Keeping your contract as the incumbent supplier

Your head start, and where it ends

In a private tender the client may choose freely, and a supplier that performs well has the edge. You know the organisation, the people and the problems. A new supplier still has to learn all that. In a European public tender it is different: everyone starts equal, as you read in bid or no bid.

But a client asking for proposals is looking for something. Maybe a better price, maybe something new, maybe procurement simply wants to show it compared. So do not assume satisfaction is enough. Work out your proposal as well as a newcomer would.

The biggest mistake: not daring to lower your own price

After a few years of indexation, your price is often higher than what you would calculate today for the same work. Competitors bid with a new, sharp price. Many incumbents do not dare to offer that. They fear the client will think: so you overcharged me for years.

Do it anyway. Offer the new, competitive price, and explain why it is lower. You learned to do the work more efficiently, you know the contract better now, indexation in recent years ran ahead of your costs. A client who hears that sees an honest supplier, not one who charged too much.

Dare to lower your own price. Explaining is more credible than losing.

Use what only you know

• What you improvedShow in numbers what got better since the start. A newcomer can only promise it.
• What could be betterYou know where it still rubs. Name it yourself, and say how you will fix it. That shows you look beyond the current contract.
• What switching costsOnboarding a new supplier costs the client time and people. No need to dramatise it. Just make it visible.