At the heart of every winning proposal lies a deep understanding of the client's needs, concerns, and objectives. Before diving into the proposal writing process, take the time to thoroughly research and analyze the client's requirements outlined in the request for proposals (RFP). Understanding the Client's Needs: The Foundation of Winning Proposals [...]
Brian McCollough -- With the PreSolicitation notice released and the final RFP coming in two weeks, there is no time to waste. This is written to help bidders win a STARS III contract. It is time for serious 8(a) bidders to start work in earnest. And for interested large businesses to find a [...]
Creating your own draft RFP allows you to address the following key questions: 1.How extensive will the scope of work be? 2. Will there be a past performance review? 3. Will it be a "best value" procurement or a price shoot-out? 4. What will be the most important evaluation considerations? When customers [...]
The first step in the proposal writing process after receipt of the RFP is a detailed analysis of the RFP and "decomposition" of the RFP into a comprehensive proposal - solicitation compliance matrix.
Gary Everett A successful Proposal Manager must lead the proposal development team and perform these critical actions / create these critical deliverables: 1. Create a numbered and section-titled Proposal Response Outline that ensures all response items are identified. 2. Create a compliance or cross-reference matrix that matches every proposal section to the [...]
8/28/14 After reading about the recent ouster of several companies on the $20-billion NASA SEWP competition, I was reminded of some experiences I have had in my 30-plus years as a proposal manager. While the NASA SEWP example is about small businesses overlooking fundamental page count instructions, the mistakes that befall bidders [...]
It is critically important to capture and apply the “lessons learned” from each proposal. I learned just how important this is as a Proposal Manager at Lockheed Martin and at SAIC for several years. Win or lose, best-in-class companies assess their strengths and weaknesses after each capture. They typically do this shortly [...]
On March 19th, APMP will host their monthly dinner and speaker series. The featured topic is “How to Win your Next Recompete”, everyone working on recompetes is encouraged to attend. There is a best-of-the-best panel with noted federal radio host Mark Amtower moderating. Panelists include Bob Lohfeld of Lohfeld Consulting; Kristin DeFrene [...]
One of the most challenging aspects of contract management is controlling the costs of proposal preparation. Recently a customer asked me to prepare a cost analysis on a very expensive proposal, and I got the idea of expanding the study to six Beltway firms. Based on examining three large and three small businesses, I found the following lessons learned on how to economize in preparing technical proposals.
On October 10th a “Special SEWP V Notice to Industry” was posted on FBO.gov; the link led to a gloomy Government shutdown notice. According to the NASA SEWP website, the due date will be released once the shutdown ends.
There is speculation that the procurement will be re-structured and delayed an additional 45 days to allow more participation by small businesses that are having difficulty with the current specifications in the Mandatory Products List. For now, however, it is anticipated the due date will be no earlier than November 1, 2013.
