How agile bidding strategies help defence suppliers respond faster to MOD and NATO opportunities.

How agile bidding strategies help defence suppliers respond faster to MOD and NATO opportunities.

​The energy sector is diverse and dynamic, encompassing oil and gas, renewable energy, utilities and power, energy technology and energy consulting and advisory. Our team has extensive experience in helping organisations to secure major deals and improve their proposal success rates.

How happy are you at work? What motivates you and what frustrates you? Do you feel valued? This research report is a pulse-check on wellbeing in the bid and proposal professional. Nearly 300 of you around the world shared how you're feeling. The report analyses your views, provides strategic insights, and offers practical suggestions for how teams can improve wellbeing.

The industrial sector has an array of organisations, including manufacturing, mining, and heavy industry. This sector plays a crucial role in driving economic growth and innovation, with a wide range of deal types across both government and commercial customers. At Strategic Proposals, we bring deep, hands-on experience in supporting businesses like yours helping to navigate regulatory complexity, articulate technical value, and position yourselves strongly in competitive procurement environments.

Discover how proposal designers can redefine their role in the age of AI - explore strategic insights, evolving responsibilities, and actionable tools for staying indispensable.

Branding isn’t just a design exercise, it’s a strategic tool that starts at capture. Discover how early branding shapes client perception and sets your bid apart.

Measuring and reporting social value is crucial for demonstrating your commitment and impact. Laurence Higgens shared his expertise on this topic during a recent briefing to the SP team. This blog provides practical tips for bid and proposal managers on how to effectively measure and report social value.​

At Strategic Proposals, we’ve long championed the value of great design in proposals — from sponsoring the first APMP design award nearly a decade ago, to helping teams integrate design thinking into their bid processes. In 2025, with buyer expectations evolving and competition fiercer than ever, design is no longer a "nice to have" — it's a critical differentiator. So we undertook fresh research to find out how design is being used right now across bid teams — in-house, outsourced, and everything in between. Our new white paper explores the findings and shares insights from across the profession.

Government contracts increasingly emphasise social value, making it a key factor in the bidding process. Laurence Higgens, a social value expert, discussed this trend in a recent briefing session with the SP team. This blog explores the role of social value in government contracts and provides tips for bid and proposal managers.​

Delivering social value in bids can be challenging, especially for organisations new to this concept. In a recent briefing to the SP team, Laurence Higgens shared his experiences and strategies for overcoming these challenges. This blog delves into his insights and offers practical advice for bid and proposal managers.

This research report explores how organisations have approached the AI challenge, based on deep-dive interviews with bid and proposal professionals worldwide. What's worked � and what hasn't? And how can you use their experiences to shape your own approach to exploiting AI? The research was first presented at APMP's annual conference in Nashville in May 2025 in a session described in feedback as "Hands down, the must-see session of BPC!"

Gaby Ostrovsky, our new team member, brings a wealth of experience in leading teams across different regions, making them an invaluable asset to our proposal team.

Have you ever wondered how the skills from journalism, public affairs, and ghost writing can elevate your proposal writing? These disciplines are not just about writing; they are about crafting a narrative, engaging the audience, and delivering a clear, concise message. Denise Mullen, our new team member, brings a wealth of experience from these fields, making her an invaluable asset to our proposal team.

Our new Procurement Act readiness workshop is essential if you want to bid for public contracts in the UK and stay ahead of the competition.

We're thrilled to introduce Denise Mullen, who has already made a significant impact with Strategic Proposals clients.

Introducing our proposal management & consulting team and how you need them in every scenario!

Welcome to MyProposalPathway, a revolutionary service brought to you by Hovester and Strategic Proposals. In today's fast-paced business environment, selecting the right AI and automation tools can be a daunting task. With countless options available, making an informed decision requires significant time and effort. That's where MyProposalPathway comes in.

The UK government's Procurement Act introduces a significant shift from Model Award Criteria (MACs) to Missions, reflecting a broader political agenda aimed at driving economic growth, energy efficiency, and breaking down barriers to opportunity. This change necessitates a rethinking of bidding strategies to deliver real value and align with the new missions. Read more about it here: PPN 02. ​

Our writing team is here to help you to craft concise proposal and collateral content that is a joy to read and tells a story, taking clients on a journey.

