TArticles tagged with: best value

The Rationale for Eliminating Win Themes in Proposals

The Government is clear how they evaluate best value bids

If you attended a proposal writing class years ago, the instructor taught you to include win themes in every major proposal section. The instructor told you to link win themes to discriminators found in your offer and that the most powerful win themes discriminated your offer from those of your competitors. While it is good to differentiate your solution from competitors, it is only part of the equation needed to win. To win, you must consider the Government’s own instructions describing how they evaluate bids when using Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR) Part 15 15.101 Best value continuum, as opposed to FAR Part 15.101-2, where they look for the lowest price technically acceptable bid. In FAR Part 15.305 Proposal Evaluation, the Government is clear how they evaluate best value bids, “Evaluations may be conducted using any rating method or combination of methods, including color or adjectival ratings, numerical weights, and ordinal … Continue reading The Rationale for Eliminating Win Themes in Proposals →

DoD revamps source selection process

Washington Technology article

In a continuing effort to improve the Defense Department’s source selection process, Claire Grady, director, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics issued new source selection procedures (SSP) on March 31 that rescind the previous policies issued 5 years ago. The new procedures will have a significant impact on proposal evaluations in DoD and specifically on how they handle best value tradeoffs and lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) procurements. I’ve highlighted some of the more important changes in this article—some of these procedures are new and some are re-emphasized from the previous procedures. If you would like to read the full 40-page memorandum and its three appendices, it is available on our website. Redefining the best value continuum DoD added a new source selection approach to the best value continuum for use as a standalone evaluation approach or in combination … Continue reading DoD revamps source selection process →

21 Experts’ predictions for capture/proposal industry changes – Part 3

Bundled contracts, unbundled contracts, emphasis on well-trained procurement support staff, training axed in cost-cutting measures, short turnarounds, extended and extended extensions, virtual proposals, everyone in the war room… The more things change… Play this government capture and proposal game long enough, and you start recognizing and anticipating the changing patterns. Talk to those who’ve been in the business for years, and you’ll gain insights into how to deal with a particular round of changes based on what the veterans experienced the last go round. I recently asked a number of my colleagues, “What changes do you anticipate in the next 5 years for the capture/proposal industry, e.g., technology and tools, types of proposals, customers, training, lead time to prepare responses, pricing, etc.?” Here is the final set of their responses. How will you and your company start positioning yourselves to address these projected changes? I expect more bundled contracts with … Continue reading 21 Experts’ predictions for capture/proposal industry changes – Part 3 →

21 Experts’ predictions for capture/proposal industry changes – Part 2

The old adage says, “Nothing’s constant except change.” (We can add death and taxes, but even the taxes part seems in constant flux these days!) Stay in the government capture and proposal game long enough, and you’ll start recognizing patterns in the changes. Over the years, you’ll add strategies to your bag of tricks that you’ll be able to whip out to deal with round x of a particular procurement “flavor of the year.” Throughout all of these fluctuations and transformations, though, one thing does remains constant. Business development (BD), capture, and proposal professionals have strong opinions about and desires for changes that would add sanity and structure to the entire procurement process and cut down on the “guess work.” I recently asked a number of my colleagues, “What changes do you anticipate in the next 5 years for the capture/proposal industry, e.g., technology and tools, types of proposals, customers, … Continue reading 21 Experts’ predictions for capture/proposal industry changes – Part 2 →