process effectively.
- Organization. Organization is very important during the RFP process and many times when doing this internally, companies can get lost trying to piece together bids and requests. Bid consultants specialize in the organization of this process and should give you updates every step along the way.
- Quality Assurance. Consulting firms should make sure every last detail is taken care of, that the bid is error-free and that nothing is overlooked.
- Flexibility. Consultants should work around your schedule and make sure to have everything ready when you need it.
While there are many benefits to outsourcing, make sure that you’re aware of the potential pitfalls.
Potential Concerns of Using a Consultant
Some consultants are better than others in regards to some of these concerns, so make sure you choose the right consultant. Be aware of the following potential concerns:
- Reliability. Do your due diligence before hiring a consultant. Make sure they’re a team you can trust to not only get the job done correctly and on time, but who will also keep your business records confidential.
- Cost. You need to determine for your own company whether it’s cost-effective to have internal staff manage the RFP and bidding process or if it’s better to pay a consultant and outsource it. Pay attention to their upfront fees and commission rates.
- Transparency. Some consultants can be difficult to work with and may not always be as transparent with the whole process as you may think. Make sure before hiring your consultant that they’re easy to talk to, available when you need them and transparent when you need answers.
With this in mind, The Bid Lab has built these tenants into its company culture from the beginning. It ensures that there’s a reliable source of experienced consultants to manage the bidding process for its customers, does a cost analysis for customers while simultaneously offering flexible pricing options and provides a free real-time reporting function for bid progress. In short, we work in tandem with our clients to deliver tangible results.
Overall, the bid process can be extremely complicated and difficult for firms to manage on their own. So, it makes sense for companies to outsource these tasks. However, if your company chooses to outsource, make sure to choose the right consultant by performing the proper due diligence beforehand.