In today's competitive bidding landscape, social value has become a critical component for winning contracts. Laurence Higgens, a social value expert, recently shared his insights on this topic during a briefing given to the SP team. This blog explores the key points discussed and provides actionable advice for bid and proposal managers to help maximise evaluation scores in bids and make a real difference to the customer and their communities.​

The challenge for managers is to instil a culture of learning and adaptation, drawing lessons from past bids to refine future strategies. This process of reflection and analysis is crucial for evolving practices and staying ahead in a competitive landscape. ​

In the intricacies of bidding, every step, every move counts. But what happens when there's a missing link in the chain? Much like a strong metal chain, the strength of a bid lies not just in its individual components but in their connection, their seamless integration, creating an unbreakable sequence of strategies and tactics that leads to you winning. ​

The ability to keep a bid plan on track ensures that every phase of the proposal process is completed on time, ultimately leading to a timely submission. However, the complexity of coordinating multiple tasks and contributors can often lead to delays. The risk of a derailed schedule is significant. Time is a finite resource, and any delays can compress the remaining schedule, forcing teams to rush and potentially compromise the quality of the proposal. Moreover, missing the submission deadline can disqualify the bid altogether, wasting the effort and resources invested.

Ensuring the highest quality of content from contributors is a pivotal challenge for bid and proposal managers. The quality of the content can make or break a proposal, and it's essential to harness the collective expertise of your team to produce a compelling bid. However, managing a diverse group of contributors and maintaining a high standard can be daunting. ​

Watch Rachel Fisher share her creative insights and learn how design can transform your process.

Insights from our recent poll: ​What's the right balance between internal bid process/governance effort versus creating a compelling proposal?

Our design team is here to ensure you leverage design to increase your impact and chances of winning.

This video provides everyone with a reminder of what the Proposal Benchmarker is and what the data held within is telling us. Watch for more insights.

Discover the secrets to winning in business with insights from industry experts. Watch now!

Introducing SP's new directors: discover their expertise, insights, and vision for future success

We are thrilled to introduce our three new SP directors and share some of their knowledge and experience in this first of a three-part video series.

Dive into the transformative journey of proposal design and learn how these unsung heroes are redefining success in the competitive realm of bidding.

There's always a lot going on, isn't there? Too much to keep track of, it seems. Here's what we've been up to over the past few months

We're excited to announce that Gaby will be joining us in December, bringing over 25 years of experience in bids and proposals to our team.

The extensive range of workshops and classes will help everyone who contributes to winning new business or retaining existing business to do it more effectively and efficiently, pushing up win rates and margins.​

This Black Friday, unlock unmatched quality and creativity with up to 50% off our expert proposal and bid design services!

This paper explores how you can create a competitive advantage using branding strategies and how to efficiently manage them in your capture process.

Uncover the secrets to crafting executive summaries and brochures that captivate and convince your audience.

In an era where artificial intelligence is transforming industries, we are unlocking its untapped potential in the realm of bids and proposals.

Unlock the secrets of winning bids by mastering the art of connecting every dot in the bid lifecycle.

More than simply helping to decide which deals you should chase, a good qualification process will help you identify actions that could improve your success.

We recently received an RFI from a prospect that raised some eyebrows. Here's why...

Calling in expert resources to support your proposal can fill a gap in your team's capabilities and, crucially, give you an edge over your competitors.

Strategic Proposals offers an expert team with a proven tool and tailored training courses to help you navigate competitive landscapes.

Strategic Proposals brings in expert proposal managers with extensive industry experience to lead the bid and proposal process.

Strategic Proposals offers expert training, coaching, and creative support to ensure your presenters effectively convey your strategy and solution.

Strategic Proposals provides independent expert reviewers who assess proposals to ensure it creates empathy with the customer and tells a compelling story.

Strategic Proposals crafts concise, engaging proposal and collateral content that tells a compelling story and resonates with evaluators.

Strategic Proposals attracts the best designers to create amazingly designed content that elevates your proposal and collateral.

Strategic Proposals provides courses that provide hands-on training in the latest techniques and competencies to win and retain work in competitive markets.

We help teams develop winning habits by benchmarking existing capabilities, identifying improvement opportunities, and running transformation programs.

