This is the fourth of six articles in a series. This article focuses on assessment of your capture health for Phase 3 – Pursue. As appropriate, please revisit the April, May, and June articles to ensure you have the proper context for this and subsequent articles in this series.

The first article provided an overview of a five-phase capture process and a summary of a capture health assessment tool I refer to as the Capture Report Card. This and the two remaining articles in the series focus on the key objectives and assessment guidelines for one of the five phases.

 

As a refresher, the Capture Report Card is a tool that supports objective, timely, and comprehensive assessment of the health or status of a competitive business capture over the entire 5-phase life cycle. It provides for an assessment of ten (10) elements as shown below. The assessment is a self-evaluation by the capture lead(s) of what is being done or has been accomplished for each element compared to what should be active or completed at the time of the assessment. Everything associated with a competitive capture, from identification to award, is covered in one (and only one) of these 10 elements:

 

1. Opportunity Status / Past Performance
2. Customer Knowledge and Relationships
3. Win Strategy
4. Capture / Proposal Resources
5. Solution / Teaming
6. Competitor Assessment
7. Price-to-Win
8. Financial / Contract
9. Proposal Development
10. Program Readiness

For each phase, each of the 10 Report Card elements includes a variety of items or actions (referred to as assessment guidelines) associated with a competitive capture, showing what should be done during that phase. This series of articles provides assessment guidelines for each element, for each phase. While the guidelines I summarize are designed for a large, competitive bid, they can and should be tailored to fit any company’s process and/or to fit any competitive business capture activity.

The remainder of this article provides an overview Phase 3 (Define Winning Solution and Position to Win) of our 5-phase capture process (shown below) followed by a discussion of the Report Card assessment guidelines for this phase.

Phase 3 Overview
After you have validated your win strategy through a Gold Team Review and completed a review of your overall capture health, you reach a point where it is time to make a formal decision to move forward with increased focus and probably a significant increase in resources. Many companies refer to this particular decision point as a Pursue / No Pursue Decision. If you decide to move forward, your objective is to define a detailed solution and generally position your team as the best choice for the customer.

The customer may increase their dialogue with industry during this phase, which can help the capture team focus on the likely proposal structure and identify any concerns or potential issues that must be addressed prior to release of a final RFP.

This phase includes additional reviews of your win strategy and your solution / approach. Accordingly, early in this phase you should have a Program Manager and Technical Lead identified and fully engaged to lead the solution development. The Program Manager has primary responsibility to ensure you can deliver what you are promising. There will likely be spirited (but healthy) debate between what you need to bid to win (solution / schedule / price) and what you can actually deliver if you win. Even if you are not in a position to name the person who will actually run the eventual program, someone should be designated in this role because it is important to have someone who is focused on performing – not just winning.

Teaming should be firmed up during this phase with clear definition of roles and responsibilities. The PTW goal (or range) should be narrowed and translated into cost targets (or bogies) for each element of the solution, and for each team member if applicable. This phase could also include a follow up Black Hat review if there is sufficient change in the competitive landscape (new teams formed or significant changes in existing teams), with appropriate updates to the win strategy. Throughout this phase, you will further validate your initial strategy and modify it as appropriate to maximize your win probability.

You will also evaluate how well your solution reflects your win strategy. You will firm up resources, planned assignments, and your general approach for the upcoming proposal phase, with commitments from senior management and team members. During this phase, you will want to identify the Proposal Manager and have them fully engaged near the end of the phase, sooner if you have mature Draft RFP documents. If the customer has published draft RFP information that is considered mature, many companies will proceed with Storyboard development and review during this phase, and possibly initial proposal development.

At the end of this phase, triggered by release of a final RFP, you want to be in the position to develop a proposal that reflects your strategy, teaming, and solution – not continuing to work these items. Essentially, you will likely have won or lost by the end of Phase 3. As the old (and true) saying goes: "You can lose a winning opportunity with a bad proposal, but you cannot win a losing opportunity with a good proposal."

The Capture Plan is revised during this phase as more information becomes available to the team. This plan represents an increasingly valuable artifact as you prepare for proposal development in the next phase – and it provides a great reference document for senior management, review team members, and others who need to quickly become familiar with the opportunity.

Generally within two or three work days after RFP release, the team will review the final RFP for any surprises and make a formal Bid / No-Bid decision based on your status and chances for success. Assuming you continue, you shift to proposal development (Phase 4).

