Cat herding in the AI era
Why your bid management function matters more than ever
AI has transformed the way organisations approach tenders. Content can be generated in seconds, Draft responses can be assembled in minutes. Subject matter experts can use AI to articulate technical concepts more efficiently than ever before.
So does that mean bid management is becoming less important?
Quite the opposite If anything, the rise of AI has highlighted just how critical a strong bid management function really is.
The misconception: AI can manage the bid
Many organisations have embraced AI as a productivity tool, but some have made the mistake as viewing it as a replacement for bid management. The reality is that AI can write content, and there are some great automation tools emerging for documenting and managing your workflows. But AI cannot easily manage the soft skills required in helping bid teams to address competing priorities, navigate stakeholder politics, resolve conflicting inputs, challenge assumptions or make strategic decisions.
And that’s where many submissions fall apart.
Because winning tenders has never been solely about producing words. It’s about orchestrating people.
The Modern Bid Manager is part strategist, part project manager, part diplomat
Every tender involves a diverse group of contributors; technical specialists, operations leaders, commercial teams, legal advisors, delivery managers.
Without someone coordinating these moving parts, even the most capable organisations can quickly descend into chaos. Deadlines slip. Inputs arrive late. Reviews become rushed. Key messages become diluted.
The role of the bid manager is often described as ‘herding cats’ for good reason.
The difference today is that AI has accelerated the pace of content creation, meaning coordination challenges emerge even faster.
More content doesn't automatically mean better submissions
One of the most unintended consequences of AI is content abundance.When contributors can generate pages of information instantly, review teams often find themselves drowning in content rather than lacking it. And having so much AI-generated content lately, we’re finding it all just sounds the same.
And the irony is, we often see organisations spend more time cutting, refining and realigning AI-generated content than they previously spent drafting from scratch.
The challenge has shifted and the question is no longer ‘where do we start with writing?’. It’s now ‘what should we include / leave out?’
That requires strategic oversight.
Winning submissions still require human judgement
Evaluators don’t score organisations on how quickly they generated content. They score responses based on relevance, credibility and alignment with their requirements. Strong bid managers ensure every response answers three critical questions:
- What is the client really asking?
- Why are we the best choice?
- Have we provided evidence to support our claims?
AI can assist with drafting. It cannot consistently answer these questions without direction.
The organisations gaining the greatest advantage from AI
The highest performing bid teams aren’t replacing bid management with AI. They’re strengthening it They’re using AI to reduce administrative effort while allowing bid managers to focus on higher-value activities.
- Stakeholder engagement
- Win strategy development
- Storytelling
- Review management
- Risk identification and mitigation
- Quality assurance.
In other words, they’re spending less time formatting documents and more time improving competitiveness.
So what does this mean for your bid team?
AI is undoubtedly changing the bid landscape. But while technology can help produce content faster, it cannot replace the leadership, coordination and strategic thinking required to produce winning submissions.
The organisations achieving the greatest return from AI aren’t eliminating bid management functions – they’re empowering them.
Even in the age of artificial intelligence, somebody still needs to herd the cats.
