Going With the Flow(chart): Aligning with the Customer’s Organization

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It is important to stand out. It is necessary to demonstrate your unique qualifications. It is vital to show that your company deserves the bid because you can supply something superior — something DIFFERENT than the rest. But, not so different that your proposal alienates its evaluators.

RFPs are released in order to locate a company that can best fulfill a need, i.e., a product or service   that is outside the bounds of a given Government agency’s capabilities, so most sections of your proposal are devoted to selling your company’s distinctive offerings. Yet, there is one section that is your opportunity to strike a necessary chord of familiarity: the Management Volume. Continue reading →

Government Customer Wants to Visit? Gotta Let’em In.

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Someone’s Knockin’ At the Door.
Somebody’s Ringin’ the Bell.
Someone’s Knockin’ At the Door.
Somebody’s Ringin’ the Bell.
Do YOURSELF A Favor,
Open The Door And Let ‘Em In…

Imagine this scenario, familiar to many contractors:
Two years ago, you landed a large contract producing wigits for a major Government agency. Things seem to be going well, until you begin to hear from the Government’s program manager (PM) about quality issues. As you begin to address those, your key supplier has a production melt-down and misses a delivery, making your next three shipments late. Continue reading →

Seeing is Believing, but Make the Call Anyway

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We all know that RFPs are tightly scripted, highly-detailed documents. Yet, not everything you need to know can be gleaned from reading the RFP. Talking to the potential customer – well before the RFP is released – is essential  before investing large resources in developing a proposal. Continue reading →

FOIABles Alert!

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Competitors Using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to Sneak Peek at YOUR Proposals

A growing trend in the federal procurement market exists where competitors are submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for ALL contracting documentation on bids – and specifically requesting the proposals submitted by the winners. Continue reading →

ID Please…

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Heads up to anyone planning on visiting Federal facilities after January 30, 2017 – if you are from  Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Pennsylvania or South Carolina, then your state issued driver’s license is no longer an acceptable form of identification for access. Continue reading →

Oral Proposals: Presentations that POP

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You’re a good proposal writer. You’ve been trained, understand the process, know how to analyze an RFP and organize your response, and can turn your SMEs’ input into compelling proposal language. So when the VP of Marketing drops an RFP for an oral proposal on your desk, you’re not worried – ‘No big deal – I’ll just write the proposal in PowerPoint slides instead of Word.’ You soon find out it’s a bigger deal than you thought. Continue reading →

Requests for Information are Your First Opportunity to Make an Impression: The Value of Responding to RFIs

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“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work.” Thomas Edison

Those that wait for a Government solicitation (RFP) to land at their door miss their chance at giving critical input during the early stages of the government procurement process.  Industry feedback advises the Government’s changes and adjustments to RFPs — PRIOR TO RELEASE, perhaps even customizing the solicitation to suppliers who do the job of responding. Continue reading →

The Value of Debriefings – When You Lose

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The Contracting Officer has just sent you the bad news – you were not selected for award. You get your team together to give them this news and you still try to give them the feeling they have done a great job. But, they start to ask, ”what did we miss?” “what segment/section was not compelling enough?”, “we couldn’t have been vague, we went through the Red Team and recovery process exhaustively”, “how could the government have scored the competition higher than us?”, “was our price too high?” These are questions that require specific answers. You turn your mind to trying to give open, honest answers, but you know you need more information. Continue reading →

Bidding Jobs: Just Because You CAN Does Not Mean That You SHOULD

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Bidding Jobs: Just Because You CAN Does Not Mean That You SHOULD

Swing for the Fences. Just Do It. Go Big or Go Home. These messages to strive for success at all costs work well on bumper stickers but not one of them is worthy of basing your business practices on.

Most times, recognizing a promising opportunity for getting new business involves nothing more sophisticated than having a gut instinct about being right for the job. But, make no mistake, even obviously promising bids need to be carefully scrutinized before proceeding. Continue reading →

Your Proposal Has Been Submitted – Now What?

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Your Proposal Has Been Submitted – Now What?

For the last month or more you put 110% of yourself and your team into preparing your proposal, pushing off other work and life activities in order to meet the submission deadline. Now that it has been submitted, what should you do next? Continue reading →