The Work Winning System - A Bid Management Framework

Win 80% of your bids. Stop wasting time on the ones you won't.

Most firms bid for everything and win 30% or less. Every losing bid costs you thousands in staff time and zero in revenue. The Work Winning System changes that.

This is a complete bid management framework built from real-world experience winning contracts in engineering, construction, and professional services. It gives you a repeatable system for deciding which bids to pursue, how to price them, how to negotiate, and how to learn from every outcome.

What's inside:

The Guide (39 pages)

• 12 chapters covering every stage of the bid lifecycle
• The two-gate Go/No-Go system that stops you wasting time on bids you can't win
• The overhead multiplier — the single most important number in your pricing
• Two complete worked pricing examples with real calculations (consultancy and contractor models)
• The double buffer system — how to build negotiation room into every quote without losing margin
• Sq.ft. rate vs. man-hour build-up — when to use which, and why
• How to price variations so scope changes don't eat your profit
• Two negotiation scenarios played out step by step
• Sample post-bid reviews for a win and a loss
• Pre-qualification, bid presentations, joint ventures, and 12 common mistakes that cost contracts

The Excel Workbook (8 tabs, 162 formulas)

1. Technical Go/No-Go Checklist — 17 questions across 3 assessment areas
2. Commercial Go/No-Go Calculator — Cost estimation, margin analysis, funding gap
3. Cash Flow Projection — 12 milestones with auto-calculated running totals
4. Post-Bid Review Template — 9-point quality assessment and lessons learned
5. Team Capability Matrix — 15-person roster with skills and availability
6. Project Portfolio Organizer — 25 projects by sector with proof tracking
7. True Cost Calculator (Man-Hour) — Calculate your actual overhead multiplier
8. True Cost Calculator (Product) — Overhead recovery rate for contractors

The Pricing Walkthrough Excel (86 formulas)

• Complete worked example: from salary to quoted fee to negotiated price
• Built-in sq.ft. rate comparison tool
• Variation rate calculator with bid clause language
• Change any yellow cell — the whole model recalculates

4 Bonus Documents

• One-Page System Cheat Sheet — pin it to the wall
• Bid Document Outline — 9-section assembly checklist
• Client Meeting Prep Sheet — before, during, and after every meeting
• Quick Start Guide — 25 steps across 14 days for your next bid

Who this is for:

• Engineering and construction firms tired of losing bids
• Consultancies that want to price profitably, not desperately
• Contractors who need to know their true costs before quoting
• Any professional services firm that bids for project work

All figures in USD. The methodology works globally — plug in your own market rates using the worksheets.