Winning new projects is one of the most crucial activities for any IT services company. A successful bid not only brings revenue but also strengthens long-term partnerships, expands capability portfolios, and increases the organization’s competitive advantage. However, behind every winning proposal is a rigorous process that requires coordination, technical expertise, strategic thinking, and clear communication.
In this blog, we will explore why bidding matters, the common challenges teams face, and the best practices that increase the chances of success.
1. Why Bidding for New Projects Matters
1.1 Business Growth & Market Expansion
Every new project opens a door to a bigger market. It helps companies expand their client base, diversify domains, and gain visibility in competitive industries such as fintech, healthcare, logistics, or retail
1.2 Strengthens Client Relationships
A strong and professional bidding process demonstrates competence and reliability. Even if the bid is not selected, the effort often leaves a positive impression, leading to future opportunities.
1.3 Does bidding for a new project bring any benefits? Absolutely.
1.3.1 Opportunity to Showcase Capabilities
A proposal highlights our team’s strengths:
- Technical expertise
- Industry experience
- Testing strategy & methodology
- Delivery excellence
This is a chance to position our team as the best fit for business and technical needs.
1.3.2 Drives Internal Improvement
Bidding forces teams to stay updated:
- New technologies
- Improved delivery models
- Better estimation techniques
- Stronger internal collaboration
Over time, these improvements enhance overall company maturity.
2. Common Challenges During the Bidding Process
2.1 Limited or Ambiguous Requirements
Clients often provide only high-level or incomplete requirements during the bidding phase. This creates challenges in:
- Defining scope
- Estimating effort accurately
- Proposing the right solution or testing approach
Without sufficient clarity, teams must rely on experience and assumptions.
2.2 Limited Time for Response
Bids frequently come with aggressive deadlines, sometimes allowing only a few days for preparation. Teams must balance speed with quality, ensuring the proposal remains accurate, realistic, and competitive.
2.3 Difficulty in Selecting the Right Solution
Multiple choices need to be evaluated:
- Testing Tools (e.g., Playwright, JMeter, K6)
- Architecture and infrastructure modelss
- Performance strategy
- Security approach
Choosing the “best-fit” solution without full information can be challenging.
2.4 Cross-Team Coordination
Bidding requires input from many roles:
- Business Analysts
- Solution Architects
- Test Leads
- Project Managers
- UI/UX teams
Any misalignment, delayed input, or communication gap can impact proposal quality and timelines.
2.5 Estimation Risks
Estimation is one of the most sensitive aspects of bidding:
- Underestimation risks delivery failure and cost overruns
- Overestimation risks losing the bid
Finding the right balance requires experience, data, and careful judgment.
2.6 Competition Pressure
Clients often compare multiple vendors side by side. Proposals must stand out in terms of:
- Clarity
- Cost-effectiveness
- Technical soundness
- Risk awareness
A weak or generic proposal is easily eliminated.
3. Best Practices for a Winning Bid
3.1 Start with a Clear Understanding of Scope
Before writing anything, ensure the team fully understands:
- Functional expectations
- Non-functional requirements (performance, security, compatibility)
- Constraints
- Success criteria
Ask clarifying questions early to avoid wrong assumptions.
3.2 Collaborate Effectively Across Teams
Set up quick alignment calls:
- Solution Architect → system design & effort
- QA Lead → testing strategy, risks, estimation
- BA → requirement validation
- PM/BO → timeline, resource plan
- UI/UX → design expectations
The stronger the collaboration, the stronger the proposal.
3.3 Create a Practical and Realistic Estimate
Use:
- Historical data
- Similar project references
- Complexity analysis
- Risk buffers
A realistic estimate increases credibility and reduces delivery risk later.
3.4 Highlight Our Technical Strengths
Clients want to see how our capabilities match their needs. Always highlight:
- Relevant experience
- Frameworks and tools expertise
- Successful case studies
- Team seniority & certifications
This builds confidence.
3.5 Address Risks Early
Identify potential risks such as:
- Dependency on client data
- Third-party system integration
- Performance bottlenecks
- Legacy system limitations
And provide mitigation plans. Clients appreciate transparency.
3.6 Propose a Clear Technical Proposal
A strong technical and testing strategy demonstrates solution quality and delivery readiness. A well-structured strategy differentiates our proposal from competitors.
3.7 Keep the Proposal Simple, Clear, and Professional
A well-structured and easy-to-read proposal significantly improves client engagement. Use diagrams and flowcharts to visualize system architecture and processes, tables and matrices to clearly present scope, timelines, responsibilities, and comparisons, and bullet points with clear headings to highlight key information. Avoid overly long or complex paragraphs, and focus on concise, well-organized content. Clients highly value proposals that allow them to quickly read, understand, and compare options across vendors.
3.8 Analyze and List out Assumptions
Given the nature of the bidding phase, the bid team often has limited visibility into complete system details and finalized requirements due to time constraints and incomplete information. As a result, defining clear assumptions is essential for managing delivery risk. These assumptions allow the team to proceed with estimation and planning with controlled uncertainty, while also protecting the delivery team from scope creep, unplanned effort, and misaligned expectations if the bid is awarded.
3.9 Conduct Peer Reviews
It is essential to conduct a peer review before submitting the proposal. This review should involve experienced experts from relevant departments, such as Development, Testing, and Business Analysis.
These subject matter experts provide valuable feedback by reviewing the proposed solution, assumptions, estimates, and risks. Their insights help identify potential gaps, inconsistencies, or overlooked dependencies at an early stage.
Conducting a peer review strengthens the overall quality of the proposal, reduces delivery risk, and ensures the bid is realistic, well-aligned, and competitive before submission.
4. Conclusion
Bidding for new projects is more than creating a proposal—it is a strategic activity that drives company growth, showcases team expertise, and strengthens client relationships. Although the process comes with challenges such as unclear requirements, tight timelines, and high competitiveness, following the right best practices can significantly increase the chance of winning.
A strong bid is built on:
– Clear understanding of the scope
– Cross-team collaboration
– A realistic plan and estimation
– A solid technical and testing strategy
– Transparent communication and risk management
With the right approach, bidding becomes not only a business opportunity but also a chance for teams to grow, innovate, and demonstrate excellence.
It is truly great news when, after the bidding phase, we receive confirmation that our team has won the project. However, if we are not selected, we should not feel discouraged. In life, everything has two sides. When we face setbacks, we should treat them as valuable lessons that help us gain more experience and prepare for new opportunities ahead.
Each of us can contribute to bidding for new projects, either directly or indirectly. For example, when the bid team needs support—such as domain knowledge, past experience, or historical data for a proposal—we should always be willing to provide enthusiastic support. Why? Because every new bid brings new opportunities and new projects and contributing to that success is our responsibility.