The human cost of bidding and tendering
02 May 2019
By Nyree McKenzie - Co-founder & CEO of Bidhive
Bidding and tendering is a
critical activity across many industries, with companies spending up to
2% of the total contract value on the bidding process.
It’s an ultra-competitive function that is critical to winning new work
and keeping existing contracts. But what is the real human cost?
Not since the industrial revolution has the world seen such exponential
spend on public
procurement. It has been largely driven by the world’s
ageing infrastructure, ageing population and stronger corporate
governance regimes that demand greater transparency and accountability
for expenses paid for by the public purse.
Bidding and tendering has now made its way into the private sector as a
means of driving innovation and competition. It has also become an
economic lever – winners can realise their business expansion goals
while the losers can potentially face
workforce downsizing or worse –
corporate demise.
It’s a high stakes but high reward function for companies that are lured
by opportunities within their reach by virtue of limited competition –
for only those companies with available resources, proven track record
and sheer mastery of the discipline need apply.
But what is the true cost of tendering? As a veteran of
bid management
over a 25 year period, here is my honest account of the personal costs
that are not captured in that 2%.
Cost of retention
Bid and Pursuit Manager roles
promise ‘dynamic careers of excitement, complexity and challenging
environments’. Bid Managers combine rare traits of creativity and a love
of structure; they thrive in networked roles under pressure to
deadlines, and are strong people managers with commercial acumen.
The reality isn’t as rosy. Over the course of one employment tenure,
eight Bid Managers came and went above me (average was less than 8
months). Burnout and frustration of being ‘on call’ 24/7 and
under-appreciated by demanding (or at times complacent) executives were
the main reasons for this constant revolving door.
The cost of recruitment and short-term onboarding was only a fraction of
the cost compared to the knowledge and IP that was forever being built
up and lost each time. Stress-triggered negative behaviours (shedding of
the polite alter ego) can and does put team dynamics at risk, with
detrimental effects on team cohesion, morale and absenteeism.
Cost of health
There’s no prize for coming second
in the bid and tender race. Bid Managers are essential for company
survival, and workforce security.
It’s highly appealing for people who thrive on the thrill of the chase,
or who feel compelled or obligated to be the corporate breadwinner….but
there is a tremendous amount of personal pressure to bring the trophy
home when people are depending on you.
In one major bid office I worked in, B12 injections, copious amounts of
caffeine and high sugar energy drinks were the only way to get the team
through the 7 day a week, 15 – 20 hour days (and many all-nighters) that
they pulled in the final weeks and days before the bid was submitted.
Over time, this kind of workload becomes unsustainable. Adrenal fatigue,
high cortisol levels, and physical and psychological breakdowns are now
being more openly discussed.
In our hey-day we took immense pride in being the adrenalin junkies high
on tender benders – we basked in our glory as the unsung heroes of
business development and saving companies from corporate implosion. As
we get older we now nurse the wounds scarred by being in constant flight
or fight mode.
Cost on families and friends
If the personal toil of burning
the midnight oil as a deadline approaches isn’t enough, add the
emotional guilt that bid managers constantly feel when they’re expected
to prioritise the bid and the looming deadline ahead of family and
friends.
Cancelled holidays, missed social events, latch key kids, weekend page
turns and reviews, and constant checking of emails just to keep up with
the
workflow, documents and instructions become the norm.
Bid Managers may be home in body, but often not there in mind or spirit
during peak bid activity, and it can truly drive a wedge between
professional and private life.
Work becomes an addiction more than engaging, and because manic,
multitasking activity becomes the normal, solace and sleep become the
preferred past-time.
Oh, the irony
By way of contrast, as Bid
Managers we’re tasked with differentiating our company’s offerings. Best
value for money, next-generation solutions are promised to be
implemented responsibly.
By this I mean compliance with codes of practice in safety management
systems; the upholding of anti-slavery laws; and a corporate environment
that embraces broader
workplace health and
wellbeing programs which are
resourced, monitored and evaluated.
While the company might value these codes from a company-wide
perspective, bid teams notoriously break nearly every workplace health
and safety practice while management look the other way. Non-negotiable
deadlines and team resourcing usually result in long days and nights,
pizza deliveries, and a sedentary life behind a computer screen.
So what is the real human cost of tendering? According to the World
Health Organisation, global failure to address worker health and
wellbeing costs 4-5% of a country’s GDP. Stress also has collateral
damage on marriages, co-workers, and the long list of health disorders
that comes with it.
In 2017 I made a conscious decision to step out of the day to day bid
management role to follow my dreams to make a real difference to our
profession. My goal: to automate the bid process to make it easier, less
stressful, and give people back time.
At Bidhive, we believe that the superhuman prowess
should be left to the
technology, not at the expense of humans. We’re building into our
system a health and wellbeing tracking and reporting function which will
be especially important for managing bid teams through peak stress
periods.
If we can’t change the system we can at least give people back their
lives and their sanity.
It’s ok to not be ok with how things are. We’d love to welcome you on
our journey to help make the change and create a different kind of
normal.
--ENDS--
Source: Bidhive - www.bidhive.com
Contact: Nyree McKenzie 0419 664 477
External Links: http://bidhive.com/
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