Why the bid writer cannot own it
Because their incentives point the wrong way. A writer measured on submissions submitted will submit. A writer who has already opened the template will defend the hours already spent. That is the zombie bid, and it starts with ownership, not with optimism.
The writer’s craft is the response. Asking them to also be the gate is how firms end up with beautifully written no-hopers. Give them the call after it is made. Not before.
Who holds which axis
Business development: recommends. They see the inbound first. They know the buyer. Their job is to bring a scored recommendation to the gate, not a story. If BD only ever recommends yes, the gate is theatre.
Delivery: capacity veto. They name the lead, the roster, and the work that moves if this is won. A delivery lead who is never in the room is how firms win work they cannot staff.
Finance: risk veto. Caps, insurance, payment, the size of a loss. Finance does not need to attend every gate. They need to have read the three clauses that matter, or to have said they have not, which is a review, not a yes.
Managing director: strategy veto. Used rarely, held always. The MD’s job is to stop the firm becoming a collection of whatever arrived this month. If the strategy sentence is not written down, this veto has nothing to stand on.
A RACI that fits on one page
Responsible: BD, for the recommendation and the scorecard. Accountable: the MD, for the call as recorded. Consulted: delivery and finance, on their axes. Informed: the bid writer, with a yes, a no, or a review ticket.
The 12 questions are what BD fills. The vetoes are what the others exercise. If consulted people start rewriting the recommendation in the meeting, the RACI has already failed.
How to run a twenty-minute gate
One inbound at a time. Scorecard on the table, not a slide. BD has three minutes. Delivery has three. Finance has three if a clause is in play. The MD speaks last, or not at all. The call is written before anyone stands up: bid, no-bid, or review with an owner and a day.
No drafting. No “let’s just start a response while we wait.” Starting is bidding. If the pack is incomplete, the call is review, not a quiet yes. Decline letters, when the call is no, are BD’s job; see how to say no-bid.
Is this replacing my job?
No. A qualification layer exists so the writer spends the week on work the firm has already chosen. The judgement that makes a response worth reading is still human. What leaves is the week spent proving, in prose, a case the gate would have killed on Tuesday.
Pursuit decisions belong with the team doing the work and the leaders accountable for the strategy. The writer is on that team. They are not the whole of it.