Personal development has never been so important. But how do you know where you need to sharpen your skills? That's why we developed My Proposal Coach™.

Here are some highlights taken from Tim and Graham's occasional TGV video series on recruitment, retention and development in the bid and proposal industry.

Taking a more active approach to active qualification helps improve qualification effectiveness and this paper will show you how.

Watch our video where Tim and Graham talk about the value of keeping the written proposal conversational, and how to avoid nominalisation.

Strategic Proposals is committed to staying ahead of innovation in proposal development, so we're exploring applications of AI in our process.

There's always a lot going on, isn't there? Too much to keep track of, it seems. Here's what we've been up to over the past few months

In the high-stakes world of bidding, the battle is often won or lost in the minds of the buyers long before the RFP is issued. While the logical aspects of a proposal – compliance and completeness - are scrutinised under the microscope of evaluation criteria, it’s the emotional connection that often tips the scales towards one bidder over another.

This white paper discusses that all-important step in the capture process from business development to proposal.

Increase your probability of winning with capture tactics that work! To win business in today's highly competitive world, you must stand out from the crowd.

Strategic Proposals have contributed 5 articles to the latest edition of Bid Solution's award-winning Bidding Quarterly.

We were delighted to be diamond sponsors and were the official sponsor of the BPC Certification Day on Sunday 2 June.

Watch our video where we discuss why so many people in the bid and proposal profession fall back on the same baffling words and phrases?

From defining objectives, to maintaining customer confidentiality, here'd eight valuable principles to follow if you're considering using generative AI in bids.

More than simply helping to decide which deals you should chase, a good qualification process will help you identify actions that could improve your success.

Our latest white paper unveils the results of our third iteration of primary research about bidders' view of buying.

BJ Lownie, Strategic Proposals' founder has started to move towards his well-earned retirement in early 2025.

We are pleased to announce that one of our designers is now APMP graphic certified.

So pleased to announce that Debbie Mullen has joined our expanding SP family, with 20 years' experience in proposal writing and management.

We're delighted to welcome Regina Ellis as the latest star signing of our SP family. We are constantly growing as a business, which is great!

Strategic Proposals have recently presented at the APMP Consultant Showcase. Helping businesses win work and retain contracts.

We were interested to read the first release of the new BSI "PAS 360" code of practice for bid and proposal management, launched last week

We're so proud of Graham Ablett who won Contribution to the profession at the recent UK APMP awards dinner.

We are excited to announce we are finalists in the four categories we entered for the UK APMP awards,. Fingers crossed to find out at the awards dinner.

We are so proud to be the only organisation to sponsor every APMP UK conference since the first. We are all #proudtobeapmp

This new paper is the third iteration of our popular research report into how buyers view the proposals they receive from their suppliers.

We're so proud of our award-winning training team. Our APMP training courses have received net promoter scores (NPS) of 94%.

We put our own Jon Williams up against the might of Artificial Intelligence to see whether people could distinguish between his answer and AI.

How AI performs against our own Strategic Proposals expert, Jon Williams. We test the power of AI, comparing to real experts.

We were delighted to sponsor Twickenham Rugby Football Club's (TRFC) recent under-14 tour of Dublin.

In this informative and engaging session, founding member and advocate of proposals as a profession and APMP and a 40+ year veteran of proposal development,.

We look at where AI can help and where the human touch remains necessary. We'll discuss the pitfalls of AI and how advanced prompting can get the best results.

This webinar is all about tips to make your presentation stand out. Whether you present or help presenters to prepare, you'll find these tips to be invaluable.

Strategic Proposals, have created an environment that is inclusive and we ensure that the proposals industry comes from diverse backgrounds.

Kicked off our summer 2023 webinar series at Strategic Proposals, with information on our proposal coordinator apprenticeship role.

BCP Global in Orlando. We are there in force running an APMP Foundation course on the accreditation day, being silver sponsors, and we've got 5 presenters!

We were proud to sponsor the WIBAP 2023 event this year. There was a touching personal presentation from the lovely Kat and SP were there in force.

​Strategic Proposals attended the Loopio partner kick-off in May 2023, Strategic Proposals where we won the MASTERY award during the Loopio Partner Awards.