To Tender or not to Tender? That is the question.

Hearing the words ‘tender’ and ‘RFP’ doesn’t exactly send a shudder down my spine – but it does make me wonder what flavour of tender it will be. I’m Ewan Kassir, and I’ve been in sales for over 20 years now, so I’ve seen the good, the bad, the400+ questions, and the downright baffling when it comes to RFPs.

Over the years, my career has led me through hundreds (if not thousands!) of tender processes, both domestically and globally, and in my current role as Director of Sales at Clarity, I work with an experienced team who know this world inside out.

That’s why I wanted to share a few thoughts with you surrounding RFPs. Whether you're approaching your first RFP or you've done more than you can count, this is what I believe is important to ensure we can meet your needs and put our best foot forward or make a no bid decision.

Involve your stakeholders but speak with one voice

Right from the start of the procurement process, it’s important to iron out your key stakeholders. From your Executive decision makers, Finance, and HR all the way through to IT and Data Security, get them actively involved in the creation of the RFP. However, when there’s a big team involved, each with their own needs and expectations, things can start to get a bit messy.

Differing perspectives often result in duplication of essentially the same or very similar questions, making the RFP harder to follow. That’s why it’s essential to have one person ultimately leading the project – someone who is responsible for ensuring that all the different stakeholder perspectives are merged into a single consistent voice.

I’d also recommend including a user group of your key bookers and travellers. When it comes down to the end user, their buy in and being an active part of the solution is crucial to the programme’s success.

Know the market - not all suppliers are created equally

Culture, fit and capability are essential parts of a successful partnership. The commercials and final solution can be negotiated and discussed, but if the supplier isn't the right one for you, how can you ever expect it to work? This works the other way too - being a partner means finding customers that are the right fit and great to work with.

Therefore, I strongly recommend pre-tender engagement. Get to know the market, the capabilities, as well as the travel, meeting and reporting technologies and allow them to get to know you and your organisations culture. In the long run it makes the procurement job much easier, as the suppliers being asked to tender are the ones you really want. Most of us see huge red flags if we know we are one of many companies tendering. The questions we ask ourselves are: Are we making up the numbers? Does the buyer know what they want? What are our chances of winning with so many horses in the race? If you get a couple with no prior engagement, and limited or no access to meaningful data, then those red flags are raised pretty high.

Engage with bidders and have realistic timeframes

Be prepared about potential dialogue with bidders during the process - whether that’s direct or via clarification questions. You can always share any useful insights or outputs of any engagement with other bidders to ensure a fair and proper process. A faceless, hands-off, digital-only approach to your procurement process with no engagement and everything conducted electronically will put off a lot of bidders, particularly those suppliers that value relationship.

A big one for me is to be realistic about deadlines. If the RFP is complex and requires a detailed response, giving just 10 days might leave you with a lot of no-bid results or generic answers, without the ability to really see what a supplier can do for your travel programme.

Define your scope of requirements

Understanding why you have gone to market is vital to us as responders. What is it you are looking for? What is that will make an impact on your travel programme? What are the non-negotiables? And finally, what are the elements you know will deliver value to your business?

When you know your scope clearly, ask for proof. Many TMCs are similar, so what makes them different? What makes them stand out? Afterall, we all do corporate travel. What will give you the confidence that the supplier you appoint is the right fit?

If service and culture are a key driver for example, many suppliers will say their people are the best in the industry or the heartbeat of their operations. Terrific. Prove it. If booking technology and content strategy are your drivers, then really dive into the detail, but again ask for proof and what the future holds!

By knowing what you’re looking for and why you have gone to market, will really help you know what the best fit looks like. Knowing this also enables us to build the solution that we believe best suits your requirements or make the no bid decision if we can’t meet your requirements.

Know the tech

Part of pre-market engagement could be understanding the technology that is on offer. This might be in the form of an RFI/PQQ, or an actual demo. Being advocates for pre-tender face to face (or online meeting) engagement, we always prefer a demo. It doesn’t have to be long or drawn out. There is so much on offer with different approaches to content distribution, sustainability, integrations, global solutions vs best in market, user experience and accessibility - to name but a few nuances.

