More Than the Submission: Celebrating the People Who Make Bids Happen
Written by Nicole McIntyre, Submissions Manager at Built
Three years ago, proposal professionals came together, virtually and in real life, to celebrate the inaugural International Day of Bids and Proposals. But let’s be clear, it’s the professionals who bring bids and proposals to life, not the documents or pursuits themselves. Behind every sizzling submission is a team of people who add their own stamp, shape the story and help seal the deal for whatever their organisations are vying for.
The 29th of September serves as a reminder to pause and turn to your left or your right and say, “Let’s go grab a coffee and celebrate the year that was.” This milestone is the culmination of all the days and moments when the submissions team stayed back late putting the final polish on the bid while the estimating team feverishly vetted quotes; the BD who had the conversation that really mattered; or, the bid leader who went out to get pizza (you know who you are) to keep everyone’s energy levels up.
Today is about a collective of people who thrive in the hive and in some instances go unnoticed, but they know deep down they’re doing what it takes to get to the end goal. Sometimes it means wringing out every last second of the day and sacrificing saying goodnight to their loved ones, or missing out on trivia night with their friends, as we know and recognise as bids and proposals professionals that the work (the doing, the camaraderie, the forgetting to stand up to stretch, or whatever it may be) is worth the sacrifice.
I’ve had the honour and the privilege of working with mammoth-sized tender teams, whether it be organised or throwing people at the problem; in other cases, partnering with an estimating manager to do the most with the least – a team of two, what can you do? Today and every day, remember to celebrate the wins, the losses, the long days and nights, and give recognition. I’m dragging out my sturdy soapbox again, stepping up 2cm taller to say: take the short course or micro certification, network, book in a team lunch, have a yarn, as my manager likes to say, and say thanks and give thanks.
When I sat down to write this piece after coming off a wave of tenders, I first consulted an LLM and asked it a series of questions and prompts to pin down a topic, key themes, and suggestions. After copying the results to my clipboard and pasting it into a Word document, I then saved and closed it and didn’t look at it again as I wasn’t really interested in what it had to say. My perspective, that of my colleagues and peers, is a lived one, and I’d rather these words come from a place of knowledge, expertise, and experience. It’s not very often that I get the luxury of writing from the heart and saying aloud all the words that are often pinging around my head. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since I started volunteering for APMP ANZ last year, it is that we are our own best advocates (individually and collectively) who know a thing or two about a thing or two.
Thank you to BidCraft and APMP and, by extension, APMP ANZ for nominating this important annual milestone to recognise #Septender, #HappyBidday, and remind everyone that #PizzaIsOurSuperfood, because it is!
Nicole McIntyre, Submissions Manager at Built
