Marketing Articles About RFPs Search Results
- Outlines - Hooray!.
One of my jobs today is to prepare an outline for recompete #3. I've written about the importance of outlines in the past, and to my way of thinking, an outline is the very best tool you can have have for preparing a proposal. Beginners often skip the outlining stage, thinking that they can just dig in and start writing. Or that their proposal is too small to merit an outline. Big mistake. Because what happens when you work without an outline is that you end up with a mish-mosh of written material that is disorganized, doesn't flow, and may not be responsive to the requirements of your RFP/RFA.
An outline is your friend. And the time you take to properly prepare it will pay off down the road. Here are some things to consider when preparing your outline:
- Your RFP/RFA is your guide. Sometimes it will tell you exactly how your proposal should be organized, at least with respect to major headings. You may also be able to ferret out your first level of sub-headings from Section L (instructions), Section M (evaluation criteria) and/or Section C (statement of work).
- Don't use too many levels. The more levels you have, the more difficult it will be for you/your team and for reviewers to follow your proposal. Personally, I like three levels:
I. Major Heading
A. First Sub-Heading
(1) Sub-sub Heading
Of course, some RFPs/RFAs will dictate the specific structure of your proposal. In such cases, you need to follow those instructions.
- Don't think of your outline as being carved in stone. Outlining is really an evolving process. I often change my outlines several times over the course of a proposal because I find -- after things have been written -- that they just don't fit where I thought they would.
I've heard people say that they don't really know how to prepare an outline. That's not surprising because it's often not as easy as it sounds. It can be a frustrating exercise and can take time to get it right. But in the end, you'll be glad you spent the time.
The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) has a useful section on developing outlines. Check it out here.
(04/24/08 09:01 AM) - Proposal Planning Issues.
I met with my recompete #3 client yesterday to discuss how we are going to proceed with this bid. Recompete #3 is a fairly large and specialized government contract (in the hundreds of millions) that my client has held for many years. I've worked on every one of the proposals for this particular contract so I'm pretty familiar with it. In our first planning meeting yesterday we discussed a few issues that we are going to have to deal with fairly quickly.
- How much material can we recycle? The RFP for this bid is very similar to the RFP that we responded to five years ago. There are some differences, but on the whole they are very much alike. This was not the case with past RFPs for this same project, which differed extensively each time. So some of the questions we are asking ourselves are: How much of the previous proposal can we recycle? Can we re-use entire sections or just paragraphs here and there? Should we focus on paraphrasing as opposed to just lifting pieces verbatim?
- My client will be required to subcontract a substantial amount of work to small businesses. The small businesses that have been working on the current contract have become large and are no longer eligible to participate. So the following questions now arise: How can the project be divided up into discrete chunks that could be handled by various small business subcontractors? How many small businesses should be part of the bid? What will these small businesses be responsible for?
- Finally, of course, there are the issues relating to proposal preparation. Who will be responsible for preparing each section of the technical proposal? How best to communicate and coordinate with those who will be working on the business proposal? Who will coordinate with the selected small business subcontractors and what specific role will they play in preparing the proposal?
Just a few of the typical questions that need to be addressed during the proposal planning stage.
(04/22/08 09:01 AM) - Workweek.
Is "workweek" one word or two? I think it used to be two, but has now morphed into one. Or maybe not. Anyway, there's a lot going on out here in proposal land. Over the weekend I finished up revising the Corporate Experience section of my law firm client's resubmission and e-mailed it to her. Due to the nature of that resubmission, my client ended up with over 400 pages that had to be scanned and put on a CD to send off to the government. She also needed to reproduce the entire proposal and submit a hard copy to accompany the CDs. It took her all weekend to get everything together and then, of course, the scanner broke down. I could have told her this would happen.
I'm now preparing the technical section of a DOD proposal for a long-time client. Much of it is similar to a proposal I helped prepare for her late last year, so I can recyle parts of it. But I still need to do some background research and gather information on the local market for a couple of categories of healthcare specialists. My client doesn't like to do this research, and neither do I. But I'm doing it anyway.
Then on Monday, re-compete #3 arrived. Oh joy. It is due at the end of May, so we have six weeks to work on it. My client sent me the RFP, which I haven't read yet. I did open the file, but when I saw that the RFP was over 125 pages, I closed it up without actually looking at it. Maybe I'll read it today. My client and I have been playing telephone tag, so we haven't talked about the proposal yet. But this assignment will keep me pretty busy for the next month and a half.
Then maybe I can take a little vacation.
(04/16/08 09:00 AM) - What Evaluation Criteria Can Tell You.
Many government RFPs and RFAs tell you how your proposal will be evaluated. These evaluation criteria are often found in Section M, and may specify how you will be "graded" on each particular proposal section or subsection. Sometimes the criteria have points attached to them (e.g., Technical Approach-50 points, Key Personnel-30 points, Corporate Capabilities-20 points); other times the RFP/RFA will tell you that the criteria are listed in decending order of importantce.
While we all try to do as good a job as possible on all sections of our proposals, the evaluation criteria and their associated scoring systems can tell you some very important things:
- Where to put your emphasis: if your technical approach will be worth 50 points and your corporate capabilities will be worth 20 points, you should plan on spending much more of your time preparing the technical approach than on preparing your coporate capabilities. You can have great capabilities, but if you do poorly on sections that are valued higher, the capabilities may not help you overcome the lower scores you receive on other, more important sections.
