One of our passions at BRS is supporting our clients in infrastructure with winning work.  Over the course of the last 16 years, we have worked with our clients across Australia, New Zealand and Canada in securing contracts worth billions of dollars.  Throughout 2026, we will be releasing a series of brief insights through our blogs sharing our learnings in bidding for infrastructure work to the Government sector and what delivers success and what doesn’t.

In today’s blog, we will share the key factors on why certain teams are consistently successful with their tenders and how they play the long game to set up for long term contract success with their key clients.  Key insights and lessons learnt are as follows:

Early Engagement:  Developing a winning bid strategy very early in the process and producing a high-quality proposal takes time.  People need time to understand the client’s needs, understand their challenges, think through their approach and assemble a winning team including their partnering strategy.  Winning bid teams are forward looking and start the pursuit of an opportunity months (and sometimes years) in advance.  They “do the work early” including developing their strategy, organisational structure, partnering requirements and high-level approach well before the RFP lands.

Bid Management:  Winning teams are well organised.  This includes having a solid bid strategy, do the work early (previous point), have effective document management processes and systems, and a solid bid plan with effective calendar management locked in advance with key stakeholders, partners and staff. Being organised reduces “white noise” caused by reactivity, distraction and stress which reduce trust within the bid team and is counterproductive to providing clarity, accountability and creativity early in the bid which is critical to success.

Commercials:  History will show that the offer to our clients must be price competitive.  This doesn’t mean being the lowest price nor should it necessarily be a race to the bottom, but it is rare for a team to win without a competitive price or rates.  It’s important your commercial strategy forms part of your early thinking and the win strategy throughout the bid, including development of the methodology.  How we present our commercials giving our clients options and a clear understanding of our commercial rationale is critical in ensuring they are seeing value for money from our team and our offering.

Partnering:  Capability, capacity and track record is a key factor in winning bids.  A single organisation may struggle to bring the depth of people and experience required to win and as such needs to partner. Selecting the right partner who both compliments and strengthens a team can be a pivotal decision in winning. Selection isn’t just about capability but also the right culture fit is critical not only for integration within your wider team but also with the client team in ensuring a one team approach.

Leadership:  Clients often choose teams they feel they can work with (“the vibe”).  The vibe or culture fit is set from your leaders both at corporate level as well as those leading the bid, and most importantly those who will lead the delivery of the work.  Leaders who understand the client, build trust and confidence with the client and who can motivate the bid team and delivery to perform at their best are fundamental.  Furthermore, how our leadership drives the interactive process in terms of interviews and workshops with a balanced focus on relationships and delivery, whilst building trust and confidence with the client.

Substance Over Form:  The key factor that drives scoring of a bid is the “credibility” of the offer.  Most procurement teams look past the slogans, buzzwords and the brochure and assess the underlying merits of what is being proposed in an evidence-based manner.  Be careful about being a “bush marketer” with win themes and slogans but rather put the effort into getting the substance of your track record, lessons learned and methodology right.

The above factors require a combination of relationship building, pro-activity, intentionality, teamwork, and a commitment to excellence.  These are all enabled through leadership from the top and why those teams with effective leaders win more work.