ABOUT JORDAN KELLY

I’m Jordan Kelly – a multi-industry bid strategist and writer since 2002, with an extensive prior career in journalism, public relations and marcoms – and more than 25 published books (most on marketing and bid-related topics) under my belt. 

The multi-faceted skill set I have drawn on in my work with a vast array of (often multi-national) B2G and B2B enterprises to help them win big-ticket, mission-critical pursuits, has also enriched my formulation and delivery of many bespoke training, coaching and mentoring programs.

One of my specialisations in the bidding arena has involved helping household-name civil infrastructure contractors win non-price-based, consortium-bid, “project alliancing” or “collaborative contracting” projects. In this form of civil infrastructure contracting, client procurement agencies often team with multiple other consortia members to deliver projects against well-publicised Governmental imperatives.

Winning these (often nationally significant megaprojects) requires not only a detailed understanding of (Government) client-side strategies and priorities, but also the best achievable insights into the corporate strategies at play within the various competing consortia. It further requires a level of differentiation unlike any other industry, to stand out amidst a competitive field in which almost every player can “do the job” – at least to an acceptable standard of project delivery.

An especially important component of these weighty submissions is the Curricula Vitae of the specific operational and managerial members of the project team. As a collective, these documents can account for up to 40 percent of the scoring value of this type of bid. They are far from the average “CV” – although they’re often seen only as that by “average” bid and “tender writers”.

These CVs are – both individually and collectively – fundamental to the supplementary and interwoven communication of a bidder’s core strategy.

For any genuinely savvy proponent, the inseparable role these specifically project-relevant mini-biographies (even within their challengingly tight prescribed word counts) play within the broader submission, deems them worthy of priority focus and time investment. These bidders know that – with the almost-always formidable competition they’re up against – well-formulated, genuinely strategic, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” Curricula Vitae represent their most powerful weaponry.

My Most Relevant Books Include . . .

In 2015, I was sponsored by the Australian civil infrastructure contracting sector to produce what is considered a seminal work in this area: the ‘Cracking the VfM Code’ duo, ‘How to Identify & Deliver Genuine Value for Money in Collaborative Contracting’, and ‘Cracking the VfM Code in Collaborative Contract Bidding: Value for Money … Understanding It & Articulating Your Ability to Deliver It’.

I’ve also written – among my other specifically bid-related books – a full portfolio of how-to paperbacks on high-value bidding, including my flagship, ‘Think & Win Bids: Winning High-Value, High-Stakes Bids through Superior Questioning, Listening and Thinking Skills’ – a work that some client organisations have made “required reading” for their bid, sales and marketing teams, internationally.