12 Ideas for Using AI to Power Bid/No Bid Decisions During Capture
Introduction
As bid and proposal professionals, we navigate the high-stakes world of bid/no bid decisions, knowing that these choices can lead us to valuable contracts or misallocate hard-earned bid and proposal (B&P) funds. Therefore, making quick and accurate decisions is critical. Fortunately, artificial intelligence (AI) offers us a powerful tool to expedite and enhance the bid/no bid decisions process. This blog explores how generative AI can play a pivotal role in supporting reliable bid/no bid decisions.
Use Generative AI to Help Make Bid/No Bid Decisions
Table 1 outlines the factors that companies typically assess when making bid/no bid decisions and illustrates how AI tools can generate outputs that bolster decision-making. To harness the full potential of AI, it’s essential to provide detailed, accurate, and timely information while also verifying the quality of the AI-generated output. Then, consider the AI output as an additional resource to strengthen your bid/no bid decisions.
Table 1: 12 Ideas for Using AI to Support Bid/No Bid Decisions with Confidence
| No. | Factor | How AI Can Assist in the Bid/No Bid Decision |
| 1 | Alignment with Strategic Goals | Use AI to collect information for assessing if the opportunity aligns with your company’s long-term strategic objectives, market positioning, and growth targets. |
| 2 | Client and relationship | Use AI to collect information about the customer’s financial objectives, challenges, and history of working with your organization. |
| 3 | Client evaluation criteria | Use AI to understand and analyze the customer’s evaluation criteria to determine how well your company meets these criteria. |
| 4 | Competition | Collect and ingest information about competitors and use AI to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of competitors and your company’s comparative advantage. |
| 5 | Contract terms and conditions | Use AI to identify the contract terms, conditions, and potential liabilities or onerous clauses that may affect your organization. |
| 6 | Cost to bid and profitability | Use AI to provide guidance and suggestions based on historical data and industry knowledge. However, AI cannot provide specific cost or profitability estimates without access to detailed project- or bid-specific information. |
| 7 | Innovation and value proposition | Use AI to evaluate your organization’s ability to offer value that exceeds customer requirements or unique solutions to the project that could set you apart from competitors. |
| 8 | Legal | Use AI to identify legal and regulatory requirements associated with the opportunity, including licenses, permits, and certifications, in addition to your ability to meet them. |
| 9 | Past performance | Use AI to gather and format your company’s past performance on similar projects or contracts and how it may influence the client’s decision. |
| 10 | Resource availability | Use AI to identify if your company has the key personnel and resources to meet customer requirements. |
| 11 | Risk assessment | Use AI to identify and evaluate the potential risks associated with the opportunity, including technical challenges, legal and compliance issues, market volatility, and potential financial risks. |
| 12 | Scope and requirements | Examine the project’s scope and technical requirements as well as the client’s expectations to determine if your organization possesses the necessary expertise and capabilities using the information you provide about your abilities and past performance. |
Summary
When harnessed effectively, AI enhances confidence in decision-making processes, offering bid and proposal professionals an invaluable resource for making informed choices that can ultimately lead to securing contracts and optimizing B&P funds. Consider using AI as another tool to bolster your competitive edge and navigate bid/no bid decisions faster and more precisely.
By Brenda Crist, Vice President at Lohfeld Consulting Group, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow
Lohfeld Consulting Group has proven results specializing in helping companies create winning captures and proposals. As the premier capture and proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Writing, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training. In the last 3 years, we’ve supported over 550 proposals winning more than $170B for our clients—including the Top 10 government contractors. Lohfeld Consulting Group is your “go-to” capture and proposal source! Start winning by contacting us at www.lohfeldconsulting.com and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
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