Insights Blog

12 Tips to get the most out of your B&P dollars

Through careful planning there are measures you can take to stretch your B&P dollars

Every time I go shopping, I try to stretch my dollars to get the best possible products for the most favorable prices. Consider using your Bid and Proposal (B&P) funds in the same way. Spend just enough money to create a winning proposal and use the leftover cash to fund new bids, improve your B&P infrastructure or enhance your team’s skills. However, maximizing your B&P is difficult due to unknown variables. Changes in the customer’s priorities and budget, moving Request Proposal (RFP) release dates, unforeseen RFP amendments, and internal workforce constraints can easily derail a B&P budget. However, through careful planning there are measures you can take to stretch your B&P dollars, including the 12 tips listed below. Identify the amount your company can comfortably spend on B&P, without impacting its competitive edge or profitability. Create mock customer score cards and debrief statements to help identify the level of effort … Continue reading 12 Tips to get the most out of your B&P dollars →

GWACs, BICs, & Category Management: Where does Small Biz fit? | Amtower Off Center

The impact of GWACs and IDIQs on small businesses

Click here to listen to Mark’s interview On January 7, 2020 on Amtower Off Center, host Mark Amtower interviewed Bob Lohfeld, Founder and CEO of Lohfeld Consulting Group and Kevin Plexico, Senior Vice President, Information Solutions of Deltek on identifying, pursuing, bidding and winning contracts. This was a wide-ranging discussion focused on: GWACs and their growth over the past five years response times for task orders shrinking “best in class” contracts category management how long out you should plan if you want to win a prime spot on a GWAC the impact of GWACs and IDIQs on small businesses Hosted by nationally-known speaker and consultant Mark Amtower, Amtower Off Center highlights the good, the bad, the ugly and the just plain silly of doing business in the government market. Every week experts join Mark for a lively discussion of current issues facing the government contractor community. Bob Lohfeld, … Continue reading GWACs, BICs, & Category Management: Where does Small Biz fit? | Amtower Off Center →

Transform Color Team Reviews in 2020 with Training

Invest in training your employees to evaluate proposals constructively.

Federal Government evaluators do not read your proposal; they score it. Observed features with proven benefits that have merit beyond mere acceptability are scored as strengths. The bidder with the best and possibly the most strengths wins in a best value trade-off. Yet, when we conduct internal color team reviews, we tend to gather comments (many comments!) rather than scoring and rating the proposal. We try to resolve conflicts on comments rather than trying to improve Strengths and mitigate Weaknesses, Deficiencies and Risks from the customer perspective. I have written extensively on how to improve color team reviews using Lohfeld Consulting Group’s seven quality measures and Mock Source Selection Evaluation Board reviews using Government scoresheets. These are excellent ways to use our Subject Matter Experts to cost effectively score the proposal and give you honest feedback in the manner of a Government debrief. Another cost-effective strategy is training. Our Strength-Based … Continue reading Transform Color Team Reviews in 2020 with Training →

Leading Teams on the Fly

To be successful, team leaders must understand the difference between teamwork and teaming.

Republished with permission from the APMP NCA Fall eZine Capture and proposal team leaders face challenges inherent to our business: fluid team composition, multiple concurrent tasks and opportunities, competing demands, changing priorities, and short deadlines. Most companies have a permanent cadre of full -time capture and proposal professionals supplemented by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), consultants, and other specialists (contracts, pricing, Human Resources) for specific efforts. The fluid nature of capture and proposal teams creates challenges and opportunities for the team leader. To be successful, team leaders must understand the difference between teamwork and teaming. What’s the Difference? According to Harvard Business Review (HBR), teamwork is about stable teams of people who have learned to work together over time, for example, a Proposal Operations group. Teaming is “teamwork on the fly”: when we “gather experts in temporary groups to solve problems they’re encountering for the first and perhaps only time.” When … Continue reading Leading Teams on the Fly →