Insights Blog
Articles tagged with: orals
Industry experts’ proposal war stories and lessons learned – Part 1 of 4
We’ve all heard the war stories around the office coffee pot and at industry events and cringed, thinking, “Wow! I’ll make sure that NEVER happens to one of my proposal efforts.”
There are as many potential disasters waiting out there, however, as there are RFPs in the Cloud – and I’m sure we’d all rather learn from someone else’s horror story than become the originator of a classic ourselves!
I recently asked a number of my colleagues to share their favorite war stories – and tell us…
Don’t make these mistakes – 12 vital proposal lessons
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (George Santayana)
Over the past 25 years spent managing and submitting thousands of proposals and task order responses, I’ve developed a long list of lessons learned.
Of course, I have many proposal section-specific lessons learned that I’ll share in upcoming Lohfeld Insights posts, but here are some of my favorite overall lessons learned:
- Address solicitation requirements in the required order and substantiate every response. This makes it easier for evaluators to score your proposal. (Include RFP section numbers in your section headings so evaluators can easily cross reference…
4 Variables to consider while preparing orals presentations
The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual. –Vincent Lombardi
Today, many agencies use orals presentations, in addition to written proposals, to gauge the technical knowledge and management experience of team members proposed to support their programs. Orals presentations also help government evaluators visualize the potential working relationship with each contractor and provide an opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification regarding the proposing team’s understanding, approaches, processes, and technical competence.
Many aspects of narrative proposals and orals presentations are similar, but the nature of the orals presentation medium also creates significant…
6 Early-stage proposal products to identify and develop
More adventures start with a lack of planning. –Capt. Dick Shakeshaft, Keynote Speaker, APMP Nor’easters 2011 Fall Symposium
Keeping a proposal team on a winning track means getting an early start on the proposal. Arguably, the most important activity during the Pre-proposal Preparation Phase is preparing proposal products early. While each RFP contains unique questions that are difficult to anticipate, we can get a head start on many standard proposal sections during this phase.
Identify proposal products typically included in similar or related bids for this client, and begin developing these sections before RFP release. Typically, these products include:
- Resumes
- Past…