- How to assign your proposal staff: Similarly, you may need to assign more personnel to work on the higher-scoring sections than on those that will be scored lower.
- How to alllocate your pages. If the RFP/RFA does not specify the exact number of pages for each individual section, you can use the evaluation criteria as a guide. If your proposal will be a total of 50 pages, for example, then at least 25 of those pages should be devoted to your technical approach (50 pages x 50 points). This is a very broad measure, however, and you will need to strike the right balance between the number of pages and number of points depending on how much material will need to go in each section. But it is a starting place.
- Private Bid Notification Services. In addition to the government's bid notification services from FedBizOpps and Grants.gov, there are many private firms that provide these types of services. You can find some of these firms by doing a Google search on phrases such as "find RFPs" and "bid notification."
Although you have to pay for it, there are several advantages to using a private bid notification service:- Many of these services can also provide you with information on solicitations issued by state and local governments. While more and more state and local governments are putting their bid opportunities on the Internet, not all of them have geared up to do this.
- Since FedBizOpps and Grants.gov may not cover all all bureaus and departments within each federal agency, you may be able to get access to these bureaus' bid opportunities via a private service rather than having to search for them by going to individual websites.
- If you are interested in seeing bid opportunities at two or three levels -- federal, state and/or local -- you can may be able to receive these opportunities via daily e-mails or through online access. This can be a real time-saver.
One of the private serices that has been around for a long time is Bidnet (see clip below), which offers customizable packages to meet your specific needs and interests. However, since Bidnet is only one of many private services, it will probably be worth your while to research and compare these services with respect to their prices and offerings.
(04/02/08 09:02 AM)
clipped from bidnet.com
With BidNet, you will have access to Government Bids from thousands of Federal, State and Local agencies, and see bid opportunities you won't find anywhere else. Our diverse network of agencies will give you the competitive intelligence needed to compete effectively for the nation's largest buyer of goods and services - governments across the nation and right in your hometown.
- Many of these services can also provide you with information on solicitations issued by state and local governments. While more and more state and local governments are putting their bid opportunities on the Internet, not all of them have geared up to do this.
- Woke Up This Morning. No, I didn't get myself a gun. But I can tell already that this is not going to be a good day. My head is kind of fuzzy. My law firm client sent me a zip file containing about 20 files that I don't want to look at. I have numerous e-mails from my client with the manual, all of which contain corrections and additions. I don't want to look at those either.
My computer is sick and won't boot up properly. A few days ago the little TV that I keep in my office decided not to turn on anymore, so now I can't watch the stock ticker on CNBC to see how much money I'm losing. I can't make any spring vacation plans because recompete #3 has not come out yet and I don't know when it will appear or when the due date will be. Yep, I've got lots of complaints this morning. I should just go back to bed.
But instead, I'll promote my Bid/No-Bid Guide. Below is a link to it. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
(03/26/08 09:03 AM)
clipped from www.proposalwriter.com
Wasting time preparing a bid that you can't win or aren't prepared to take on can be costly and demoralizing.
My Bid/No-Bid Decision-Making Guide helps you think critically about whether you should bid or pass on an RFP/RFA.
The Guide takes you step-by-step through the decision process, advising you of the critical information you need to assess and the key issues you should consider.
The accompanying Bid/No-Bid Evaluation Form provides an easy way to summarize your key findings and to use these findings to make an informed decision. - Final Checks.
Your proposal is done and it's ready for production, assembly and delivery to the client. But wait. If you're the proposal manager, there's still work to be done. You need to do two final checks.
- Before the proposal is printed and assembled, you need to check it against the RFP/RFA. If you've done a compliance matrix, you need to make sure that everything on the matrix is filled in. If you're not using a compliance matrix, then you need to go through your RFP/RFA once again to make sure you have addressed everything that's asked for, particularly (but not limited to ) Sections L and M -- the instructions and the evaluation criteria. You may think that by now, you know your RFP/RFA by heart and don't need to do this final check, but you would be wrong. In many cases, you'll find things in it that you don't remember ever seeing before. By leaving some time for this final check, you'll hopefully have time to correct any deficiencies in your proposal before it's submitted.
- The second final check comes after the proposal has been printed but before it's bound. Printers are notorious for misbehaving when you are stretched for time and have an important document to get out. So you need to go through the printed copies. Are all of the pages there and numbered correctly? Are there any pages that are upside down? Are there pages that are badly smudged from the printer? Are there pages that are too faint because the printer is running out of ink or low on toner? Did you forget to insert a page that was printed separately? And so on. If you neglect this check, you'll probably find these errors later -- after you've submitted your proposal. Not a good thing.
Final checks -- they're a pain but they're important. Add them to your proposal checklist.
(03/25/08 09:01 AM) - Advice and Feedback.
I don't have to do much writing on my current assignment -- the Staffing Plan that I've talked about the past couple of days is my major contribution to the proposal in terms of new writing. Since this is a re-compete, my client has first-hand knowledge of the project and the ability and resources to write most of the sections.
So my role is primarily to provide advice and suggestions to the client, as well as feedback on their written sections. I will likely also be involved in some re-writing and editing as the proposal moves toward its final stages.
