The right way to handle a lost tender

It happens to everyone. You put the work in, you thought you had it, and someone else won. The question most businesses find themselves asking after the initial disappointment is: what now?

Should you dispute it? In our experience, almost never. Unless there is a clear breach of process, disputing a result rarely changes anything. What it can do is damage your reputation. Canberra is small, and departments and procurement teams remember who handled themselves well.

What you should always do is get a debrief. It is one of the few chances to see how evaluators viewed your response. A few useful questions to ask:

• Where did our submission score strongly, and where did it fall short?

• Were there any areas that created uncertainty for the panel?

• Was our pricing, approach, or format an issue?

• What could we improve for next time?

Take notes, thank them for their time, and move on. The goal is to listen and learn, not to argue.

Losing a tender doesn’t mean losing the relationship. Handle it well and you are more likely to be invited back to the table, and better prepared for the next one. Government work rewards those who play the long game.