TArticles tagged with: discriminators

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 →

The art of the data call: 4 data calls you can issue today

In today’s blog post, Lisa Pafe follows up on her previous data call-related advice with insights on how to develop data calls during the capture phase of your business development activities… My previous blogs discussed what you can do pre-RFP to tie your data call to the win strategy and how to get proof points that POP. But, what are the elements of the data call and who should complete it? Below are specific examples of data elements that will help you create and issue data calls during the capture stage. Staffing data call (Points of contact (POCs): HR and Recruiting) Personnel details (clearances, education, certifications, domain areas) Recruiting statistics (average time to fill positions, number of recruiters, size of recruiting database, recruiting sources) Retention rate (company-wide and project-specific) Meatball charts (experience versus functional or technical requirements) Representative resumes Past performance data call (POCs: Project Managers, SMEs, Proposals, and Contracts) … Continue reading The art of the data call: 4 data calls you can issue today →

Working with project managers on recompetes: project manager as proposal SME (Part 3)

Lisa Pafe’s previous blogs discussed how capture and project management can work together during recompetes to influence the customer and gather competitive intelligence. This week, Lisa discusses how the project manager must work with the proposal manager to provide essential information for the recompete proposal itself. In addition to providing customer and competitive intelligence, the project manager also has a role to play in helping the proposal manager gather artifacts that can be used as proof points for discriminators. Additionally, the project manager serves as an essential subject matter expert (SME) for the recompete. Before RFP release, the proposal manager should make a list of the artifacts the project team must gather to help support and prove the win themes, features and benefits, and discriminators. Some items the project manager can continuously gather and share include: Congratulatory emails Awards and certificates of appreciation Customer quotes and kudos Award fees achieved … Continue reading Working with project managers on recompetes: project manager as proposal SME (Part 3) →

Working with project managers on recompetes: Project manager as an ethical spy (Part 2)

This week, Lisa Pafe provides additional insights into how incumbents can work with their project managers when preparing for recompete procurements. Project managers have an enormous role to play in gathering competitive intelligence that the capture manager can use to build recompete win strategies. Because the project manager is on-site, the capture manager can coach the project manager to serve as an ethical spy in preparing for a recompete: Who is visiting with the customer? Who has offered brown bags, seminars, and other freebies? What other companies are working for this customer? Because the project manager knows the scope of work intimately, (s)he knows what is most important to the customer. Capture and project management working together can ethically influence the new solicitation to favor incumbent discriminators. For example, if evaluation factors rate key personnel, relevant past performance, and seamless transition as of greatest importance, then the incumbent has an … Continue reading Working with project managers on recompetes: Project manager as an ethical spy (Part 2) →