So what does this advice and feedback involve? Well, much of it has focused on interpreting the RFP, which contains a good deal of unclear information about what should be addressed in the proposal and where it should go. So I offer suggestions to my client about what the content of the various sections and ways that the information might be presented. "What should we say here?" or "What do they mean by this?" are questions that my client has been asking.
As drafts of proposal sections are completed, my client sends them to me. I review them and check them against the RFP requirements to see if they have addressed what the RFP has asked for. I also provide comments on the drafts using 'track changes' in Word. Some of my comments relate to RFP requirements; others relate to the content -- whether more detail or more specific information is needed, whether there are gaps or internal inconsistencies, etc.
I like this role a lot because I can advise people what to do without actually having to do the work myself. It's a welcome break from the intensity of writing.
(03/12/08 07:31 AM) - Key Personnel Blurbs.
That's what I'm working on now as part of the Staffing Plan that I'm writing for my client's recompete proposal. I always find it kind of amusing when I have to do this, because writing blurbs is the first thing that I was assigned to do when I was learning to write proposals about a billion years ago. Although they are boring to prepare, good key personnel blurbs are critical if you want to have a winning proposal.
I've talked about blurbs in an earlier post and also provided an example of one. For this particular proposal, I have to prepare blurbs for several key people. Each blurb is about one page long but may eventually need to be shortened to 3/4 of a page due to space constraints. When writing each blurb, I keep a hard copy of the person's resume on my desk and go through it several times. My objective is to identify the types of work and activities that the candidate has performed that are similar to the work that will need to be done for the proposed project and that meet the evaluation criteria set forth in the RFP/RFA. I then try to summarize, paraphrase and emphasize each key person's qualifications, skills and experience with the aim of pursuading the proposal reviewers that this individual is indeed the best-qualified person to perform the work.
Some people's resumes don't contain enough information for a good blurb. In those cases, you or someone else on the proposal team may need to interview the candidate to gather more specific information. Most likely, the resume may need to be re-written as well.
Writing blurbs may seem like an easy task, but it's not. It's time-consuming and it's often difficult to make someone sound like they are the most wonderful person in the world. But that's what a blurb is all about.
(03/11/08 09:01 AM) - Submitting Questions (Cont'd).
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of submitting questions as part of the proposal development process. One of the things that I mentioned was the need for the Proposal Manager to review the list of compiled questions before they are submitted to the government. This review is critical because you want to make sure that the questions you submit don't hint at or give away any information about the approach you are planning to take in your technical or cost proposal. So, for example, you would not want to say something like: "in our technical approach, we would like to propose an additional task that focuses on blah blah blah. Will this be acceptable to the government?" A question like this will only serve to give other bidders some good ideas that they may not have thought of before they saw your question.
Here are some additional points to be aware of when you submit questions on a government RFP or RFA:
- When responding to the questions, the government does not identify the person or organization that submitted each question.
- All questions and answers will be seen by all bidders, which is why the point I made in the first paragraph is important. The government usually issues an amendment to the RFP/RFA which contains all of the questions and answers. Anyone can read it.
- Some prospective bidders may submit a long list of questions -- many of them unnecessary -- in the hopes that it will take the government a long time to answer them and then extend the due date for the proposal. This strategy can sometimes work, but it can also backfire, meaning that no extension will be granted. Don't count on it.
- Don't put off working on your proposal while you are waiting for your questions to be answered. You can always make changes to your proposal based on the questions and answers, but you can't always catch up because you sat around and waited. Just keep going.
- Submitting Questions.
For the proposal I'm working on now, we are in the process of compiling a list of questions that will be submitted to the government.
Most government RFPs and RFAs will allow bidders to submit questions related to the content of the specific RFP and RFA. But there is usually a cut-off date for submitting questions and after that date, any questions you submit may not be answered.
The compilation and submission of questions is an important step in the proposal process. You can submit questions on just about anything in the RFP or RFA -- the content of the technical proposal, the content of the cost proposal, the instructions, contract clauses, etc. The way it usually works is that the Proposal Manager asks everyone involved in preparing the proposal to carefully review the RFP/RFA and identify statements or requirements that they don't understand, or that are contradictory, or that may require additional explanation from the government. When all the questions are compiled, the Proposal Manager reviews them and decides which questions should be submitted.
To make it easier for the government to answer your questions, it's a good idea to cite the page number and/or item number in the RFP or RFA that your question relates to. Therefore, the format of each of your questions might be as follows:
- In the instructions on page 45, item L.8, the RFP states that bidders should submit 3 copies of their proposal. However, page 1 of the cover letter indicates that 4 copies of the proposal should be submitted. Please advise how many copies we should submit.
More on this topic tomorrow.
(03/04/08 09:01 AM) - More on Re-Competed Contracts.
You might think that incumbents who will be bidding on a re-competed contract have advance knowledge of the ways in which the new RFP will be different from the old RFP. After all, they are currently performing the contract and hopefully have good relationships with government technical and contracting officers who might just give them a little advance information about the new RFP. But this is not always the case.
