Blog 21 - Reflections on International Bids and Proposals Day
The blog this week is from Jeremy
Reflections on International Bids and Proposals Day: Representation, Engagement, and the Future of Our Profession
It was International Bids and Proposals Day on Monday. While this day may have originated as a marketing initiative by a competitor, it’s become a valuable moment for our community to pause, reflect, and look ahead.
Celebrating Our Community
First, a heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers and mentors who support others in the bids and proposals profession—especially those guiding people early in their careers. Your contributions are the backbone of our community.
What Should We Focus on Next?
1. Better Representation
We need more senior professionals engaging with government—particularly in the UK with the Department for Business and Trade, Cabinet Office, and Crown Commercial Service. Whether through professional bodies or direct engagement, our voices can help shape better outcomes for the bidding community.
2. Responding to Change: Compliance and AI
Tenders are growing in size and complexity, with compliance requirements ramping up. At the same time, AI is rapidly transforming our work—impacting everything from the skills we need to the roles available, especially at junior levels. We must advocate for our discipline, clearly communicate its value, and push for procurement processes that genuinely deliver value for clients and communities.
3. The Power of Events and Networking
Our Lunch & Learn in London, run in partnership with Altura, is wildly oversubscribed—over 100 sign-ups for just 40 seats! We’re having to find more space. This among other recent events, shows a real appetite for in-person events, especially in major hubs like London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds. I’m considering reviving more regular engagement events, like the breakfast sessions we ran pre-pandemic, with senior and client-side speakers. Let us know what you think?
4. Honest Conversations About AI
There’s a disconnect in how AI is discussed—some platforms pitch it as a helpful tool, while also selling it as a way to reduce headcount. We need a more consistent, honest narrative for our senior stakeholders about what AI means for our profession, and how it can help us add value in new ways.
5. Driving Equality
The latest Bid Solutions salary survey still shows a gender pay gap. We must continue to champion equality, diversity, and inclusion in our field. Diversity of thought is a superpower in bidding for a start.
6. The Importance of Sponsorship
Sponsorship—having board-level support for work-winning functions—is a game-changer for business growth. We should look for ways to educate, engage, and even reverse-mentor our leaders to help them understand the value of bidding and how to get the best from it.
Looking Ahead
If, over the next year, we can achieve better representation (especially in public sector procurement), more meaningful engagement and networking, honest conversations about AI, greater equality, and stronger sponsorship, our community will thrive.
Let’s keep shining a light on the value we create, and continue building a better environment for ourselves and those who follow.
Here’s to a successful year ahead.
Other Resources
We’re on a mission to help companies like yours win more work.
Here are some other free resources that should help you too. Feel also free to share them with friends and colleagues:
Bid Writing Training - Learn to write winning tenders here.
Writing Crown Commercial Services Bids - Learn to tackle the challenges of writing CCS tenders here.
The Bid Toolkit - We make winning simple.
Free Bidding Basics Video Set - Learn the Bid Basics — One Quick Tip at a Time.
Our free work winning Podcast, the Red Review, can be found here.
You can also follow Jeremy on LinkedIn for hints, tips and insights here.
100% Typo Guarantee—Our blog posts are free-range. It was hand-crafted with love and sent out unfiltered. There was no review queue, no editorial process, no post-post revisions. Therefore, I can pretty much guarantee that there is some sort of typo or grammatical error or literary snafu. Got a business to run and a four year old to Dad. Sorry.