2015

It goes without saying, 2015 has seen a challenged market for proposal professionals.  In 2015 the forces unleashed by the Sequestration filtered down to the proposal business.  It is estimated that the market for proposal services fell on the order of 15% during 2015.

The reasons for the decline in level of effort (LOE) needed to complete proposals are not hard to find.  They include the following:

  1. The proliferation of large IDIQ contracts with short-turn task orders has caused a drop in the need for proposal activities.
  2. The great delays in program releases has stretched the procurement cycle and thus caused a net decline in the volume of RFPs.
  3. The use of Continuing Resolutions (CR) to pass the 2015 appropriations meant there could be no new program starts.
  4. Etc.

2016

There is a general expectation that we will see a pickup in the pace of RFP activities in 2016.  Following below are some of the reasons for confidence in a market uptick:

  1. The congress has passed a clean appropriations bill that removes much of the ambiguity surrounding the procurement process we have seen during recent years.
  2. The ability to budget the funds where they are needed, rather than being tied to the past line item percentages established by the Sequestration, will help release an artificial impediment on the market.
  3. The fact that we have real appropriations and not just a CR means we can have new start programs once again.
  4. The appropriation totals include about 10% more funds than 2015, not counting special category funds to support the wars in the Mid-East.

The net net effect of the new appropriations provides a breath of fresh air for a procurement system tied down by the inflexibility of Sequestration formulas.  We should see a moderate but healthy increase in proposal activity in 2016.