It's definitely not the case in the three re-competed bids that I am working on. For the food services contract I mentioned the other day, the government has split the current contract into two separate contracts to be bid: one contract for each of the two government facilities where the food services will be provided. Currently, my client is providing these services to the two facilities under one contract. The government has also substantially changed their menu requirements. So what does that mean for my client and me? More work on the proposal than we anticipated. In addition to addressing the changes in technical requirements, we have to prepare and submit two separate proposals.
The RFP for the second re-compete that I'm working on also has some substantial changes from the previous RFP, none of which were known in advance by my client. Fortunately, they have already begun preparations to deal with these new requirements. My third client is also anticipating major changes in the RFP when it is released (we not sure when this will be). But they don't know what those changes will be or how much more work it will take to address them.
Changes from one RFP to the next can occur because the government believes that improvements can be made in the way that work is currently being performed, or because they are not getting the outcomes and results they had anticipated. Other times, they make changes to an RFP because they have less (or more) money to spend. And sometimes, my clients and I think that they make the changes just to make life more difficult for us.
So non-incombents take heart. You're not always the only ones who aren't in the know about what's coming down the pike.
(03/01/08 09:01 AM) - First Reading of RFP.
Last night I got around to looking at the RFP for one of the re-competed contracts. Many people, when they first get their hands on an RFP or RFA, begin reading from the first page. They start with the cover sheet/cover letter, go on to the pricing forms in Section B, the scope-of-work in Section C, the Representations and Certifications, the incomprehensible list of government contract clauses, and so forth. By the time they get to the end, they often have no idea of what they have just read.
This isn't the way that I do it. Whenever I get an RFP or RFP, I immediately go to the back of the document. I don't even care what the subject matter of the RFP is. The first thing that I read is the Instructions to Offerors (bidders), which is often in Section L. This tells me a lot about the work that will need to be done -- how many pages the proposal will be, the type and extent of information that will be required in the technical and cost volumes, how that information should be organized, the deadline for submitting questions, whether the proposal will need to be submitted electronically or via mail or courier service, etc. Even after reading this stuff, I still don't know what the RFP/RFA is about. But at this point, I don't care.
After reading the Instructions, I immediately go to the Evaluation Criteria which often follows the Instructions. This tells me how the proposal will be evaluated by the government -- the number of points will be given to each section of the proposal, what the most important elements of the proposal will be, and any further elaborations on the Instructions that I just read.
Next, I go to Section H, which is sometimes called "Special Requirements" or something similar. Section H is often overlooked. But it shouldn't be, because this is where the government often hides important stuff. Things like insurance requirements, special security requirements, and the like.
Finally, finally, finally, I am ready to read the Scope-of-Work in Section C and to look at the pricing forms in Section B. All the stuff in the other sections can wait until later...
Try this technique in the next RFP or RFA that you receive and see if it doesn't give you a better sense of what's going on and what you'll have to do to prepare.
(03/01/08 09:01 AM) - Hour by Hour?.
I'm plugging along on the NIH proposal. I would say that I have about 75% of the Management Plan done so far and will hopefully complete the first draft by the end of the week.
In a conference call with my client yesterday we discussed the other sections. My client is basically handling the entire Personnel section. In addition to having to recruit Key Personnel, my client will have to fill out a lot of different personnel and staffing-related forms that are contained in the RFP. One look at these forms and you would almost want to run away from this bid. The forms require lots and lots of detailed info.
My client is going to start sending me some material and information that I can use in preparing the Technical Approach section. If the Management Plan alone is going to be 50+ pages, then the Technical section is likely to be 100+ pages. Details, details, details.
Here's an example of the extent of the detail required. I have never seen this before in an RFP. One of the subsections of the Technical Approach is a phase-in plan, where we have to discuss how my client will take over parts of project from an incumbent contractor. That's OK -- I have written quite a few phase-in plans. But in addition to the normal stuff we have to address in that subsection, the RFP says that we have to "detail every hour of proposed Government assistance as completely as possible."
Wha? Are they kidding? I can't even detail what I do every hour of my own day much less what the Government would do. What would they do? Stand around? Have meetings? Talk on the phone? Take coffee breaks? Nap? Have lunch? This is nuts.
I've just got to wonder who in NIH thought this one up. See what I mean by wanting to run away? Looks like there will be more than the usual amount of fictional writing here.
(03/01/08 09:01 AM) - Round and Round.
My computer-adverse client called yesterday to say she would be coming by my office to work with me on the proposal and that she would be bringing "a big round diskette" that had some material on it that we could use. I got a little panicky because I had no idea what a big round diskette was. Could she have been referring to the old 5" floppy disks that don't exist any more? Finally I realized that she was probably bringing a CD with files on it. And that's what it was.
When she got here, we worked on the proposal for a bit, and then she dropped a bombshell, telling me that she did not need to submit a cost proposal. She said that she had gotten this information at the bidder's conference. I told her that this did not make sense, and she pointed to a section in the RFP that said that bidders would not need to submit a financial statements or details on their burdened rate until just prior to contract execution. Plus, she thought that the evaluation criteria related to cost was confusing. I tried to explain, but she was convinced that the Contracting Officer had said no cost proposal.
So she decided to call the Contracting Officer. Except she dialed the wrong number and got hold of the Technical Officer (COTR) instead. The COTR could not find the page in the RFP that my client was referring to and insisted that there was no such page. They went round and round on this:
COTR - what page is that?
Client - it is page 54.
COTR - there is no page 54.
