Spreadsheets vs Bid Management Software: When to Switch

Spreadsheets are where every bid team starts. And for a while, they work. A shared Excel file with requirement tracking, a few colour-coded columns, maybe some conditional formatting to flag incomplete rows. The setup takes five minutes and costs nothing.

Then one day someone overwrites the formula in column G and three hours of work disappears. Or the file hits 4MB and starts lagging every time you open it. Or you realise nobody is sure which version of "Bid_Tracker_FINAL_v3.xlsx" is actually the current one.

That is usually when the conversation about dedicated bid software starts. But the answer is not always "switch immediately." Spreadsheets genuinely work well for certain teams at certain scales. The question is whether your team has passed that point.

When Spreadsheets Work Fine

There is no shame in using a spreadsheet. If any of the following describe your team, Excel or Google Sheets is probably still the right call:

•You are a solo bid manager or a team of two.
•You handle fewer than five tenders per month.
•Your typical tender has under 50 requirements.
•One person owns the file and controls all edits.
•There is little need for real-time collaboration across contributors.

At this scale, a well-structured spreadsheet gives you full visibility with zero overhead. You know where everything is because you put it there. The tool matches the complexity of the work.

A good bid spreadsheet still needs structure

Even if a spreadsheet is the right tool, it should have consistent columns (requirement ID, requirement text, status, owner, due date, notes), a clear naming convention, and a single source of truth. Most spreadsheet problems are really process problems.

Signs You Have Outgrown Spreadsheets

The shift from "this works" to "this is costing us" usually happens gradually. Here are the seven warning signs, roughly in the order they tend to appear.

Multiple people editing the same file and overwriting each other

Google Sheets helps with this, but even there, two people editing the same cell at the same time creates confusion. In desktop Excel, concurrent editing is a recipe for lost data.

Version control chaos

If your team has ever sent around a file called "Final_v3_REAL_final.xlsx," you already know this problem. Without built-in versioning, nobody is confident they are looking at the latest data.

No audit trail of who changed what

When a requirement status changes from "Partial" to "Compliant" and nobody knows who made that call or why, you have an accountability gap. Spreadsheets do not track change history at the cell level in any useful way.

Requirements getting lost between tabs

As the workbook grows, requirements end up scattered across multiple tabs. Some live in "Technical," others in "Commercial," and a few somehow end up in a tab called "Misc." Things get missed.

Spending more time managing the spreadsheet than writing the bid

When the tool becomes a project in itself, something is wrong. Fixing broken formulas, reformatting after someone pastes data in the wrong place, reconciling duplicate rows. These are symptoms, not work.

No way to track progress across multiple live tenders

When you are running three or four bids at once, each in its own spreadsheet, getting a single view of where everything stands becomes a manual exercise. Someone ends up building a "master tracker" spreadsheet to track the other spreadsheets. For more on this challenge, see our guide on How to Manage Multiple Tenders Without Burning Out.

Copy-paste errors between bids

Reusing content from a previous bid is standard practice. But when that means copying cells between workbooks and manually updating client names, dates, and project references, errors creep in. Submitting a proposal that references the wrong client name is an easy way to lose a bid.

If three or more of these sound familiar, it is probably time to look at purpose-built software. Our Best RFP Software in 2025 comparison can help you evaluate your options.

What Bid Management Software Actually Does

The term "bid management software" covers a wide range of tools, and not all of them do the same thing. Here are the core capabilities you will find across the category:

Requirement extraction and tracking

Pull individual requirements out of RFP documents automatically instead of reading and typing them in manually.

Compliance status per requirement

Track whether each requirement is met, partially met, or not met, with a clear status visible across the team.

Collaboration and assignment

Assign specific requirements or sections to team members with visibility into who is responsible for what.

Deadline tracking

Monitor submission deadlines across multiple active bids with alerts and progress indicators.

Content library for reusable answers

Store approved responses that can be searched and reused across future bids, reducing repetitive writing.

Export to client-required formats

Generate output in Word, PDF, or Excel format to match whatever the procurement team has asked for.

Not every tool covers all six areas. Some focus primarily on content libraries and reuse (Loopio, Responsive). Some focus on extraction and fast turnaround (RFP Matrix). Others try to cover the full bid lifecycle from opportunity identification through to submission. The right choice depends on where your biggest bottleneck sits.

The Comparison

Here is a side-by-side look at the practical differences between sticking with spreadsheets and moving to dedicated bid software.

Factor	Spreadsheets	Bid Software
Cost	Free	£100 to £500/month
Setup time	Instant	1 to 2 hours
Learning curve	Low	Low to medium
Collaboration	Poor	Good
Requirement tracking	Manual	Automated
Version control	None	Built-in
Scalability	Breaks at 5+ tenders	Handles volume
Content reuse	Copy-paste	Searchable library

The spreadsheet wins on cost and simplicity. It always will. The question is whether that simplicity still serves you, or whether it is hiding costs in the form of wasted time, errors, and missed requirements.

Making the Switch

If you have decided to try bid software, here is the approach that works best for most teams.

Do not try to migrate everything at once

The instinct is to import all your historical data, rebuild your templates, and go all-in. Resist that. Migration projects stall because they become too big before anyone has seen a result.

Start with your next tender

Pick the next RFP that lands on your desk and use the new software for that one bid. Use it for requirement extraction and tracking. If the tool supports response drafting, try that too. Keep your spreadsheet open alongside it for anything the tool does not handle yet.

Evaluate after two to three tenders

One bid is not enough data. After two or three tenders, you will have a clear picture of where the software saves time and where it adds friction. You will also know which spreadsheet habits you can drop and which ones you still need.

What to track during the trial

Time spent on requirement extraction (spreadsheet vs software)
Number of requirements missed or duplicated
Time spent on formatting and version management
How often you had to go back to the spreadsheet for something the software could not do

Bring the team along gradually

If you work with subject matter experts who contribute to bids, do not force a new tool on everyone at once. Start with the bid management core (you and your immediate team), then expand to contributors once you have worked out the process.

The Right Time to Switch

The honest answer is that there is no universal threshold. Some teams run beautifully on spreadsheets at ten tenders a month. Others hit problems at three. It depends on the complexity of your bids, the size of your team, and how disciplined your process is.

But if you are reading this article, you are probably already past the point where the spreadsheet is working well. The right time to switch is before the spreadsheet costs you a bid, not after.

See what bid software looks like in practice

RFP Matrix extracts requirements from your RFP documents automatically and tracks compliance status from start to finish. If your team is ready to move beyond spreadsheets, it is a good place to start.

Try RFP Matrix