How to improve your company’s internal bid awareness

Does your company have an efficient process for dispatching all pre-request for proposal (RFP) and post-RFP submission notices from the customer to the correct capture, proposal, or program management office (PMO) staff members? Do you proactively alert your PMO and production staff about upcoming bids? Do you alert your capture and proposal teams as to when contracts are ending so they have adequate time to position for a recompete? If you answered no to any of these questions, consider implemented an internal communications plan—an alerting process. Table 1 suggests check points you can add to your process.

Table 1: Define roles/responsibilities to improve internal bid awareness

In summary, ensuring the entire team is aware of and alerted to bid events minimizes the risk your company will miss milestones or have inadequate time to respond to a customer solicitation.

Brenda Crist teaches our Winning Business for Federal Contract Project Managers class, Proposal Writing, and APMP Foundation Certification classes. As a consultant, she serves as a senior capture and proposal manager. She helps clients work with their staff and partners to create winning, well-written proposal solutions. She offers hands-on experience from leading and conducting systems and network management projects for many civilian and military clients.

Brenda stays current with the latest procurements, their requirements, and industry best practices. She served as the 2010 President and formerly as 2009 Vice President and Professional Day Chairperson for the APMP-NCA Chapter. She has been an active member of APMP-NCA since 2003, serving as Professional Day Chair of Publicity, Speakers Program, and Chairperson for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 events, respectively. Brenda was inducted as an APMP Fellow in June 2011.