The days after the announcement of preferred bidder can be an emotional time. If you have just won the contract, the elation created by the good news will have been replaced by the exhilaration of ramping up plans and resources for the project. On the other hand, if the news was bad, you and your team may still be smarting from the experience. An offer of a debrief on your bid may be the last thing on your mind.
After a competition for a public contract, all bidders are entitled to equal feedback on how their bid fared in evaluation. This gives all bidders – winner and losers – invaluable information for them to ‘up their game’. For the winning bidder, it will be the first opportunity to truly assess the bidder’s expectation of them and understand their perceived strengths. For those less fortunate, it will reveal what their bid said about them and reveal vital information about their standing relative to their competitors. Many authorities take their responsibility to provide a Debrief very seriously and quite rightly regard it part of their public duty.
Regrettably, it is sometimes the case that the Debrief is the point where you discover irregularities in the evaluation process or non-compliance with procurement law.
The Debrief is therefore doubly important and should not be left completely to people who have been involved in the preparation of the bid. This is no time to have your judgement clouded by emotion, whether it is elation, defensiveness or aggression. Stablebridge can represent you at debrief sessions, either in a lead role or as a ‘trusted advisor’.
> I would like a call-back from somebody at Stablebridge
> What level of private-sector experience sits behind Stablebridge’s success?