In public procurement, winning isn’t about chasing every opportunity. It’s about chasing the right ones.

Across Europe, thousands of SMEs invest time and resources preparing bids they were never likely to win. The result? Overworked teams, low win rates, and bidding strategies built on volume instead of focus.

According to research from the OECD, inefficiency and misallocation in public procurement can increase costs by 20–30 %for both buyers and suppliers. For small businesses, that wasted effort hits hardest.

The good news? There’s a smarter way. It starts with one simple principle: the 80% rule, only bid when you meet at least 80% of the tender’s mandatory criteria.

This approach turns procurement from a numbers game into a strategy, creating tender funnels that are smaller, stronger, and far more effective.

Here’s how it works.

Why most tender funnels don’t work

Most companies treat tendering like a volume game: find as many opportunities as possible, submit as many bids as time allows, and hope one lands.

On the surface, that sounds logical, more bids should mean more chances to win. In reality, it produces the opposite effect.

Without a clear qualification process, teams stretch thin, quality drops, and win rates stagnate.

More tenders doesn’t mean more wins

Bid Managers often measure success by the number of tenders found or submitted. But that’s like a sales team counting every lead (even unqualified ones) as progress.

Submitting more bids only helps if they’re aligned with your company’s strengths, eligibility, and resources. Otherwise, you’re increasing workload, not competitiveness.

Industry studies consistently show that companies with focused pipelines, fewer, better-qualified tenders, enjoy significantly higher win rates. The Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) calls this the “qualification advantage”: every hour saved on low-fit bids can be reallocated to improving high-fit ones.

The hidden cost of poor qualification

Every bid has a cost. SMEs spend anywhere from €10,000 to €30,000 in time and preparation per submission.

If your team wins one in ten, that means nine of those investments return nothing.

The issue isn’t ambition. It’s efficiency. Without filtering out poor fits early, small teams lose time they can’t recover.

A well-built tender funnel is selective by design.

And that’s where the 80% Rule begins.

The 80% rule of smart bidding

The 80% Rule is simple and powerful.

Only pursue tenders where your organisation meets at least 80% of the mandatory criteria before starting a bid.

It’s not about playing it safe; it’s about working smart. By qualifying opportunities rigorously, Bid Managers build stronger funnels, reduce wasted effort, and improve their company’s chances of success.

What the 80% rule means?

Every tender includes must-haves: eligibility requirements, technical capabilities, financial thresholds, references, and certifications.

The 80% Rule suggests that if your company can’t confidently check off most of these boxes, roughly four out of five, it’s better to pass.

This approach mirrors best practices used by large corporations, where qualification frameworks are standard. Teams review each opportunity against predefined criteria before committing resources.

The goal is not to limit opportunities but to focus effort where it matters most.

Why it works?

The 80% Rule filters low-probability bids before they consume resources.

It gives teams more time for what actually increases win rates, tailoring proposals, refining pricing, and strengthening partnerships.

This method aligns with research from the APMP, which found that disciplined qualification correlates directly with higher proposal success rates.

In simple terms: the more selective your funnel, the more efficient your operation, and the more wins you’ll secure.

Smart bidding isn’t about how many tenders you chase. It’s about how many you’re ready to win.

How to build a tender funnel that converts?

A tender funnel isn’t just a list of opportunities, it’s a decision-making framework.

Each stage determines how resources are used, how quickly your team reacts, and how well you compete.

Here’s how to build one that actually converts.

Step 1: Capture widely

Start by casting a wide net.

Use reliable aggregators or platforms that centralise multiple sources. The goal at this stage is visibility, ensuring you see every potential opportunity that fits your general scope or sector.

A healthy funnel begins with coverage. You can’t qualify what you can’t see.

Step 2: Qualify rigorously

This is where the 80% Rule applies.

Once you have a list of tenders, quickly score each one based on:

• Eligibility: Do you meet the technical and financial criteria?
• Relevance: Does it align with your capabilities and priorities?
• Capacity: Can you deliver on time and within budget?
• Strategic value: Does this buyer or contract lead to future growth?

If you meet fewer than 80% of the requirements, remove it early.

A smaller funnel is easier to manage  and more likely to produce wins.

Step 3: Focus on conversion

After qualification, concentrate on execution.

Prioritise high-fit opportunities, assign responsibilities early, and track progress.

Keep an eye on repeat buyers, contracts where you’ve already delivered successfully often have a higher win probability.

This disciplined approach turns your funnel from a search tool into a conversion engine, one that wastes less and wins more.

The metrics that matter in smart bidding

Success in public procurement isn’t measured by how many bids you submit — it’s measured by how efficiently you convert opportunities into wins.

Smart teams track data that shows progress, not just activity.

Win rate is only the start

Win rate (the percentage of bids won out of total submitted) is the most common metric, but it doesn’t tell the full story.

Two teams might have the same win rate, but one spends half the time and money achieving it.

To really understand performance, look at quality, not just quantity:

• Shortlist ratio: how many discovered tenders pass qualification
• Bid-to-win ratio: how many submitted bids lead to contracts
• Average contract value: are you winning higher-value projects over time?

These indicators show whether your funnel is working or simply churning.

Measuring efficiency

Efficiency metrics show how smart your bidding process really is:

• Cost per bid: total resources spent per submission
• Qualification accuracy: how often your team identifies high-fit tenders correctly
• Time-to-bid: how quickly you can progress from discovery to submission

The APMP recommends using these measures to align teams and improve decision-making, particularly for SMEs with limited bandwidth.

When you track the right numbers, you stop guessing and start improving.

Next, we’ll close with how to sustain this focus and build a smarter, long-term bidding strategy.

From chaos to clarity: Building a sustainable bidding strategy

The smartest bidding teams aren’t the ones chasing the most tenders, they’re the ones making the clearest decisions.

By applying the 80% Rule, SMEs move from reactive to strategic tendering. Instead of flooding the funnel, they focus on opportunities they can actually win, freeing time for better analysis, pricing, and delivery.

Tools and systems for smarter funnels

Building discipline requires structure.

Centralised dashboards, CRM-style tender tracking, and AI relevance scoring can help teams qualify faster and reduce manual work.

These tools don’t replace expertise, they amplify it, turning routine searches into a manageable workflow.

Culture over volume

Smart bidding isn’t just a process change; it’s a mindset.

Teams need to value selectivity over activity.

Celebrate well-qualified tenders, not just the number of submissions. The goal is to compete where you have the highest chance of success, not everywhere at once.

The outcome

A smaller funnel.

Fewer wasted hours.

Higher conversion rates.

That’s what a sustainable bidding strategy looks like, one built on focus, data, and discipline.

Because in procurement, winning doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from doing the right things better.