“Why do something today when it can be done tomorrow!” – Don Pedro
Why do vendors competing in a competitive public Request for Proposal process wait until the last minute to submit their proposal? It doesn’t matter how long the timeline is, invariably some if not most vendors wait until the last moment to submit their offers. The risk of late deliveries resulting in disqualification is real and is not as uncommon as you might think.
“Submission of a complete bid on or before the bid submission deadline and in compliance with the bid submission requirements is not a mere formality. Timely submission of bids is sacrosanct – a fundamental and strict requirement of the competitive tendering process. As bidders have learned, a bid submitted – even mere seconds – after the closing deadline, or to the wrong person, the wrong address or using the wrong format or delivery method will be rejected” – Faskin
It doesn’t matter why proposals are received after the deadline. Late is late. Yesterday has passed.
We’ve seen this happen all too often over the years. At one bid opening an overnight express package received in time indicated the sender was Blue Cross. The contents however contained information on furniture. Apparently the clerk at the overnight express office put the wrong documents in the wrong envelopes. Sadly, the Blue Cross office was across town – why didn’t Blue Cross simply drive across town and deliver their proposal? Result: Blue Cross, the incumbent carrier, was excluded from further consideration and they lost the business.
Weather can be factor. Recently a storm in the Midwest interrupted overnight delivery resulting in late deliveries the following day. The vendor had waited until the day before the bid was due to send their proposal and missed the deadline. It didn’t matter that it was out of their control. What mattered was it was late.
Responding to a public solicitation is expensive. Relying on last day delivery is risky business.
