A fractional bid manager for government contractors.
A senior bid and proposal manager on your side every month, without a full-time hire. Every RFP gets a clear bid/no-bid call. Big tenders get priced properly.
Everyone has an opinion on whether to bid. Nobody owns the answer.
When bidding is part of the job rather than the whole job, the big questions fall between the cracks. Is this one worth it? What should we charge? What did last quarter’s bids teach us?
A fractional bid manager is the person who owns those questions: one consistent person who knows your business, your numbers and your pipeline, without the cost of a full-time senior hire.
A month with a fractional bid manager
An illustration of the rhythm. The details are invented.
- Week one. Three opportunities come in. A quick call on each: one pass, one bid, one bid with conditions. You are not left debating them over email.
- Week two. Your largest tender gets proper pricing support before anyone commits to a number.
- Week three. Included hours go to the bid you decided to chase.
- Week four. A monthly review of what is coming over the next ninety days, and what to do about it.
- Each quarter. A look back at what you bid and what happened, so the next quarter starts smarter.
Compared with the alternatives
Honest trade-offs.
A full-time hire
Senior bid expertise is a salary, benefits and a seat. It makes sense when you bid constantly. For many firms it is more than the volume warrants.
One-off help each time
Fine for a single bid. But nobody connects the dots between bids, and each new consultant starts from zero.
What stays with you
The decisions are yours.
You make every bid decision, and every price goes out under your name. The role is to make sure those decisions are made on purpose, with the numbers in front of you, and that the lessons from each bid are not lost.
What the engagement covers
Every month
- A bid/no-bid call on every opportunity you are considering
- Pricing support on your largest tenders
- A monthly review of the pipeline and what is coming
- Pursuit hours for hands-on bid work
Every quarter
- A win/loss review of what you bid and what happened
- A look at where bid effort is going and whether it is paying
- Adjustments to the opportunities you target
- A clearer view of what is worth keeping, changing or dropping
How it works
Intro call
A free Bid Health Check to see whether an ongoing arrangement makes sense.
Fixed fee
Scope, included hours and fee agreed up front. Six-month minimum.
Onboarding
We learn your business, pricing and pipeline.
Monthly rhythm
Decisions as opportunities arrive, a monthly review, a quarterly look back.
Is this the right fit?
Best for
Companies that bid regularly and have nobody dedicated to bid decisions, and that want the same person involved every time.
Not the right fit if
You bid a few times a year. A one-off Bid Economics Assessment on each live opportunity will cost less and do the job.
Questions
Why a six-month minimum?
The value comes from the pattern: knowing your pricing, your pipeline and what has worked. That takes a few cycles. Six months is enough to see it.
What are pursuit hours?
Time included in the engagement for hands-on work on a specific bid, such as proposal management or pricing work. The agreement sets how many are included and what happens beyond that.
How is it priced?
A fixed fee agreed up front, not hourly.
Is it exclusive?
We take one client per opportunity, so you never compete against us for the same bid.
Do you work in both Canada and the US?
Yes. Canadian clients are billed in CAD, US clients in USD.
Related
- Bid Economics Assessment: try the approach on one opportunity first.
- Proposal Writing & Management: hands-on support on a single response.
- Win/Loss Review: a one-off look back instead of an ongoing arrangement.
- All services
Want this on every bid, not just one?
Book a free Bid Health Check and we will tell you whether an ongoing arrangement makes sense.