Phase Three Key Goals and Objectives: Finalize strategies, PTW / DTC targets, teaming, resources, value proposition, and make an informed bid decision
Inputs: Capture Plan Feedback or guidance from customer / possibly responses to Industry day or draft solicitation questions Additional customer and competitor intelligence Possibly: Draft Customer Solicitation Final Customer Solicitation / RFP (triggers end of this phase)	Outputs: Updated PTW Goals Design Cost Targets (to meet PTW) Defined solution / approach (tech, mgmt, schedule) Completed teaming / subcontracting agreements Updated Capture Plan
Key Events / Activities: Follow up Black Hat if needed Solution Review (could be multiple iterations) Storyboard Review Bid / No-Bid Review

 

Report Card Assessment

From a Report Card perspective, you should make an assessment at least monthly during Phase 3 (for large, complex, or strategically important opportunities). The updated Report Card (or similar status document) should be the primary focus at the Bid / No Bid Review.

To help ensure your assessment is as objective as possible, the table below defines assessment guidelines for each of the 10 elements for this phase. All ten elements are applicable for Phase 3 as you will see below.

As discussed in the initial article in this series, the timing of the assessment during this or subsequent phases may vary based on the importance or complexity of the opportunity, the amount of time spent in this phase, and other factors. Please refer to this initial (April) article for a broader discussion of assessment timing considerations.

Element	Assessment Guidelines for Phase 3 - Identify
1. Opportunity Status / Past Performance	Funding remains solid – any threats understood Understanding of customer source selection process – supporting firms – tools they will likely use Current / Past performance references selected and remain positive – updated all contact information and further confirmed positive feedback is anticipated from customer teams No surprises in final RFP Evidence in final solicitation documents / RFP that you have successfully influenced (no apparent influence by competitor that puts your team at disadvantage) IR&D dependencies on track PPP / EDO agreements secured providing favorable position for your team Customer is generally holding to acquisition schedule – risk of extended delay appears low Completed Bid / No Bid Review and confirmed plans to develop a proposal International Only: Obtained all export approvals required to continue pursuit without constraint Finalized Offset Plan and obtained approval / buy-in from all stakeholders Mechanisms / procedures in place for secure exchange of information / file transfer Completed selection of proposal translation service
2. Customer Knowledge and Relationships	Continued contact strategy – customer feedback is positive relative to your approach / team – no surprises Leveraged White Papers to communicate your capabilities and/or to strengthen relationships Customer decision makers confirmed and prioritized (weighted) in terms of influence Identified supporting members of customer evaluation team(s) Established professional and positive line of formal communication between your Contracts POC and customer POC Storyboards (if started in this phase) clearly address areas that are important to key decision makers Continued public relations initiates (if applicable)
3. Win Strategy	Workshop or other forum conducted to ensure you do not underestimate completion or fall prey to incumbenitus (if you are incumbent) Win Strategy defined for all applicable elements: management, technical, teaming, personnel, past performance, organization, execution, pricing. Customer validated or provided positive feedback related your overall strategy Key risks or obstacles to winning updated - progress with mitigation approach Win strategy fully communicated to / embraced by all team members Win Strategy, themes, and discriminators updated as appropriate and validated review of your solution / approach Preliminary Executive Summary developed as effective communication aide / to guide proposal team (Elevator Speech finalized) Final RFP presents no surprises / ideally confirms your influence and/or clearly in sync with current strategies / themes / discriminators
4. Capture / Proposal Resources	Proposal Manager identified and committed / engaged if draft RFP is mature and proposal work is initiated early Facility and related infrastructure requirements and tools identified with viable plan in place. Capture team fully staffed to plan Review Team Leads selected for Storyboard, Pink, and Red reviews Review team members identified / committed for solution review All external specialists (e.g., Orals coach, SMEs, review team participants, etc.) in place or available as required Team partners / subcontractor providing capture support as agreed - committed to schedule Updated OH / B&P funding requirements. Pursuit is funded at the required level to ensure success through proposal phase Team member proposal skill training needs identified / scheduled as needed
5. Solution / Teaming	Baselined Technical / Management / Personnel / Staffing approach Initial program organizational structure established Final plan completed and approved for facility requirements and capital to support program All key (named) personnel identified, properly vetted, and committed Final WBS established with DTC targets to reflect latest PTW objectives Completed selection, qualification, and agreements with key team members / subcontractors – issued all SOWs and related material (Ts&Cs, pricing instructions, etc.) Identified all key suppliers Team member / subcontractor roles clearly understood Solution supports / consistent with Win Strategy and customer hot buttons / objectives (ideally your approach has been presented to and validated by customer) Solution meets DTC / business case objectives Preliminary IMP / IMS established Developed BOEs for all labor, travel, etc. and Bill of Material (BOM) for material Completed Solution / Approach Review
6. Competitor Assessment	Updated competitor understanding based upon new information or changes in competitive landscape – results used to establish or update Win Strategy (follow up Black Hat conducted if necessary) Developed prioritized ranking of key competitors by Win criteria Updated strategies to maximize your strengths, counter your weaknesses , an exploit competitor weaknesses in relation to each key competitor
7. Price-to-Win	Projected ratings for your company and each key competitor against the customer’s evaluation factors and estimated impact on customer’s most-probable-cost (MPC) determination PTW target narrowed based on customer funding realities / most probable cost evaluation / award trends / competitor estimates – PTW should be 95% mature by end of this phase
8. Financial / Contract	Established all instructions and schedule for developing pricing data (subcontractor inputs, BOEs, BOMs, etc.) Capital Expenditure or other investments required to support program have appropriate management approval Any variance or exceptions to policy related to bid approach are approved at appropriate level Conducted initial review of performance risks (ability to deliver what is proposed, on schedule, within price) – risk are manageable Refined Best Value items with appropriate substantiation / quantification Received and determined adequacy and completeness of all subcontractor inputs Final OCI Mitigation Plan approved (if applicable) Initial pricing rollup completed - consistent with PTW
9. Proposal Development	Developed Bid CONOPS - Confirmed readiness to start proposal effort Reviewed Draft RFP (if applicable) Developed, reviewed, submitted questions / comments related to draft RFP or other early solicitation documents. Allocated appropriate facility space and tools to support proposal development / co-location of team as needed. Updated Capture / Proposal schedule to reflect current understanding of activities through proposal submittal Templates / author instructions and guidance information prepared Developed initial section plans, Storyboards / Mockups (based on draft RFP or best estimate of proposal content) Reviewed Final RFP Validated or modified RDO with assignments, pages, requirements mapping – final outline established and ready for dissemination Updated storyboards / approach based on final RFP / or established plan for storyboard development if not yet done.
10. Program Readiness	Clear plan in place to address any new program staffing (new hires, incumbent workforce recruitment, etc.)

