How do you win competitive dialogues?
By Jeremy Brim, Managing Director, Growth Ignition
To win competitive dialogue and important tender presentations, bid teams need to engage the buyer early, run each dialogue round with clear roles and clean notes, and put the people who will actually deliver in the room.
Under the Procurement Act 2023, buyers can design their own competitive flexible procedures, so no two processes are the same. Winning in the Room is a half-day Growth Ignition course that trains teams to do all three.
Why the room matters more than ever
The written bid is getting easier. The room is getting harder.
- AI is helping every bidder produce polished, compliant written answers
- When every submission reads well, the paper stage separates bidders less
- So buyers are asking for more face time - pre-bid meetings, dialogue sessions, workshops and post-tender interviews
Two changes are speeding this up:
- The Procurement Act 2023 replaced competitive dialogue as a named procedure with the competitive flexible procedure, which lets buyers build in dialogue, negotiation, presentations and demonstrations
- Government guidance (PPN 017) lets buyers ask whether you used AI to write your tender, and suggests extra checks that you can genuinely deliver what you wrote
The result is simple. Buyers have more freedom to test your team, and more reason to do it.
Who is this course for?
- Bid and capture managers running pursuits with dialogue, interview or presentation stages
- Delivery leads and technical experts who'll be in the room with the buyer
- Directors and business development leads who own client relationships
- Any supplier bidding for UK public sector work under the Procurement Act 2023
What does the course cover?
The course runs in three blocks, and your team works on a real pursuit throughout.
Block 1 - Competitive dialogue
- How dialogue works under the Procurement Act 2023 and the competitive flexible procedure
- What buyers want from each stage, from outline solutions to final tender
- How mature UK public sector buyers really are at running dialogue - and how to help a wobbly process without taking it over
- Building your dialogue team, protecting your commercial position and running a proper between-rounds loop
Block 2 - Client engagement
- Using preliminary market engagement well
- Mapping deciders, influencers and evaluators
- Adding value before the notice drops, within the rules
- Handing insight over from relationship leads to the bid team
Block 3 - Presentations and interview
- Picking a delivery team, not a sales team
- Making sure the room matches the bid
- Structuring a presentation around the buyer's problem
- Rehearsing properly and handling tough questions live
What will your team be able to do afterwards?
- Read any dialogue-style procedure and know what the buyer wants from each stage
- Spot a struggling buyer process early and respond with confidence
- Run and influcnce disciplined dialogue sessions with clean notes and clear actions
- Plan early engagement that builds real insight
- Pick, prepare and rehearse a presentation team that can back up every word of the bid
How does the course run?
- Length: half a day
- Format: In-house for your team
- Delivery: In person, virtual or hybrid
- Group size: Up to 20 people
- You'll need: a live, upcoming or recently lost pursuit to work on
- Price: £400+VAT per person (min of four)
Why learn this from Growth Ignition?
Growth Ignition is run by Jeremy Brim, who has spent his career winning work for major construction, consultancy and infrastructure firms.
- Led a large bid team at Mace
- Started out at Mouchel, working on a series of big outsourcing wins, before moving to EC Harris
- Now advises contractors and consultancies on live bids, presentations and growth strategy
- Hosts the Red Review Podcast on bids and work-winning
How does this fit with your other training?
Winning in the Room sits alongside our AI-Powered Bidding course. One helps your team use AI well on paper. This one makes sure your people can back it up in person.
FAQs
Does competitive dialogue still exist under the Procurement Act 2023?
Not as a named procedure. For procurements started on or after 24 February 2025, the Procurement Act 2023 has two competitive tendering procedures: the open procedure and the competitive flexible procedure. Buyers can still run a dialogue-style process by building dialogue rounds into a competitive flexible procedure. Procurements started before that date still follow the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
What is the competitive flexible procedure?
The competitive flexible procedure is any competitive tendering procedure, other than the open procedure, that a buyer designs to suit the contract. Buyers can add stages like shortlisting, dialogue, negotiation, presentations and demonstrations. They must set the stages out clearly in the tender notice or documents, treat suppliers equally and keep each stage proportionate.
How do you prepare for a competitive dialogue?
Start by understanding the buyer's real problem and the outcomes they're judged on. Agree clear roles for your dialogue team. Set learning objectives for each round, decide what you'll share and hold back commercially, and send a short written summary after every session. Then run a between-rounds loop: debrief, log, test, refine and brief.
Why are public sector buyers asking for more presentations and interviews?
AI is helping every bidder produce strong written answers, so written submissions separate bidders less. Buyers want to see whether the team can back up what they wrote. Government guidance (PPN 017) also suggests extra due diligence where suppliers used AI to write their tender. Presentations, interviews and dialogue sessions are where buyers test that.
How do you prepare a team for a tender interview?
Bring the people named in the bid who'll actually deliver. Read the presentation brief like a scoring guide and structure around the buyer's problem. Check every answer matches the written tender. Rehearse in stages - read-through, timed run, a tough red team panel and a full dress rehearsal - with most effort on the questions you'd least like to be asked. Our presentation training goes deeper on this.
How long is the Winning in the Room course?
A half-day course. It can run in-house for one team, using a live pursuit, or as an open session.
Is this course just for public sector bids?
The course focuses on UK public sector procurement under the Procurement Act 2023, because that's where dialogue and interview stages are most structured. The client engagement and presentation skills work just as well for private sector and framework bids.
Does the course cover bidding in Scotland?
Scotland has its own public procurement rules, separate from the Procurement Act 2023. The engagement, dialogue and presentation skills apply in Scotland too, and we can tailor the rules content for Scottish teams on request.
Book your team in
Got a dialogue, interview or big presentation coming up? Let's get your team ready.