Articles

Circumstance Sometimes the customer tells you exactly what to bid. Other times, they tell you what the problem or need is and ask you to propose a solution. When they ask for a solution it can be hard to decide what to offer. Approaches Teach them what matters. They have to figure out how to compare apples and oranges. Instead of leaving it to them to figure out, you can help them by pointing out what matters. And if in your proposal they

When you are a contractor, sometimes deadlines are missed, budgets are exceeded, or specifications go unmet. Sometimes it’s because of an oversight, bad estimates, or mismanagement. And sometimes it’s because the customer was unclear or changed their minds. Either way, your past performance record may suffer. Customer complaints, cure letters, or termination of a task can do irreparable damage to your ability to win future work. It can be worse when you are trying

Our approach to quality involves double checking the things that are necessary to win, in order to make sure they are right. The MustWin Process validates quality continuously instead of waiting for key milestones. As you get closer to the deadline, the risk increases. By identifying what is necessary to win and then measuring progress and quality against it, you also ensure that reviews

This MS Word file is part of the training materials that go along with the article titled How to make figuring out what to propose simple. It provides you with a simple checklist that?you can use for the recommended action items. ?

There's the way you should write a proposal, and then there's how to write the one you just got stuck with. What points should you make so that you can make the rest of the proposal about substantiating them. Points based on what you know about what matters the customer What the RFP says matters Your differentiators People like the customer

The attached file is Calhoun International's capabilities brief.

Transparency is the idea that the customer can see the status of all project components and all project data. When you operate transparently, the customer knows about problems as soon as you do, and knows everything you do about them.  When you operate transparently, the customer can tell if you have kept all your promises.  Transparency is about not giving yourself anywhere to hide, and making sure the customer knows it.  Transparency requires that you actually do things the way you prom

Ingredients What is your plan for quality control and quality assurance? Who is responsible for quality oversight? What standard operating procedures will you put into place? What standards you will use to assess and improve quality? What is the role quality planning in each phase of the project? How will the customer benefit from your approach to quality?

Most proposal introduction paragraphs are wasted space.  They are written like the writer needed to get warmed up while figuring out what to say.  And yet when the customer looks at your proposal, wondering what’s in it for them, it’s the first thing they read.  The introduction is not for describing yourself before presenting the proposal. Everything that you say in the introduction should be presented in support of what the customer is going to get if they accept your proposal.  &

Ingredients What capacities are important to this project, and how did you arrive at them? What is your plan for handling the projected capacities? What is your plan for handling peak and valley work load requirements? How will you forecast workload requirements and model performance metrics? How you will achieve the necessary scalability? How you will anticipate chan

Ingredients Where, when, and how will they need to participate in the project?  What will be the customer’s role and responsibilities on the project? What decisions will the customer have to make? Will the customer be required to participate in any reviews? What resources or commitments will be required from the customer for the project? Will you need access to any cu

Ingredients What tools/methodologies will you use for: development, design, workflow, configuration management, process automation/management, program management, collaboration, budgeting, record keeping, time keeping, tracking systems, customer relationship management, and document/knowledge management, etc. How does what you plan to use align with what the customer is already using? How the customer will benefit from the tools, me

Ingredients What is the schedule for the major milestones or events that will occur? What deadlines or other key dates are mentioned in the RFP? What activities do you need to schedule in order to meet those deadlines? How soon after award you will start and how long it will take to complete? What is the critical path for the project? Are there any schedule constraint

Ingredients What resources and supplies you will need or provide? What is their manufacture, delivery, and/or storage method? What resources uniquely qualify you for this project? How will the customer benefit from your resources? Are any of your resources exclusive to you and not available from other bidders? What resources and supplies will the customer need to prov

Circumstance In a competitive market, you can sometimes gain an advantage by introducing change that disrupts your competitor’s strategies.  It is easy, especially when bidding against an RFP, for everyone to do what is expected of them.  It only makes sense to join them when you are confident you can outscore them that way.  If you are not, or you are the under dog, you need to rearrange the competitive playing field to put you on top.  Here are some ways to do that.  &

Ingredients What are your back-up and recovery plans? Which team members are responsible for continuity management? What are your recovery priorities? How you will coordinate your continuity plans with external organizations and third parties? What are your plans for facility relocation? What training will you provide to ensure that staff know what to do in an emergen

Ingredients What types of customer support do you think will be necessary? How will you provide this support? What capacity will be required for providing support? What support will provide on-site and what support will you provide off-site? What is your approach to issue tracking? What will your standards for response time be and how you will meet them?

An escalation plan provides a series of levels.  If the purpose of the escalation plan is to resolve problems or issues, then if an issue is not resolved at the first level, it moves to the second level, where more resources, expertise, capabilities, authority, etc., are applied to resolving the issue.  If it is not resolved at the second level, it moves up to the third.  It continues to move up until it reaches the highest level.  The number of levels and the triggers for moving from one

Circumstance So you want to tell a story in your proposal. You’ve heard that a great way to win is to tell a story that is worth repeating, captures the evaluators' attention, is memorable, and leads them to the conclusion or action you want them to take. That sounds great! But how do you do that in a proposal? How do you respond to customer requirements in such a way that you tell a story?  Approaches Here are some common ways to tell a st

The purpose of the recipes in this area is not to teach you the best way to do proposals, but rather to show you how to overcome obstacles, cope, or even cheat when you have to do proposals the wrong way.  Sure, if you want to win you need to do everything you can to achieve the best practices. But what about when you’re starting late on a bid where you don't know the customer, aren't sure what to bid, can't get the information you need to write a winning proposal