Knowing what you want from a tool, and the provider, when it comes to technology can make a real difference to the bidder.

Explain your dates and timelines

This is key to a successful tender, especially when TMCs are juggling multiple tenders, from multiple businesses and sectors all at once. Some suppliers have well-staffed bid teams and others may only have one or two in their team. The timelines, clarification dates, expected next steps updates are all crucial to how we plan and manage our workloads. So, please be clear and please stick
to them.

Over 60% of all tenders we have responded to in 2024,and so far in 2025, have not stuck to their timelines after the tender has been submitted. Next steps, presentations and final decisions have all slipped, with little communication or way of update.

This causes significant frustration and an awkward situation. We don’t want to be ‘that’ person or feel like we have turned into corporate travel stalkers always chasing for an update, but if things change, just tell us! It’s the not knowing that causes the frustration.

What should I be asking of my prospective TMC?

As mentioned before, the right fit both ways is everything. Relationships are everything. As a general rule in our business, no relationship equals no bid, as we simply don’t know each other. So, get to know them and allow them to get to know you.

Ask for the proof

To get areal sense of both a supplier’s capabilities and how they perform in the real world, be sure to ask for references and case studies from the bidder's customer portfolio.

Data and policy insights are everything

Value has a price. We’re asked so often to give our very best price, whilst offering the very best solution. That makes sense, you want great value. We also want to deliver for our customers and exceed expectations. What doesn’t make sense is not sharing data or a travel policy. With good quality data and policy visibility we can be granular, look at different cost models, help save money, provide strategies on scope 3 emission reductions aligned to cost, look at supplier programmes, run peer group comparisons and so much more.

Withholding data creates a broad sweeping financial race to the bottom, without understanding what great value looks like.

It’s OK to stay where you are

You know what you want - you know what will benefit your business and travel programme and what is important to you.

The outcome might be to stay where you are and that’s fine (yes, I know I work in sales) because it is right for you. Equally with all the information, there might be a better solution out there - and the business case back to your company has the information to make a solid recommendation on the overall direction of your travel programme.

Always ask for an Executive Summary

An executive summary is a great way to quickly get a feel for the bidder - who they are, their values, their infrastructure and their experience. Does it match their pre-tender relationship building call? Have they listened to what you want, and do you get a good feeling? An executive summary speaks volumes as this isn’t a question to answer - it’s the first opportunity to engage the audience and make an impression.

Is there anything else I should be considering?

^‍Maybe there are greater opportunities and synergies that could be aligned.  For example, considering your meetings and events needs alongside your travel programme. Whether it’s online meeting technology, searching for those hard-to-find venues, contract signing, working with an event production team or health and safety inspections - a good strategic meetings management programme can go nicely hand-in-hand with your travel. Other areas to think about are the CSR strategy and reporting, user accessibility, as well as online and offline support. All vital elements to a travel programme but sometimes overlooked.

Feedback is king

Please take the time to provide frank and honest feedback. Of course, we’ll be disappointed by not winning business, but we will be pleased with the opportunity to understand why. It’s the only way for us to understand where we fell short, or what helped the winning be so successful. This really helps us learn and improve. Equally, if we are successful, tell us why and what we did well and even then, where we could still have improved. It’s all about learning.

In Closing

The above isn’t a ‘teach you to suck eggs’ rant from a bitter old Sales Director. The sales and bid team at Clarity have never been busier, which is great. Over the past few years, we have experienced such a wide variety of tender approaches, I just wanted to share my thoughts and views on small things that I believe make a big difference.

In many cases ‘cost is king’, but getting to the heart of ROI and understanding what best value looks like, that’s the bit that gets me excited. That’s where we can make a real difference and through the tendering process, where we can demonstrate our culture, personality, services and value.

If you are a buyer who tenders for business, whether you are going out to the market or not, I would always be happy to discuss the tendering process and my experiences with it.