How to Improve Your Bid Process and Win More Infrastructure Projects

If you’re part of the bid team for a new construction project, it’s often less of an exact science and more like holding one finger in the air—will your proposal be a true interpretation and representation of the project at hand, and what does that mean if you win the project in terms of schedule and budget overrun longer term?

So how about if you could cut out most of the guesswork? What if you could get visual access to a site, its conditions, and any corresponding information in one place before you start the bidding process? How about being able to really differentiate your bid from your competitors, and build out more precise project proposals and costs? You’ll be able to create far more profitable, accurate bids that you’re far more likely to win. And that’s exactly what Sensat enables you to do.

The construction bidding process is generally rooted in uncertainty. You typically get less than 90 days to come up with both detailed plans and firm price commitments—for what are highly complex projects. You’re either swamped with information from clients, only some of which is relevant, or you get far too little and have to fill in the gaps for yourself.

So you’re often working with a poor understanding of site conditions, or of the project constraints. And who says the information you’ve been given is accurate anyway? Your bids can end up being too high, as you’ve over-priced the risks of unknown factors—so you don’t win the work. Or they’re too low because you’ve missed things—so you struggle to turn a profit and run the risk of being severely over budget.

Build a more structured view

Sometimes you get your bid right, but why not do that more of the time. Sensat’s visualisation and collaboration platform gives all your bid team access to a highly detailed ‘digital twin’ of a project site before you start the bidding process—a photo-realistic 3D plan that’s accurate to 50mm.

With Sensat, you can unlock all site data in one place. Easily upload and overlay existing data into Sensat (LiDAR, topographical CAD, laser scans, documents, images, BIM and GIS information) and better understand project requirements to avoid assumptions, potential clashes and reduce delays further down the line. Access the Sensat platform in the run-up to bid submissions or even before pipeline bids go live. Log in and check out your site anytime via any web browser to understand changes or potential risks. You and your team members can also leave mark-up notes or comments for each other on the digital replica. This way everyone on your team is on the same page, including partners and suppliers, meaning you can collaborate and communicate in a more compelling way.

Improved profitability

With Sensat, you will be able to understand your project cost base far more precisely. In turn, that will mean you can price things more accurately and reduce risk not just from a project basis but from a cost basis too. With a clear view of a site, back up findings more easily to increase your team’s ability to bid competitively and help ensure maximum profitability if your bid is successful.

You’ll be better able to see and understand all physical site constraints and validate ground levels and other measurements. Above all, you’ll be able to identify and flag hazards, missing information, errors or pitfalls that could cause problems—or compensation claims—further down the line.

Your list of unknowns will fall dramatically, and you’ll be able to evaluate risks more accurately. Moreover, you’ll be far less likely to miss anything, as you’ll have an accurate picture of how things actually are, at a range of different scales.

Justify costs more convincingly

Even when such increased awareness pushes your speculative prices up, Sensat will put you in a stronger position.

Being able to demonstrate strong site knowledge to your client and provide highly detailed imaging looks good in its own right. Yet you will also instil far greater confidence in your plans when you’re able to justify your costs with reasoning that’s based on accurate facts. Demonstrable realism in the face of other contractors’ optimistic assumptions is a great way of proving your expertise…

Demonstrate competence to differentiate your business

Crucially, you can stop having to play catch-up in endless races to the bottom on price. You’ll be able to cultivate opportunities to really, truly sell—based on what differentiates your contracting business—and construct a story that inspires your prospective clients to consider your specific qualities and value.

Plus, you’ll be able to establish far greater credibility overall, and position yourself as a ‘trusted advisor’. You’ll look like you really understand what your client is aiming to do—because you will—and as a result, appear far more committed than your competitors.

Work faster and produce more creative bids

Moreover, the sheer convenience of the Sensat platform means that you can engage your best talent at the earliest stages of your bid, and also that your people will be able to work more quickly.

There’s far less need for physical site visits, and you’ll have access to virtually any site measurements you need. Inevitably, you’ll therefore be able to produce better-quality, more innovative plans, and do so much faster.

Easily boost your environmental credentials

And that will spill over into other areas, like Environmental Site Impact Assessments (ESIAs). You’ll be able to improve your ESIA bid scores by reducing your carbon footprint, as evidenced from day zero. Indeed, the Sensat platform will help you to document and win, under ISIA scoring criteria, in as many areas of your bids as possible—including areas like carbon reduction.

Get a head start on actual construction

And… before you get on site for the bids you win, you’ll have a better knowledge of site conditions and constraints prior to starting work, so you can be better prepared for what lies ahead—helping with efficiencies and productivity. Additionally, you can mobilise your people faster and in the most effective way, while also facilitating handovers and onboarding to pre-construction and construction management teams, knowing you understand your site in the best way possible.

Transform your bidding success with Sensat

Sensat’s advanced 4D visualisation and collaboration platform gives you everything you need to improve your bids and win more business. You don’t need any advanced technology or skills to explore the digital model, as it’s all handled by our unique cloud platform that’s accessible via any web browser. Sensat helps you improve the quality of your bids, along with your project projections and profitability. The value has immediate and long-term benefits, and once you start winning, a digital site replica will be a no-brainer before you start any bidding work.

Download our Sensat bid data sheet to learn more or book a demo to see the platform for yourself and discover its capabilities.

If you want to find out how Sensat can play a part in your project, contact one of our experts at tellmemore@seneat.co.uk.