The purpose of understanding the competition is to gain the insight necessary to formulate a bid strategy and assemble a team that will beat them.
Some of the steps to perform include:
- Identify other potential bidders and their teaming partners
- Delineate their strengths and weaknesses
- Incorporate this competitive information into the capture strategy and ghost their weaknesses in the technical, management and pricing proposal
- For larger opportunities, assemble a group of people who know the likely competitors and have this group develop a strategy to beat them. Use the results to structure an even stronger proposal.
Some competitive analysis resources are:
- Market research databases like FEDMINE
- Client visits FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests for information from the government
- Annual Reports
- Dun and Bradstreet reports
- Telephone networking (talking to BD directors at other companies)
- Specialized market research firms
- Outside sales consultants
- Former employees of a competitor
- Competitors themselves (through exploratory teaming meetings)
In some cases, the decision will be made to try to team with a strong competitor to “take them off the street.”
– Mike Lisagor
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