News & Knowledge Center
Category Results for Government Proposals
Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – May 2013
Welcome to Lohfeld Consulting Group's Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief - May 2013 Edition!
Click to read Lohfeld Consulting Group's Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – May 2013
When the government awards a contract to other than the lowest priced offeror, it pays a price premium to make that award. How much price premium the government will pay is left to the judgment of the selecting official. This amount varies by type of service or product being procured, details of each solicitation, and experience of the source selection official.
In 1999, the...
Questioning the questions? Ask the Proposal Doctor
Dear Proposal Doctor,
The battle over which questions to send to the government customer on a long and not-very-well-written RFP has begun. The desktop publishers want to ask about fonts. The graphics people want to ask about color and foldout pages. The solution architect wants to ask about specifications and performance metrics. The contracts people want to suggest new terms and conditions. The pricing people want to ask about….everything.
Just collecting, vetting, discussing, formatting, and submitting the questions could eat up our entire response time. What…
Can you afford to chase premium price? Maybe.
This article was originally published May 3, 2013 in WashingtonTechnology.com.
By Bob Lohfeld
When the government awards a contract to other than the lowest priced offeror, it pays a price premium to make that award. How much price premium the government will pay is left to the judgment of the selecting official. This amount varies by type of service or product being procured, details of each solicitation, and experience of the source selection official.
In 1999, the price premium in a GAO study averaged about…
Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – April 2013
Welcome to Lohfeld Consulting Group's Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief - April 2013 Edition!
Click to read Lohfeld Consulting Group's Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – April 2013
Some companies are actively seeking lowest price, technically acceptable (LPTA) professional services bids-but they're not the companies you'd think. You'd expect companies with deep experience in their fields that have honed their operating costs to the minimum and are operating at maximum efficiency to seek out LPTA bids where they could compete on price-but it is just the...
Is it always necessary to create graphics first? Ask the Proposal Doctor
Dear Proposal Doctor,
My capture manager is insisting that we complete a big stack of graphics before we write any proposal text. We have a decent amount of time for this proposal, more than we usually get. But, my writers are worried about how long the graphics process will take and the compressed writing schedule that will surely follow.
Is it always necessary to create graphics first? Where did this rule come from? How can I make it work with a team that does not really…
Why some companies embrace LPTA contracts
This article was originally published April 8, 2013 in WashingtonTechnology.com.
By Bob Lohfeld
Some companies are actively seeking lowest price, technically acceptable (LPTA) professional services bids—but they’re not the companies you’d think. You’d expect companies with deep experience in their fields that have honed their operating costs to the minimum and are operating at maximum efficiency to seek out LPTA bids where they could compete on price—but it is just the opposite.
Inexperienced, marginally credible firms are finding LPTA procurements provide a unique opportunity to…
Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – March 2013
Welcome to Lohfeld Consulting Group’s Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – March 2013 Edition!
Click to read Lohfeld Consulting Group’s Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – March 2013
The complacency of incumbent teams is now a thing of legends, and everyone has at least one story of the incumbent we were sure the customer loved who lost and, in some instances, lost big.
The good news is that techniques exist to get your team out of its complacent rut. Check…
Shaking an incumbent out of its complacent rut
Dear Proposal Doctor,
I am working with a team that is about to bid on a contract for which they are the incumbents. They have been doing this work for a while and they get plenty of kudos from the customer.
However, re-competes are always difficult. These people cannot generate any ideas about how to do things better or differently in the future. They are convinced that they have the answers and that the way they have been delivering services up until now is actually the…
Can you hire an effective capture manager?
This article was originally published February 22, 2013 in WashingtonTechnology.com.
By Bob Lohfeld
The CEO of a mid-tier company asked me why many capture managers turn out to be ineffective and, in his case, could he have done something differently in the interview process to predict their effectiveness before hiring them.
This is a difficult question because most capture managers will interview well, but some will not live up to expectations once on the job. I thought I would share some insights about this situation…
Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – February 2013
Welcome to Lohfeld Consulting Group's Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief - February 2013 Edition!
Click to read Lohfeld Consulting Group's Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief – February 2013
"Love is not an evaluation criterion." That quote from Bob Lohfeld's latest Washington Technology article makes us chuckle each time we read it!
In this February eBrief, we share Bob's suggestions for keeping your "must win" recompetes on a winning path along with our Proposal Doctor's thoughts on whether or not proposal managers need to understand the "subject matter" of...