As stated earlier, you will want to customize these guidelines to fit your company’s process and to fit the specific opportunity. Clearly, some guidelines will not apply. For example, if there is no potential for a public-private partnership (PPP) / Economic Development Opportunity (EDO) as shown in Element 1, then this guideline would be eliminated or ignored and would not affect your self assessment. However, take caution not do dismiss guidelines simply because you have no information or plan in place.

The Report Card assessment calls for scoring each of the applicable elements. Article 1 provides a more detailed discussion of the assessment approach and scoring. This score for each element is a color rating based on a numerical score that you assign as follows:

0 = Not Applicable, Blank (this is the default score for Element 9 and 10 for this phase)
1-59 = Red
60-84 = Yellow
85-95 = Green
96-100 = Blue

In simple terms, review each guideline for each element and make an objective assessment of where you stand. If you feel you are on track or have adequate information, scores should generally be positive. If you have little or no information for an item, this should have a negative influence on the element rating. The scores, if performed objectively based on facts and data available (not the unfounded optimism or gut feeling of the team), will provide a fairly clear picture of the overall health of your capture and will highlight where the team needs to focus moving forward.

Throughout the Report Card assessment process, Senior Managers should avoid a ‘kill the messenger’ syndrome. Let the facts speak for themselves and use the data to correct weaknesses so that subsequent assessments will hopefully be more favorable. Ultimately, this is designed to help you improve your win probability by covering all the bases and doing the hard work that is critical to a successful capture. Alternately, you may find that your chances of success are not sufficiently favorable and you should abandon the pursuit – saving money and resources that can be allocated to pursuits with a better chance for success.

As scores are agreed for each element after appropriate discussion across the leadership team, then enter the score on the Report Card sheet (refer to article 1). This becomes a permanent record of your status ‘at that point in time’. As you perform multiple assessments, you will see visual trends (neutral, positive, or negative) that may be useful in prioritizing tasks and assessing the effectiveness of your process.