Client - yes, on page 54 it gives the evaluation criteria for cost
COTR - the evaluation criteria ends on page 53
Client - no, there is another page
COTR - I have the RFP right in front of me and the page after page 53 is this one (reads the first sentence).
Client - no, that it not it.
COTR - I will have to check with the procurement office because it is not in my copy. Oh, wait a minute, here it is. The pages in my copy are out of order. At any rate, you need to talk to the Contracting Officer about this because I don't know the answer to your question.
So my client gets hold of the Contracting Officer and asks the question about submitting the cost proposal. He said yes, we have to submit a cost proposal, but not price. As for an explanation of the evaluation criteria related to cost, he cannot tell my client what it means. She has to interpret it for herself the best she can. They go round and round on this for a while, but my client finally hangs up and says to me:
"I better get started on my cost proposal."
(03/01/08 09:01 AM) - Sole Source Contracts.
Everyone likes a sole-source contract when their company gets one, but we don't like them too much when they are given to other companies. When other companies get them, it's unfair; when our company gets one, it's a good thing.
So what's a sole source contract, you ask? Well, according to the Federal Acquisition Regulations, sole-source contracting can occur "when the supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source." That means, basically, that an agency can contract with a company without any competition. There are a few in's and out's to this -- you can read about them here.
I bring this up because I just got finished doing a quick sole source proposal for one of my clients. In this case, the federal agency decided that it needed to have a particular task done, and that the task could only be performed by two people that used to work there. My client had marketed to this agency, and it was "decided" that their company could hire these two people as consultants to perform the work. So the agency issued an RFP to my client, which no other company received. My client then had to respond to this RFP so that the agency would have the proper paperwork to award them the contract.
Fair? Not really. But of course it happens all the time. Most of the time we only hear about it when there is some type of investigation into possible improper practices and the media gets hold of it. But in reality, lots of companies receive sole source contracts. In many cases, it's just a matter of marketing and knowing the right people in an agency. In other cases, there is really only one responsible source out there, or there is a particularly urgent need for a product or service (another way that agencies can justify a sole source contract).
That's the lesson (or rant) for today.
(03/01/08 09:01 AM) - Round and Round.
My computer-adverse client called yesterday to say she would be coming by my office to work with me on the proposal and that she would be bringing "a big round diskette" that had some material on it that we could use. I got a little panicky because I had no idea what a big round diskette was. Could she have been referring to the old 5" floppy disks that don't exist any more? Finally I realized that she was probably bringing a CD with files on it. And that's what it was.
When she got here, we worked on the proposal for a bit, and then she dropped a bombshell, telling me that she did not need to submit a cost proposal. She said that she had gotten this information at the bidder's conference. I told her that this did not make sense, and she pointed to a section in the RFP that said that bidders would not need to submit a financial statements or details on their burdened rate until just prior to contract execution. Plus, she thought that the evaluation criteria related to cost was confusing. I tried to explain, but she was convinced that the Contracting Officer had said no cost proposal.
So she decided to call the Contracting Officer. Except she dialed the wrong number and got hold of the Technical Officer (COTR) instead. The COTR could not find the page in the RFP that my client was referring to and insisted that there was no such page. They went round and round on this:
COTR - what page is that?
Client - it is page 54.
COTR - there is no page 54.
Client - yes, on page 54 it gives the evaluation criteria for cost
COTR - the evaluation criteria ends on page 53
Client - no, there is another page
COTR - I have the RFP right in front of me and the page after page 53 is this one (reads the first sentence).
Client - no, that it not it.
COTR - I will have to check with the procurement office because it is not in my copy. Oh, wait a minute, here it is. The pages in my copy are out of order. At any rate, you need to talk to the Contracting Officer about this because I don't know the answer to your question.
So my client gets hold of the Contracting Officer and asks the question about submitting the cost proposal. He said yes, we have to submit a cost proposal, but not price. As for an explanation of the evaluation criteria related to cost, he cannot tell my client what it means. She has to interpret it for herself the best she can. They go round and round on this for a while, but my client finally hangs up and says to me:
"I better get started on my cost proposal."
(02/27/08 09:01 AM) - More on Re-Competed Contracts.
You might think that incumbents who will be bidding on a re-competed contract have advance knowledge of the ways in which the new RFP will be different from the old RFP. After all, they are currently performing the contract and hopefully have good relationships with government technical and contracting officers who might just give them a little advance information about the new RFP. But this is not always the case.
It's definitely not the case in the three re-competed bids that I am working on. For the food services contract I mentioned the other day, the government has split the current contract into two separate contracts to be bid: one contract for each of the two government facilities where the food services will be provided. Currently, my client is providing these services to the two facilities under one contract. The government has also substantially changed their menu requirements. So what does that mean for my client and me? More work on the proposal than we anticipated. In addition to addressing the changes in technical requirements, we have to prepare and submit two separate proposals.
The RFP for the second re-compete that I'm working on also has some substantial changes from the previous RFP, none of which were known in advance by my client. Fortunately, they have already begun preparations to deal with these new requirements. My third client is also anticipating major changes in the RFP when it is released (we not sure when this will be). But they don't know what those changes will be or how much more work it will take to address them.
