The Software Tender Process is Broken

So I really don't want to offend a bunch of people by writing this, but every time I get a tender document for software from a government organisation or council, I have to steel myself and take a deep breath before I even open it.

You see - I think that the entire software procurement process for large organisations is completely broken, and focuses on bespoke software, fitting in with bespoke business processes, and (usually) archaic systems that were installed 10 years ago.

I hate to break it to everyone, but there's not really many organisations out there that are unique. Most business units (or businesses for that matter) do pretty run of the mill stuff (us included).

We all buy stuff, sell stuff, track time, pay employees, etc etc, and WAY too often I see a tender that starts from the point of view that says, "We are unique and our very bespoke processes are sacrosanct. Therefore, you must build software specifically for us."

This means that the organisation is not only paying a huge amount of money for something that could have been accomplished significantly cheaper and faster, it means that they are tightly binding their current business processes to their very expensive systems.

Consulting firms LOVE it when you do this, because any time you get a new manager or executive that wants to change the process, they get to issue you with a Work Order for that change, and every other change you ever make, until someone decides that this whole thing is broken, and there is a need to go to market with a new tender!

If your job is writing tenders, think about how you can maximise the lifecycle of the project, and minimise the upfront, and ongoing maintenance costs. My tip for doing this is simple - focus on the outcomes that you want to achieve, NOT your process for doing it.

There are an enormous number of SaaS solutions (WorkGuru.io included, but this post was triggered by a tender that could have easily used our friends at Tanda or Deputy) that have been specifically built to achieve outcomes for your business units. If you go to market with an open mind about the platforms, and focusing on the real outcomes required, you'll save yourself an absolute fortune in not only in the long run, but in the near term as well.