Have you ever looked through a tender document and wondered at some of the detail within the specification? The chances are this is because it has been written with the features of a competitor’s product or service in mind.
If this is the case it raises the question of whether or not it is worthwhile tendering. If the prospective customer has a close working relationship with your competitor they are probably only “going through the motions” with the tender.
My tip is this; think long and hard about this tender. If you go ahead you will probably have to be very tactical with your commercial offer to stand any chance of winning. Alternatively you may decide to submit a bid of outstanding quality knowing you are going to lose. Why would you do this? You could put yourself in a strong position for next time, using your submission as the basis for forming a relationship post-tender – starting with the de-brief!