surprised and confused

[rpmcarter]

So we've been working on this "big" customer for 2 years solid. They FINALLY send out the bid invitation

With all the corporate profiles, Lean Six, Project Managed talks, specifications, corporate strength strong arming, high level dialog, corporate speak (cultural verbiage), corporate leverage with expectations ..... blah blah blah

First they use a bidder program...then you cant get in cant log in cant enter passwords etc. Finally get into the system, very basic information on spec's. I call and "oh we couldnt get the scope of work " to load. While all this is going on...we have lost 2 of the whopping 5 days allowed to prepare a bid.

I get the scope of work and my daughter could have written this thing. I waited all this time for this drama .... I could have finished by now. [/align] Its so simple but the scary thing its VAGUE. All I have to say is I hope my version of answering a bid doesnt overwhelm him. (him is not the actual customer he's simply the bid center) My customer will be fine with it. I'm hoping the upside is .... it's just a formality.

 

[Don65Stang]

Best of luck with it.

 

[Luke]

Firstly goodluck hope you get a good payday from this 1. This seems to be a bit of a recurring theme with some very big outfits their tender process is often vague, I think it's this way so they can pick and choose and back peddle if they want. But again good luck Sir

 

[OLE PONY]

Before retirement I was a Contracting Officer for the Navy. The program offices supplied the "scope of work" or the "statement of work" and were supposed to be trained to write these -- not. It was like pulling teeth most of the time to get a good scope or SOW that the contractors could understand well enough to write their proposal.

 

[rpmcarter]

Firstly goodluck hope you get a good payday from this 1. This seems to be a bit of a recurring theme with some very big outfits their tender process is often vague, I think it's this way so they can pick and choose and back peddle if they want. But again good luck Sir

Thanks Don!

Luke....sounds like you may have some hands on ...huh? Well, I believe firmly they leverage the tender to push the margin down. Much like a customer that met with me at the office, we do a lot of business with foreign customers. I gave him the price.. (keep in mind he already told me what the competition was like and of course I KNOW what they really do) he said well I think the price should be less. I restated my price and he said "well think about it some more" I just calmly smiled waited for about 10 seconds and said...hey I just thought about it and its STILL xxxxxx ....his partner was laughing and laughing with me. I know I was giving him a good deal and so does he...cant blame the guy for trying. He was actually a fun guy to work with...I may have an order in the morning.

But these corporate types sometimes take all the fun out of trying to do business with them. Back in the day when i worked more of the warehouse market, Walmart told me "you need to lower your prices ... WE ARE WALMART". I told him...well I'm DANA and I just gave you the price you will pay to do with me. he said " you cant do that WE ARE WALMART" ....I kindly repsonded "I JUST DID" UNLIKE THE OTHERS I dont NEED your business.

 

[detritusmaximus]

I deal with the vague or incomplete SOW's occasionally when we bid. It's a pain in the butt, mainly because our work (signage) is usually the last thing on anyone's mind, until they remember, after it's late, and then they realize that the SOW (or the allotted budget) for signage does not cover all the municipal, state or fed required signage.

One thing I've noticed in doing bids, we quote exactly what is asked for and then the client wants to know why we are higher than the competitors. It's awkward explaining to the client that the other bid(s) are for what those companies have decided to supply, not what is spec'd.

 

[rpmcarter]

I deal with the vague or incomplete SOW's occasionally when we bid. It's a pain in the butt, mainly because our work (signage) is usually the last thing on anyone's mind, until they remember, after it's late, and then they realize that the SOW (or the allotted budget) for signage does not cover all the municipal, state or fed required signage.

One thing I've noticed in doing bids, we quote exactly what is asked for and then the client wants to know why we are higher than the competitors. It's awkward explaining to the client that the other bid(s) are for what those companies have decided to supply, not what is spec'd.

interesting that you stated that and its is SO true. One of our potential clients is the major competitor that is the subject of my post....they built the entire plant and totally forgot to order the forklifts....it's a FIVE MONTH timeline to delivery. But they are RUDE at best so I would much rather help these guys than them.....couldnt have happened to a better bunch. Yeah I see lots of new installations without signage....lol.