Category Results for Tools & Tips

Audio Tip: Three Keys to Creating Winning Proposals

What the best proposals have in common

Alternative content This month, capture and proposal development expert and columnist for Washington Technology magazine, Bob Lohfeld, offers three keys for creating winning proposals. Creating winning proposals is not the same as writing a proposal. Anyone can write a proposal for government work, given enough time and resources. However, only one bidder writes the winning proposal. The best proposals have three things in common: They are directed and written by talented people experienced at writing proposals. They follow a similar, defined process. They are designed in an environment that creates proposals efficiently. Your capture and proposal managers bring necessary skills to plan, staff, lead, and control your capture campaign and develop your competitive proposal. The capture manager leads the campaign, and the proposal manager comes in before RFP release to focus on developing the proposal. This team knows that the first step to a winning proposal is developing a winning...

Audio Tip: Tips for Building Effective Proposal Schedules

Ways to deal effectively with good old Mr. Murphy!

Alternative content This month, proposal development expert Beth Wingate, APMP Fellow, offers tips to help you build effective proposal schedules—whether you’re scheduling a month-long effort or a 5-day quick-turnaround task-order (TO) response. Develop proposal schedule templates that you keep in your “proposal toolbox” so you can quickly pull out, tweak, vet, and publish your proposal schedule upon RFP receipt (create draft schedules using those templates during the pre-RFP preparation phase and then finalize them upon RFP release). Maintain templates for 5-, 10-, 15-, and 30-day responses. Come up with a set of schedule templates that fit your typical response types and timeframes. Schedule proposals (including TO proposals) like any other project. Here are tips for developing your schedules: Develop your schedule both “backwards” and “forwards.” Develop your proposal schedule backwards from the submission date, and… Develop your schedule forwards, including time to prepare your outline, templates, kickoff meeting materials, and...

Audio Tip: Color Team Reviews—Core Reviewers

Avoid confusion, ensure consistency, and retain institutional knowledge

Alternative content Proposal development expert and APMP Fellow Beth Wingate offers a quick tip to help you avoid confusion, ensure consistency, and retain institutional knowledge in your color review teams. Color reviews help to ensure a compliant, compelling proposal response. I previously recommended four basic color reviews—Blue, Pink, Red, and Gold—for each non-pricing volume of your proposal. Pricing volumes have their own Green review. Having a “core” team of reviewers that moves from one color review to the next during the proposal’s development helps avoid confusion from one review to the next and ensures consistency because this team retains the “institutional knowledge” gained during each review. Augment your core team with particular subject matter experts (SMEs) as appropriate during the review cycle. For example, bring in a past performance expert during the Pink and Red reviews to ensure you’re framing your responses as effectively as possible, or add a resume...

Color Team Reviews—Purposes and Goals

How to run effective color team reviews - and what to review to ensure a compliant, compelling proposal response.

Alternative content This week, proposal development expert Beth Wingate, APMP Fellow, offers a quick rundown of what to review for in the various color team reviews and offers tips for running effective reviews. Color reviews help to ensure a compliant, compelling proposal response. Your Chief Reviewer should select a team from within your organization (include teammates, if applicable) that can effectively review the proposal—standing in the shoes of government evaluators and adding value and detail. I recommend four basic color reviews for each non-pricing volume. Blue-Reviews and approves final solution, strategy, and storyboards or richly annotated outlines. Reviews for features, benefits, differentiators, strengths, supporting evidence, and themes. Reviews overall proposal solution graphic and major section graphics.Tip: Only after reviewing/approving all of this material and freezing the solution/offering should you release writers to write. Pink–Reviews for compliance with RFP instructions and requirements; responsive proposal content that tells a coherent story, supports...