Changes from one RFP to the next can occur because the government believes that improvements can be made in the way that work is currently being performed, or because they are not getting the outcomes and results they had anticipated. Other times, they make changes to an RFP because they have less (or more) money to spend. And sometimes, my clients and I think that they make the changes just to make life more difficult for us.
So non-incombents take heart. You're not always the only ones who aren't in the know about what's coming down the pike.
(02/25/08 09:01 AM) - First Reading of RFP.
Last night I got around to looking at the RFP for one of the re-competed contracts. Many people, when they first get their hands on an RFP or RFA, begin reading from the first page. They start with the cover sheet/cover letter, go on to the pricing forms in Section B, the scope-of-work in Section C, the Representations and Certifications, the incomprehensible list of government contract clauses, and so forth. By the time they get to the end, they often have no idea of what they have just read.
This isn't the way that I do it. Whenever I get an RFP or RFP, I immediately go to the back of the document. I don't even care what the subject matter of the RFP is. The first thing that I read is the Instructions to Offerors (bidders), which is often in Section L. This tells me a lot about the work that will need to be done -- how many pages the proposal will be, the type and extent of information that will be required in the technical and cost volumes, how that information should be organized, the deadline for submitting questions, whether the proposal will need to be submitted electronically or via mail or courier service, etc. Even after reading this stuff, I still don't know what the RFP/RFA is about. But at this point, I don't care.
After reading the Instructions, I immediately go to the Evaluation Criteria which often follows the Instructions. This tells me how the proposal will be evaluated by the government -- the number of points will be given to each section of the proposal, what the most important elements of the proposal will be, and any further elaborations on the Instructions that I just read.
Next, I go to Section H, which is sometimes called "Special Requirements" or something similar. Section H is often overlooked. But it shouldn't be, because this is where the government often hides important stuff. Things like insurance requirements, special security requirements, and the like.
Finally, finally, finally, I am ready to read the Scope-of-Work in Section C and to look at the pricing forms in Section B. All the stuff in the other sections can wait until later...
Try this technique in the next RFP or RFA that you receive and see if it doesn't give you a better sense of what's going on and what you'll have to do to prepare.
(02/21/08 09:01 PM) - Hour by Hour?.
I'm plugging along on the NIH proposal. I would say that I have about 75% of the Management Plan done so far and will hopefully complete the first draft by the end of the week.
In a conference call with my client yesterday we discussed the other sections. My client is basically handling the entire Personnel section. In addition to having to recruit Key Personnel, my client will have to fill out a lot of different personnel and staffing-related forms that are contained in the RFP. One look at these forms and you would almost want to run away from this bid. The forms require lots and lots of detailed info.
My client is going to start sending me some material and information that I can use in preparing the Technical Approach section. If the Management Plan alone is going to be 50+ pages, then the Technical section is likely to be 100+ pages. Details, details, details.
Here's an example of the extent of the detail required. I have never seen this before in an RFP. One of the subsections of the Technical Approach is a phase-in plan, where we have to discuss how my client will take over parts of project from an incumbent contractor. That's OK -- I have written quite a few phase-in plans. But in addition to the normal stuff we have to address in that subsection, the RFP says that we have to "detail every hour of proposed Government assistance as completely as possible."
Wha? Are they kidding? I can't even detail what I do every hour of my own day much less what the Government would do. What would they do? Stand around? Have meetings? Talk on the phone? Take coffee breaks? Nap? Have lunch? This is nuts.
I've just got to wonder who in NIH thought this one up. See what I mean by wanting to run away? Looks like there will be more than the usual amount of fictional writing here.
(02/21/08 09:01 PM) - Sole Source Contracts.
Everyone likes a sole-source contract when their company gets one, but we don't like them too much when they are given to other companies. When other companies get them, it's unfair; when our company gets one, it's a good thing.
So what's a sole source contract, you ask? Well, according to the Federal Acquisition Regulations, sole-source contracting can occur "when the supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source." That means, basically, that an agency can contract with a company without any competition. There are a few in's and out's to this -- you can read about them here.
I bring this up because I just got finished doing a quick sole source proposal for one of my clients. In this case, the federal agency decided that it needed to have a particular task done, and that the task could only be performed by two people that used to work there. My client had marketed to this agency, and it was "decided" that their company could hire these two people as consultants to perform the work. So the agency issued an RFP to my client, which no other company received. My client then had to respond to this RFP so that the agency would have the proper paperwork to award them the contract.
Fair? Not really. But of course it happens all the time. Most of the time we only hear about it when there is some type of investigation into possible improper practices and the media gets hold of it. But in reality, lots of companies receive sole source contracts. In many cases, it's just a matter of marketing and knowing the right people in an agency. In other cases, there is really only one responsible source out there, or there is a particularly urgent need for a product or service (another way that agencies can justify a sole source contract).
That's the lesson (or rant) for today.
(02/21/08 09:01 PM) - Red Teams.
I never heard the term "red team" until several years after I began my proposal writing career. My employers never used them and it wasn't until I started working on my own that I encountered organizations that used red teams on certain proposal efforts.
Basically, a red team is a team of outside reviewers that a company brings in to review a proposal once the final draft is completed. Many organizations don't incorporate a red team review process because: (a) it can be expensive; (b) they can't spare the time; and (c) the idea has not occured to them. But if you are preparing a proposal that is very important to your firm, using a red team can be a valuable and worthwhile activity.
