Client story: Leidos

It’s funny how one thing can lead to another. A chance networking encounter and a passing comment led us to support Leidos with a bid for the Home Office on a project critical to national security. Leidos were up against Tier 1 companies with their feet firmly under the table, so they knew our expert guidance could help them push the competition out of the way. A key part of our role was to prepare and position the company as someone the Home Office really wanted to work with.

Our initial brief was to support Leidos in their proposal reviewing. We systematically scored and evaluated their bid, giving detailed feedback on the positives and the not-so-perfect parts, with practical advice on how to improve their scores. Ever the critical friend.

Thanks to our input, Leidos proved a bid can win even if it comes in at a higher price than others. But only if it gets excellent technical scores. Leidos won with all responses achieving either the highest or joint highest scores in the field, across their whole bid. Pre-submission scoring helps a company price to win more effectively because you can scenario plan and develop competitive views. It’s now carried out on all Leidos’ major tenders.

As part of the same assignment, we helped develop a team charter for the next round, where working as a unit would be even more critical. A charter helps each team member to know not only what their role is within the process; it ensures everyone knows how others operate too. This is especially important with a neurodiverse team because it gives all members a chance to explain how they prefer to give and receive information. It also identifies hidden strengths. By preparing for peak individual performance, the whole team (and therefore the bid) benefits.

We also facilitated a negotiation storyboarding session to prepare the team for the negotiation phase of the Competitive Procedure with Negotiation (CPN) that was in play for the bid. CPN consists of sometimes unnatural-feeling structured conversations within a rigid framework. A little like courtroom prep, the sessions empowered staff to head into negotiations with a clear, united message.

It became apparent our intensive care was needed for a key document. We reworked the fifty-pages in collaboration with the Chief Information Officer (CIO). Over an intense ten-day period, we stripped it back, assembled the bones of structure and fleshed out the detail. We produced an exemplar solution overview which is still held up as an example of best practice. Whatever’s needed, if we can do it well we’ll get stuck in. We love a bit of crisis management.