Category Results for Proposal Doctor

Keeping an accurate compliance matrix while facing multiple amendments? Ask the Proposal Doctor

Dear Proposal Doctor, I use a homegrown tool to strip my RFP into a table with all the technical requirements. This is supposed to be my tool for checking compliance, and it works well if there are no significant changes. Once the government starts issuing multiple amendments and answers to questions, my compliance matrix becomes obsolete. What is the best way to keep an accurate compliance matrix in the face of multiple amendments? Searching for a Solution Dear Searching, As wonderful as the automated tools are, they don't provide a good answer to your problem. I can only share my own approach. First, if the customer issues a revised RFP, I re-do the shred in its entirety, and I have found that to be the most efficient method. If the customer does not re-publish the RFP, I go through the questions and answers (Q&A) to determine which really affect compliance....

Getting a non-producer to deliver? Ask the Proposal Doctor

Dear Proposal Doctor, I have one non-producer on my proposal team. Everyone in the organization has told me that this guy is the absolute right person to craft a 10-page section on a topic that he knows inside out. But, he doesn't deliver. He keeps saying it is in progress, and I will get something soon. Others have told me not to worry. However, as a proposal manager, how can I not worry? This person could make or break the entire proposal. Time is ticking. Please tell me what to do before it is too late. Biting My Fingernails Dear Biting, You are right to be worried! This is an archetypal proposal situation, and one that is particularly common in "expert cultures" where people have more knowledge in their heads than they can ever get onto paper—much less into 10 pages. The good news is that there are ways out...

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 is a proposal manager to do? How can we streamline this process? -Questioning the Questions Dear Questioning, You’ve touched on a subject near and dear to my heart. Yes, this could easily spiral out of control. Worse yet, you could give away important information through your questions and, worse even than that, you could get back answers that only obfuscate the situation further. It...

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 best way. What can I do to throw a grenade into this scenario? I know that with this attitude, we will lose. -Scared Dear Scared, You are correct. 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...