One of the most frequent questions I get revolves around the decision of what to bid. I have observed many processes. Some are very formal, associating point scores to factors at different stages of the process. Others are casual and fly by the seat of their pants. But… what really works for a small business? […]
Category Archives: Capture and Proposal
Customer Access: Alternatives to Direct Contact (Part 3)
Apr 10
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In the first two parts of this series, we determined that it may not always be possible to have direct contact with your end customer, a Federal employee. In fact, it may be difficult to identify the best and most reliable contacts. In any given acquisition, you must deal with Contracting Officers and Specialists, Program […]
Getting Information from the Experts: 3 Methods that Work and 1 to Avoid
Mar 21
Anyone who has worked on the capture or proposals knows that access to subject matter experts (SMEs) is essential to building your business case. However, it can be very difficult to get the information you need from the SMEs in a timely and usable manner. Many SMEs simply do not like to write or write in […]
Customer Access: Why Do I Need It? (Part 1)
Feb 14
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After posting my comments on the trend towards a less receptive Federal Audience, I received several responses that wanted to know if I were going to post any suggestions for how to overcome this potential difficulty. I have decided to address this request in a series of four articles. Part 1 examines the reasons contractors think […]
10 Steps to Better Proposals – Part 2 of 2
Jan 19
This is the second part of my 2-part series on some advice to developing better proposals. The first five steps were presented in Part 1. Here are steps 6 through 10: #6: Conduct meaningful reviews. Veterans of proposals are familiar with the multiple “color reviews”, where teams are brought into review the proposal at different […]
10 Steps to Better Proposals – Part 1 of 2
Jan 13
We always seem to be in proposal season. I recall a time when the Federal Government had acquisition cycles and we could plan our proposal resources and budgets. Not only that, but they also gave us enough time to respond – usually 60-90 days. Those days are past and proposals are fast and furious. No […]
Why Federal Contracting is like Shrimping (My Forrest Gump Epihany) – Part 3 of 4
Dec 22
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Sorry for the long delay getting Part 3 out. I promise I will not take so long to get to Part 4. However, true to form, the Government got active just before the holidays so that contractors have something to do while they are out 🙂 In Part 1 and Part 2, I discussed topics […]
Four Stages of Federal Business Development
Oct 18
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Business development is a process that begins with nothing and ends (hopefully) with winning some new business. From my experience, I categorize the business development process into the following four stages: Stage 1: Figuring out what you want to chase (AKA Strategic Planning) Stage 2: Finding opportunities compatible with your goals (AKA Identification and Qualification) […]
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