Write Winning Proposals and Presentations:

Responding to Competitive Bids

1. Business Development (BD) Goals2. Best Practice BD Lifecycle3. BD Pipeline [Strategic]

4. Service Catalog [Strategic]

5. Proposal Knowledge Management [Strategic]

6. Proposal Best Practices [Tactical]

7. Next Steps

Introduction

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In this demanding economy it is essential that Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) focus on:

• New Opportunities ─ Increase the number of employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities

• Growth ─ Enhance and understand the capabilities of your organization

• Wins ─ Improve your win rate

• Customers ─ Understand their requirements and mission

Introduction

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Business Development Practices

Effective organizations:• Manage and maintain existing contracts• Offer value and quality to customers• Investigate new lines of business • Stay competitive• Practice flexibility:

– Prime and Subcontract• Leverage strengths• Minimize risk

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Reframing BD Activities …

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Proposals as a Form of Art

• Request for proposals (RFPs), Requests for Information (RFIs), Sources Sought responses and briefings are an opportunity to position your organization

• Proposals are not a single event• Integral part of the Business Development

(BD) lifecycle

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Business Development Lifecycle

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http://sbdl.shipleywins.com/

Business Development Lifecycle

Shipley BD Lifecycle:• Depicts the evolution of an opportunity from

planning to post submittal activities• Provides standardized model for BD activities• Presented as 96 sequential steps• Identifies stakeholders, phases, milestones, and

activities throughout the lifecycle• Shows involvement of personnel at each phase

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Shipley 96-Steps

PHASE LIFECYCLE PHASE ACTIVITIES STEPS

0 Market Segmentation Strategic Planning 1- 6

1 Long-Term Positioning

Market Campaign decisions/Interest Decision 7- 12

2 Opportunity Assessment Pursuit Decision 13-20

3 Capture Planning Blue Team/Black Hat Reviews/Bid-No Bid 21-35

4 Proposal Planning Kick Off/Bid Decision Validation 36 - 66

5 Proposal Development

Proposal Solution Freeze/Pink Team/Red Team/Proposal Submittal 67 - 84

6 Post-Submittal Activities

Organize & Maintain Proposal Materials/Final Pricing/Contract Award 85 - 96

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BD Challenges

• Your organization may have multiple lines of business with different levels of maturity

• Need to manage multiple BD activities concurrently: – Contracts expire and updated proposals required– Industries mature with less demand – New Lines of Business and opportunities emerge– Sources sought responses required in order to

participate in procurements– Down-selects leading prior to Award– Capability Statements requested

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Parallel BD Activities

The BD Lifecycle applies to each contract:

Contract Phase Description Action

Contract 1 6 Janitorial – current Contract Negotiation 2014

Contract 2 6 Janitorial – current Contract Negotiation 2016

Contract 3 6 Janitorial – current Contract Negotiation 2013

Contract 4 6 Document Destruction Contract Negotiation 2015

Contract 5 6 Administration Contract Negotiation

Contract 6 0 Contact Center Support Market SegmentationContract 7 1 Total Facility Management Market Positioning

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Your Business Development Process

• What is your proposal development capability?• How mature is your proposal process?• What Best Practice systems are in place?

– Manage and track opportunities– Plan for contract renewal– Allocate of resources for BD – Time– Staffing– Training

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Tool Developed by Kate Rosengreen

Proposal Process Maturity Self-Assessment

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Focus Area 1:Tracks potential opportunities &

upcoming proposal activities

Business Development Pipeline

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Sample BD Pipeline Format

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Is it documented and up-to-date?

What does your BD pipeline look like?

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BD Pipeline

Feature BenefitCentral control of BD activity Predicts revenues and gapsFacilitates Better control of business Anticipate expenses & BD LOETracks your performance Feedback on BD ActivitiesSchedules proposal activity Anticipate proposal workloadHistorical record of Activity Learn from your mistakesMonitor & Track RFP/RFI releases Make timely decisions Bid/No-BidKnowledge of Industry Trends Get ahead of competition

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Focus Area 2:List of services you offer

by Line of Business (LOB)

Develop a Service Catalog

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Service Catalog

Identifying the services your organization provides makes you stronger and more competitive:

Feature BenefitClearly defined service offerings by Line of Business

Promotes consensus within your organizationUseful tool for Bid/No-Bid decisions

Provides framework for Proposal Knowledge Library

Faster retrieval of proposal reuse materials

Allows you to baseline servicedescriptions across marketing materials, web site etc.

