Proposal Software: Introducing Privia

We have worked with a number of proposal software packages. Most are only marginally better than a manual approach. Software that can spit out a proposal when you click a button doesn't exist, unless you sell a commodity. Software can't do much to help you think through what should go in your proposal. Re-useable content solutions only work for businesses that do the same thing over and over again. For most businesses, instead of saving time and improving quality, a re-use solution will just water-down your proposals.

That's why we got excited recently when we were given a demonstration of Privia, a software product developed by a company called Synchris. Instead of focusing on the document, it focuses on coordinating the efforts of geographically dispersed teams. Instead of automating the writing or assembling of a document, it facilitates a team's ability to work together, exchange information, collaborate on solutions, and track their progress. Most importantly, Synchris has answers for some tough questions that I have not seen good solutions for. Due to the large response we got when we asked how many of you are interested in more information about proposal software, Synchris is going to sponsor the site and give us access to the software and their developers so that I can review it in detail.

Privia provides online workspaces where groups of people can work on proposals together. It enables you to create folders for the proposal and control access to them. It provides a check-in/out system, with version control and search/retrieval. This gives you a web-accessible place to work on a proposal with a virtual team. It also provides a repository for re-use files. It provides version control and it enables you to track assignments. I consider these features to be the basics and Privia is not the only software solution that can provide them. However, it is when proposal software packages go beyond this level that they tend to get into trouble and where Privia is the most interesting.

Web tools often have access and compatibility issues. It is difficult to implement a good interactive user interface for a desktop application using html. If you use a plug-in, it won't be compatible with many users. Many companies do not allow their users to install plug-ins and operate behind restrictive firewalls. Privia has a pure web-based interface and a more advanced interface for those who can install the plug-in. Most users will want to install the software and use the more advanced and user-friendly interface. But if someone on-site, at a field office, or at a subcontractor can't install the software, they can still get access to the workspace. This is critical, because if a key subject matter expert can't access the system, you might as well not have the system.

One thing that surprised me is that Privia has a workflow system that may actually be useful. Most workflow systems require a programmer's brain to implement and most defined work flows break in the real world. This is because while we do similar things from one proposal to the next, in reality we rarely do them exactly the same way twice. Privia's workflow system really impressed me, because it lets you define small repetitive activities that can be called as needed. For example, you can define several versions of an approval or review and insert the version that is most appropriate into a particular proposal.

Another nice feature is that it reaches back to the pre-proposal phase, providing a repository for intelligence as it is collected. This is important because during business development and capture management a lot of intelligence regarding the customer, opportunity, and the competitive should be collected. Unfortunately this information often does not make it into the proposal, because the people writing the response do not have access to the files. You can use Privia as an opportunity tracking system, and it can even provide pipeline reporting and analysis. When an RFP is released and the opportunity is created in the system, Privia just adds a workspace that can be used during business development and later during the proposal development.

Privia is available as both a traditional software purchase and as a hosted solution where it runs on Synchris' servers. Depending on the configuration and other details, they tell me that pricing for the hosted service can be as low as $1080 per user/per year. This makes ROI easy as you can ignore all of the indirect benefits and just focus on the fact that if it saves you one or two business trips per user it pretty much pays for itself.

In the next few issues of the newsletter, I plan to do a series of articles on Privia. One will focus on attempting to break Privia. Or at least find its weaknesses. Along the way I'll try to define profiles of who it will benefit and who it won't. Another article will focus on the work flow system and how it can benefit the process. Another will focus on Privia's support for business development and pre-proposal activities. If any of you have used Privia, please share your experiences, both good and bad, in an email to support@captureplanning.com.

Sponsored by Synchris Thousands of business and proposal development professionals at companies winning major contracts such as ITES-2S, TEIS and Seaport-e rely on Privia to automate the bid and proposal lifecycle and task order management. Privia is the only comprehensive bid and proposal software designed for companies bidding on state, local and federal contracts. View the Privia Demo today. For more information visit www.synchris.com, email info@synchris.com or call us at 571.434.2982, Option 1 (for Sales).