1. What other factors should Marvin and his team consider?  

2. Should they bid on the job?

POST 1:

1.What other factors should Marvin and his team consider?

Marvin was the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of his company. The decision of whether or not to bid on a job above a certain dollar value rested entirely upon his shoulders. In the past, his company would bid on all jobs that were a good fit with his company’s strategic objectives and the company’s win-to-loss ratio was excellent. But to bid on this job would be difficult. The client was requesting certain information in the request for proposal (RFP) that Marvin did not want to release. If Marvin did not comply with the requirements of the RFP, his company’s bid would be considered nonresponsive. Along with the Pro’s and Con’s highlighted in the case study, Marvin and his team should consider the following factors before finalizing their decision (Lau & et al., 2018).

1. If Marvin’s company would voluntarily decide not to bid, then it has to think that any other company can bid for the project and potentially benefit from bidding.

2. Marvin’s company can do some research to find whether there is a way to get more profit margin by following the client cost model because it is a long-term contract for ten or more years (Lethbridge, 2019).

3. Marvin has to think about whether the company loses its brand value if it doesn’t participate in the bid because, in the consulting industry, the companies must be active in getting projects else the reputation diminishes among clients.

4. Marvin and his team must consider whether their company is suitable for contracts of the type cost-reimbursable because in this contract type the client pays for each work package, so the profit is less compared to fixed price projects.

2. Should they bid on the job?

In my opinion, Marvin’s company should bid on the job as it is a long-term contract. This gives an opportunity for the company to demonstrate to the corporate world that they can handle big long-term projects and also provides the company with a steady cash flow. As it is a contract with a major client, the company’s reputation will increase in the consulting industry which attracts more clients. They will be working with a client which treats them as a strategic partner rather than just a supplier. Lower profit margins on this project can be mitigated with additional contracts in the future which will increase the overall profit from the client (Yetkin, 2020).

References

Lau, R. Y. K., Liao, S. S. Y., Wong, K. F., & Chiu, D. K. W. (2018). Web 2.0 Environmental Scanning and Adaptive Decision Support for Business Mergers and Acquisitions. MIS Quarterly, 36(4), 1239-A6. https://doi.org/10.2307/41703506

Lethbridge, J. (2019). Understanding multinational companies in public health systems, using a competitive advantage framework. Globalization & Health, 7(1), 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-8603-7-19

Yetkin, U. (2020). Revealing the Change in the Maritime Security Environment through Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. Defence Studies, 13(4), 458–484. https://doi.org/10.1080/14702436.2013.864504

POST 2:

To bid or not to bid

To begin with, making a bid on a job is not as simple as it sounds, and it should be taken seriously. Any bidding, no matter how small or big the business or contract is, should not be taken lightly as a lot or resources, time, and money go into developing a perfect plan of budget. Marvin, as mentioned in the case study is a CEO of a company that contracts for various clientele. And the company makes its profits from contracting to other firms, some short-term while others are long-term and recurring.

One other thing for Marvin’s team to consider is the location of the contract among other things. And the bottom line for submitting bidding should always be making a profit. If the contract does not bring profits to the firm, there is no point in submitting a winning bid to the client (Jones, 2017). Secondly, if the firm believes by their calculations that they can make profits on a job, they have to consider if the company is capable of performing the job perfectly in order to make the expected profit. All the projects currently on hand have to be evaluated from a resource perspective and also from a financial perspective.

Lastly, one thing to be considered is to think about long-term benefits by winning the bidding. Is the project going to be long-term and recurring or is it going to be short-term with fewer profits? If it is the latter case, there is no point in considering submitting bids for the contract (Xaxx, 2019).

Marvin, along with some senior advisors from his company have prepared a list of pros and cons, the two main things that were determined are that the contract is long-term and possibly recurring, and the profit margin would be less. It is definitely something that can be seriously considered from a company’s stability in the future. Marvin and his team can proceed with the bidding with the advantages associated with the points discussed above.

References:

Jones, K. (2017, March 1). Key Factors to Consider in Bid/No-Bid Decision Making. Retrieved from Construct Connect: https://www.constructconnect.com/blog/key-factors-…

Xaxx, J. (2019, March 1). How to Bid for a Job as a Contractor. Retrieved from Chron: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/bid-job-contractor…