In a nutshell, the process works like this:
- Your company identifies people (perhaps 4 or more) to serve as red team reviewers. These people should not have been involved in the proposal in any way, and in fact it's best if they are outside your organization. You will probably need to pay these reviewers a consulting fee for their time. Depending upon the size and complexity of the proposal, the red team review can take from one to several days.
- Before the red team begins their work, you'll need to prepare for them. They will need a packet of materials, including the RFP, your final proposal draft, the proposal outline, checklists, instructions, and other relevant materials. These can be put in binders that are distributed to each reviewer. The red team will also need a conference room or other space where they can read and meet.
- Once the red team assembles, the Proposal Manager or another member of your proposal team may give a verbal presentation on the proposal: what it is about, some background on the issues, what problems have been encountered in developing the proposal, etc. The Proposal Manager also goes over the instructions with the review team. These instructions should be as specific as possible -- they should tell the red team reviewers what you want them to look for. For example: Is the proposal theme clear and consistent? Are the benefits of your approach desirable and clearly stated? Does the proposal address all of the RFP requirements? Is it convicing? How can specific problem areas be fixed? How could the overall proposal be improved? Etc., etc.
- The red team begins its review, first working individually to read the materials and document their comments and impressions. Once this is done, they meet as a group to discuss their findings and to prepare a set of recommendations. When the review is completed, the red team presents its comments and recommendations to the proposal team, which then incorporates the reviewers' suggested improvements.
Besides red team reviews, there are also pink team reviews. But that's a topic for another day.
(02/21/08 09:01 PM) - A New Assignment, But What Is It?.
Today I'm scheduled to attend a meeting at a client's office re a new RFP that they are planning to bid. I know this client well; I've worked with one particular department many times over the years. But a different department within this company is going to have primary responsibility for the proposal, and the department I've worked with previously will be helping them. When my contact at this company called me, he didn't say why they needed my assistance -- he just asked me to come to the meeting.
Then yesterday someone from the "other" department contacted me to introduce himself and to tell me that he is going to be the Proposal Manager. We had this conversation:
Him --- Did John tell you what he was thinking about having you do on this proposal?
Me --- Well, no. I was just going to ask you that same question.
Him --- Hmmm, I don't know.
Tune in for the next exciting episode of "why am I here?"
(02/21/08 09:01 PM) - RFP Delays.
The government RFP you've been waiting for has been announced in FedBizOpps. The announcement isn't the actual RFP -- rather, it's what's called a "synopsis." Basically, the synopsis contains the RFP number and title, a short description of the project and, most importantly, the expected RFP release date and due date. It's an advance notice that the RFP is coming, which hopefully gives you a little time to do some pre-planning and scheduling for your upcoming proposal.
But the anticipated release date comes and goes with no sign of the RFP. Days or even weeks may pass and still no RFP. What's going on? You call the Contracting Officer whose name and number appeared in the synopisis and ask him or her when the solicitation will be released. Sometimes they'll give you a new release date; often they'll tell you that they are "still working on it." So now all your pre-planning and scheduling has gone to hell in a handbasket.
This happens more often than you might think. Right now, two of my clients are waiting for RFPs that are critically important to their businesses. The synopsis for one of these RFPs appeared in May; the other RFP was scheduled to be released on June 30. Neither of them have arrived. Not only does this create havoc with my clients' schedules, it presents problems for me (and other consultants' schedules as well). We are all sitting around in limbo because the government doesn't have its act together.
Most experienced contractors have gone through this waiting game any number of times. The real question is: why? The answer is ???
(12/12/06 08:42 AM) - Hour by Hour?.
I'm plugging along on the NIH proposal. I would say that I have about 75% of the Management Plan done so far and will hopefully complete the first draft by the end of the week.
In a conference call with my client yesterday we discussed the other sections. My client is basically handling the entire Personnel section. In addition to having to recruit Key Personnel, my client will have to fill out a lot of different personnel and staffing-related forms that are contained in the RFP. One look at these forms and you would almost want to run away from this bid. The forms require lots and lots of detailed info.
My client is going to start sending me some material and information that I can use in preparing the Technical Approach section. If the Management Plan alone is going to be 50+ pages, then the Technical section is likely to be 100+ pages. Details, details, details.
Here's an example of the extent of the detail required. I have never seen this before in an RFP. One of the subsections of the Technical Approach is a phase-in plan, where we have to discuss how my client will take over parts of project from an incumbent contractor. That's OK -- I have written quite a few phase-in plans. But in addition to the normal stuff we have to address in that subsection, the RFP says that we have to "detail every hour of proposed Government assistance as completely as possible."
Wha? Are they kidding? I can't even detail what I do every hour of my own day much less what the Government would do. What would they do? Stand around? Have meetings? Talk on the phone? Take coffee breaks? Nap? Have lunch? This is nuts.
I've just got to wonder who in NIH thought this one up. See what I mean by wanting to run away? Looks like there will be more than the usual amount of fictional writing here.
(12/12/06 08:42 AM) - Sole Source Contracts.
Everyone likes a sole-source contract when their company gets one, but we don't like them too much when they are given to other companies. When other companies get them, it's unfair; when our company gets one, it's a good thing.
