“We spent 90% of our time on internal governance and only 10% on the actual bid.”
That was the stark reality for one bid team in a heavy-duty engineering firm operating in a highly regulated environment. And while this may sound extreme, it’s a scenario that’s all too familiar.
Governance is essential. But when it becomes the dominant force in a bid process – layer upon layer of reviews, sign-offs, and compliance checks – it can smother the very creativity and customer focus that wins work. The customer doesn’t care how many internal hoops you’ve jumped through. They care about how well you understand their needs, how clearly you’ve articulated your solution, and why they should pick you over the competition.
Often, governance evolves reactively. A problem arises, and the fix is to add another step. Over time, these fixes accumulate into a bloated process. The root cause – whether it’s a skills gap, unclear roles, or poor tools – is rarely addressed. Instead of thinking holistically about people, process, and technology, organisations default to adding more to the process.
So, what does good governance look like?
It’s a framework that supports, not stifles. It ensures quality without becoming a bottleneck. It’s built on trust, not just control. And it’s designed to help teams develop the solution, price, and story in parallel – through well-planned gates and collaborative reviews that add value, not delay. The enablers of good governance are:
People: Cross-functional team involvement from the start
Process: Scalable, phase-based structure with clear milestones
Technology: Tools like compliance checklists, proposal timelines, and responsibility matrices
Culture: Early engagement, continuous feedback, and shared ownership
So, think about your process and ask yourselves these questions:
Is your approval process streamlined? Or does it cause headaches?
Are the roles and responsibilities crystal clear to all involved?
Does everyone know why we’re doing this and what for?
Are you missing a trick to use technology to automate repetitive tasks?
Take a step back and consider all the above. Often a sprinkle of understanding, collaboration, coaching and training is all that’s needed to make a big difference.
Think how much better your bids would be if you could divert some internal effort time on to persuading the customer to pick you.
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