The Winning Bid, 2nd Edition

11

A view from the other side

The buyer’s perspective

THIS CHAPTER COVERS:

•  A (very) brief history of tendering procurement

•  The process of procurement – how it happens today

•  What buyers would like to say to bidders

•  The feedback I give to buyers

It’s easy, as a bidder, to get paranoid about buyers – to feel that they’re ‘out to get you’, that they exist just to make your life miserable! Put any group of bid managers in a room together and ask them what their pet hates about bidding are and they will invariably focus their attention outwards – to the principal person on the other side of the fence: the buyer.

Of course, this is wholly unreasonable (and most bid managers would accept this, if pushed), but it’s an understandable ...