So what's a sole source contract, you ask? Well, according to the Federal Acquisition Regulations, sole-source contracting can occur "when the supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source." That means, basically, that an agency can contract with a company without any competition. There are a few in's and out's to this -- you can read about them here.
I bring this up because I just got finished doing a quick sole source proposal for one of my clients. In this case, the federal agency decided that it needed to have a particular task done, and that the task could only be performed by two people that used to work there. My client had marketed to this agency, and it was "decided" that their company could hire these two people as consultants to perform the work. So the agency issued an RFP to my client, which no other company received. My client then had to respond to this RFP so that the agency would have the proper paperwork to award them the contract.
Fair? Not really. But of course it happens all the time. Most of the time we only hear about it when there is some type of investigation into possible improper practices and the media gets hold of it. But in reality, lots of companies receive sole source contracts. In many cases, it's just a matter of marketing and knowing the right people in an agency. In other cases, there is really only one responsible source out there, or there is a particularly urgent need for a product or service (another way that agencies can justify a sole source contract).
That's the lesson (or rant) for today.
(12/12/06 08:42 AM) - Red Teams.
I never heard the term "red team" until several years after I began my proposal writing career. My employers never used them and it wasn't until I started working on my own that I encountered organizations that used red teams on certain proposal efforts.
Basically, a red team is a team of outside reviewers that a company brings in to review a proposal once the final draft is completed. Many organizations don't incorporate a red team review process because: (a) it can be expensive; (b) they can't spare the time; and (c) the idea has not occured to them. But if you are preparing a proposal that is very important to your firm, using a red team can be a valuable and worthwhile activity.
In a nutshell, the process works like this:
- Your company identifies people (perhaps 4 or more) to serve as red team reviewers. These people should not have been involved in the proposal in any way, and in fact it's best if they are outside your organization. You will probably need to pay these reviewers a consulting fee for their time. Depending upon the size and complexity of the proposal, the red team review can take from one to several days.
- Before the red team begins their work, you'll need to prepare for them. They will need a packet of materials, including the RFP, your final proposal draft, the proposal outline, checklists, instructions, and other relevant materials. These can be put in binders that are distributed to each reviewer. The red team will also need a conference room or other space where they can read and meet.
- Once the red team assembles, the Proposal Manager or another member of your proposal team may give a verbal presentation on the proposal: what it is about, some background on the issues, what problems have been encountered in developing the proposal, etc. The Proposal Manager also goes over the instructions with the review team. These instructions should be as specific as possible -- they should tell the red team reviewers what you want them to look for. For example: Is the proposal theme clear and consistent? Are the benefits of your approach desirable and clearly stated? Does the proposal address all of the RFP requirements? Is it convicing? How can specific problem areas be fixed? How could the overall proposal be improved? Etc., etc.
- The red team begins its review, first working individually to read the materials and document their comments and impressions. Once this is done, they meet as a group to discuss their findings and to prepare a set of recommendations. When the review is completed, the red team presents its comments and recommendations to the proposal team, which then incorporates the reviewers' suggested improvements.
Besides red team reviews, there are also pink team reviews. But that's a topic for another day.
(12/12/06 08:42 AM) - A New Assignment, But What Is It?.
Today I'm scheduled to attend a meeting at a client's office re a new RFP that they are planning to bid. I know this client well; I've worked with one particular department many times over the years. But a different department within this company is going to have primary responsibility for the proposal, and the department I've worked with previously will be helping them. When my contact at this company called me, he didn't say why they needed my assistance -- he just asked me to come to the meeting.
Then yesterday someone from the "other" department contacted me to introduce himself and to tell me that he is going to be the Proposal Manager. We had this conversation:
Him --- Did John tell you what he was thinking about having you do on this proposal?
Me --- Well, no. I was just going to ask you that same question.
Him --- Hmmm, I don't know.
Tune in for the next exciting episode of "why am I here?"
(12/12/06 08:42 AM) - What Color is Your Proposal?.
Yesterday I got this sort of panicky-sounding e-mail:
Subject: Technical proposal.
What does a score of yellow in this area mean?DOD (and sometimes other agencies) sometimes use a color-coded system to evaluate proposals. I interpreted the above e-mail to mean that the writer had received a "yellow" score on her technical proposal and didn't know what it meant.She may have forgotten to look in her RFP, where the meaning of the colors are usually explained.
The color-coded system is usually something like this:
- Blue - Excellent
Proposal demonstrates excellent understanding of requirements and approach that significantly exceeds performance or capability
standards. Has exceptional strengths that will significantly benefit the Government - Purple - Good
Proposal demonstrates good understanding of requirements and approach that exceeds performance or capability standards. Has one or more strengths that will benefit the Government. - Green - Satisfactory
Proposal demonstrates acceptable understanding of requirements and approach that meets performance or capability standards. Acceptable solution. - Yellow - Marginal
Proposal demonstrates shallow understanding of requirements and approach that only marginally meets performance or capability standards necessary for minimal but acceptable contract performance. - Red - Unacceptable
Fails to meet performance or capability standards. Requirements can only be met with major changes to the proposal.
When the government uses a color-coded system to evaluate proposals, the colors indicate the degree to which the proposal has met the standard for each factor that is being evaluated.
(12/12/06 08:42 AM) - Blue - Excellent