Consistent branding and messaging

Defines Corporate Capabilities Customers clearly understand your capabilities

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By Line of Business

Exercise – What Services do you offer?

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Catalog of Services

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Service Catalog

ContactCenter

Admin Services

Document Destruction

LOB 4 LOB 5 LOB 6

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Focus Area 3:Know What You Know

& where it is located

Proposal Knowledge Library

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Knowledge Library Content

• Proposals and sources sought responses are expensive to develop

• Typical content in a proposal Knowledge Library:– Proposals submitted by year– Technical narratives by line of business– Management by line of business– Corporate Plans– Executive Summaries– Tools and templates

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Proposal Knowledge Library

A Knowledge Management Library provides:

Features BenefitsEffective management of proposal content allows for reuse of materials (e.g., text, graphics, plans).

Build higher quality proposal responses faster at less cost.

Electronic copy of proposal content Quickly retrieve materials Repository of previously developed materials

Efficient use of financial and personnel resources

Central storage with shared access Knowledge shared within organization promotes consistent branding and

Continued access to your proposal “body of work”

Reduces long-term cost of proposal development

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Focus Area 4Repeatable systems

Proposal Best Practices

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Successful Proposals Demonstrate

• Proposal development is complex system of repetitive processes – Understanding what the customer wants– Winning team with experience – Compliance with requirements– Why you are the organization to select– Strong management capabilities– High quality presentation– Your ability to execute – Solution with minimized/mitigated risks

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Proposal Team Organization

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Your Team’s - Roles & Responsibilities

Leadership:– Capture Manager– Proposal Manager– Cost Volume Manager– Orals Coach

Specialists:– Proposal Coordinator– Subject Matter Expert– Technical Writer– Technical Editor– Desktop Publisher– Graphic Artist

Proposal best practices require clear responsibilities and clearly defined roles to ensure management of expectations and a coordinated high quality product.

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Proposal Workflow

DetermineSolution

IdentifyTeam

Develop ProposalResponse

Price

Execute

TechnicalManagement StaffingPast PerformanceCost

Price to win

Gap Analysis

Understand requirements

Deliver & Manage

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Follow an Agreed Proposal Process

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Focus Area Compliance

“What does the RFP Say?”

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Winning the Bid

• Proposal are evaluated against predetermined criteria– What are they? (See Section M)– Make sure you can match or exceed criteria

• Develop the outline based on Section L, M and C.– Answer “the mail” – Do not add in extra information

• Do not go over page count• Use a template and start formatting the document early• Fonts- only use ones specified• If any doubts about instructions – Ask the government a

Question

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Checklist for your Technical Proposal

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Tools for Your Success

• Clearly-defined BD, marketing and proposal responsibilities – assigned within CRP staff

• Marketing materials that promote your capabilities in a consistent, professional style

• Repeatable proposal development process

• Knowledge-base of reusable material and tools

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Proposal Templates

• Proposal Outline – To manage the proposal assignments.• Proposal Response Template – Word template with preformatted

styles.• Compliance Matrix – Master checklist of proposal requirements.• Storyboard Template – To conceptualize the sub-sections of the

proposal and capture key messages.• Features & Benefits – Depicts your solution and advantages for

customer. • Executive Summary – Worksheet to document the major sections

of your proposal.• Risk Template – Identifies risks and shows how you address and

mitigate them• Key Personnel – Format to present a combination – functional and

chronological personnel resume.• Past Performance –Your past experience in the proposal area your

organization is bidding.

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Next Steps

To optimize BD opportunities:• Conduct a review of your organization’s BD

culture • Develop leadership buy-in and commitment to

BD process• Identify internal stakeholders and prepare them

for change• Review the quality of your proposal products• Assess your Corporate Capabilities and

(re)package them (as needed)

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Next Steps

• Develop Service Catalog• Identify tools and structures that need to be in

place• Launch Proposal Knowledge Library

– Access the NISH proposal templates• Develop and socialize standardized proposal

processes

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Your New BD organization

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?

Questions

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Contact Information

Kate Rosengreen, PhDPresidentProposal Resource Group, Inc.www.proposalresourcegroup.comkate@proposalresourcegroup.com703-850-6150

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Support Materials

• Shipley Associates Best Practices:– Shipley Proposal Guide 4th Edition– Shipley Capture Guide 3rd Edition– Shipley Business Development Lifecycle(http://sbdl.shipleywins.com)

• Style Guide for editing: – The Chicago Manual of Style (version 16)(http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html)

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