Public procurement: how to structure your company to win, execute and renew contracts?
Winning a public contract can change the trajectory of a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or an intermediate-sized enterprise (ISE). However, the company must be organized to win it, execute it correctly, and then capitalize on this initial experience in subsequent tenders.
With over €233 billion in public contracts awarded in France in 2024, public procurement represents a considerable market. SMEs are far from absent from this sector: they win approximately 60% of the contracts by number.
And access to these markets continues to evolve. In 2026, several simplification measures came into effect, and the law notably provides for the gradual centralization of a large portion of government procurement contracts on a single platform. The new National Public Procurement Council also prioritizes the simplification of procedures, digitalization, and sovereignty issues.
The interest from businesses is real. At the end of 2025, 344,000 companies were registered on the State procurement platform and 163,000 electronic bids had been submitted during the year, 5.1% more than in 2024.
For an SME or an ETI, there are many reasons to be interested: diversifying its client portfolio, accessing large or multi-year contracts, obtaining new references or developing a business in strategic markets.
But responding regularly to public tenders is not something that can be improvised.
Responding to a call for tenders should be a strategic decision
When an interesting opportunity arises, the instinct might be to quickly mobilize the sales team to prepare a response. But sometimes, it's already too late...
The most structured companies do not begin their planning when the consultation is published. They monitor projects that may be relevant to their business, identify recurring markets, analyze buyer expectations, and choose those in which they truly want to position themselves.
Public authorities are also encouraging more dialogue prior to consultations. For example, sourcing allows buyers to better understand companies and their solutions before a tender is published.
The first good practice is therefore to move from an opportunistic approach to a genuine public procurement strategy.
Which markets truly match the company's expertise?
Which contracts are of strategic interest?
In which areas does it have a genuine competitive advantage?
Which markets, on the other hand, are likely to mobilize a lot of resources for a low probability of success?
The Directorate General for Enterprises, for its part, recommends prioritizing quality over quantity and putting in place go/no-go criteria to select the consultations to respond to.
For a structured mid-sized company or SME, this choice deserves to be managed like an investment decision.
A public contract is not solely the responsibility of the Sales Director
This is probably one of the most important changes to make. Because the Sales Director cannot be the only one to decide whether a market is worthwhile.
The sales team will naturally consider the contract's potential, its positioning relative to competitors, and its chances of success. But operations must also assess the ability to deliver. Supply chain must verify any potential dependencies. Finance must measure the contract's economic impact. Quality teams must validate the requirements to which the company is committing. Management must assess the market's alignment with the overall strategy.
A major tender quickly becomes a cross-functional project. This is especially true when it requires increased production rates, new recruitment, certification, a higher level of reporting, new quality requirements, or a
increased coordination with subcontractors.
The best practice is to implement a shared go/no-go decision-making process. Before investing several weeks in a response, the company collectively validates its ability to win and to keep its commitments.
This is precisely one of the places where an Interim Manager can bring value: when several departments need to work together but none has the time, method or legitimacy necessary to orchestrate the project.
Industrialize responses without creating standardized files
Responding to a call for tenders takes time. Client references, organization, human and technical resources, quality processes, CSR commitments, indicators, methodology, planning, financial elements…
A company that responds regularly should not have to start from scratch with each consultation.
It can gradually build a real public procurement knowledge base: documented references, proof of performance, qualifications, processes, feedback, skills CVs, methodologies or indicators already proven.
But industrializing doesn't mean copy-pasting. Each response must demonstrate that the company understands the buyer's specific needs and can explain how its organization addresses them. The DGE also recommends personalizing offers and selecting tenders where the company possesses truly differentiating advantages.
The Interim Manager can intervene here to structure the process, not just to write the report:
define who contributes to each part;
install a production and validation schedule;
clarify responsibilities;
capitalize on reusable content;
organize the arbitrations;
verify that the commitments made in the offer are actually achievable.
The goal is that the ability to respond no longer depends on a few people working in a state of emergency before each deadline.
Prepare for execution even before submitting the offer
This is where the commercial response truly intersects with operations. Before stating that a deadline will be met, that certain volumes will be produced, or that a level of service will be guaranteed, it is essential to verify that the company possesses the corresponding resources.
A significant market may require new recruitment, increased industrial capacity, additional suppliers, a multi-site organization, new quality processes, or dedicated governance. Preparatory work must therefore include an execution scenario.
What happens if we win?
Who assumes responsibility for the contract upon notification?
Which team needs to be mobilized?
What recruitment or investment measures need to be implemented?
What points could become critical during the ramp-up phase?
Which internal functions will need to absorb more work?
This reflection also has another advantage: it improves the answer itself. A company that can explain precisely how it will organize the start-up, manage risks and measure its performance presents a more credible offer than a company that simply claims it will be able to do it.
Winning the first time should make subsequent consultations easier
A public contract should not be considered an isolated operation. Its execution produces something very valuable for the company: evidence.
Adherence to deadlines, quality level, performance indicators, ability to manage increased workload, customer feedback, handling of potential difficulties, improvements made during the contract...
These elements can inform future responses and strengthen the company's credentials, provided they are capitalized upon. A company that completes a contract and then disperses the team without conducting a debriefing loses some of that value.
The end of a contract, or the approach of a new competitive bidding process, must therefore be prepared: what results can we demonstrate? What have we learned? What processes need to evolve? What weaknesses identified during the first contract need to be corrected before the next consultation?
The Interim Manager can also play this structuring role: transforming a successful experience into a reproducible method.
The challenge is no longer just to win one market, but to gradually build an organization capable of managing several.
Interim management can intervene before, during and after the tendering process.
This is probably where we need to move beyond the overly narrow view of the Interim Manager, who is only called in once the contract is already won and the company is under pressure. Their involvement can begin much earlier!
Before the consultations, it can help the Management to structure the public procurement strategy, set up go/no go criteria, organize cross-functional work and professionalize the response processes.
During a strategic tender process, he can coordinate the different departments, secure operational commitments and ensure that the commercial response remains consistent with the company's actual capabilities.
After the assignment, it can take charge of the ramp-up: organization, operations, industry, Supply Chain, finance, quality or project management as needed.
Finally, during execution , it can install the methods, indicators and feedback that will allow the company to respond more effectively to future markets or new competition.
The Interim Manager is therefore not only there to absorb a peak in activity.
It can allow the company to reach a new level of maturity.
To make public procurement a driver of development rather than a series of opportunities
Public procurement can represent a real growth driver for an SME or an ISE. But when contracts become large or regular, continuing to operate in an opportunistic mode quickly reaches its limits.
The challenge then becomes building an organization capable of making public procurement a sustainable axis of development.
This requires a strategy, selection criteria, cross-functional governance, robust response processes, and the ability to capitalize on each contract won.
And when there is a temporary lack of leadership skills or the ability to steer this transformation, Interim Management makes it possible to structure the organization while continuing to move forward.
Do you want to structure your organization to respond to larger or more regular markets?
TOPS Ressources mobilizes experienced Interim Managers to strengthen your commercial, operational and management functions, from the preparation of tenders to the execution of contracts.
Sources:
TOPS Resources, Interim Management in Executive Committee roles: CEO, CFO, HR Director, Supply Chain Manager, Transformation Director, Sales Director...
