Posted by BJ under Musings | 
For the proposal I’m working on at the moment, a very large public sector deal, the evaluation process is clearly defined. Within this process, price is the last consideration, not, as some people continue to believe, the first.The process steps for the evaluation of responses for this deal are as follows:
- The proposal will initially be reviewed for compliance with the instructions contained in this Request for Proposals (RFP).
- The proposal will then be reviewed and evaluated for technical merit. During this review oral presentations and discussions may be held. The purpose of such discussions will be to assure a full understanding of the State’s requirements and the Offeror’s ability to perform.
- Offerors will be given the opportunity to correct deficient proposals, respond to written questions or provide written clarifications. Technical proposals will be ranked at the end of this process.
- Finally, the financial section of each proposal will be opened and evaluated separately from the technical evaluation. After a review of the financial proposals additional and further discussions may be requested and held.
At least for this deal, it is definitely not “All about Price”.
Posted by Jon under Proposal Guys news |
I love it when a plan comes together – and love it still more when things work out even better than one could have imagined. Here’s a little tale…
About two years ago, we ran a benchmark for a major life insurance company’s proposal team. They were doing some good things – despite being relatively under-resourced and under-valued. But, as is so often the way, there was plenty of potential to improve.
With strong board sponsorship, we recommended that they create a new proposal centre – and helped them to build it. I spent a wonderful nine months or so acting as the interim head of the centre -recruiting staff, training the team, developing new processes, working with an agency to create new design collateral. Account teams were delighted; customes gave excellent feedback; their win rates soared.
One of the folks we recruited re-located across the country at the start of last year to take up her new role. As she settled in to the new office, she met and clicked with one of her new colleagues in another department.
We’re going to their wedding today. That has to be the loveliest – unintentional! – consequence of any of the consulting projects I’ve ever run. So congratulations to Jen and Paul, and all of our best wishes for your future happiness together!
Posted by Jon under Musings |
I’ve been toying with statements that encapsulate the value that a Proposal Writer can bring to the subject matter experts who contribute proposal content.
One I particularly liked – probably to be used with senior managers, rather than with the contributors themselves (who might feel just a tad patronised!) is:
To make them sound more eloquent than they actually are.
On reflection, however, this may be aiming too high. Perhaps we should stick with:
To remove the need for them to be eloquent at all.
Posted by BJ under Word play & writing |
Following on from my recent experience with W.I.P. (wherein I discovered that this acronym stands for many things besides “work in progress”), I decided to see what, besides “request for proposal” RFP might stand for.
The list I discovered follows. (As with my other entry, you’ll see that several of these are related to the work we do. Those being numbers 8, 12, 18, 25, 26 and for some of you 27. I was also surprised to see there was actually an abbreviation to be used for a particular single female friend of mine…that being number 28.)
- Reasonable Further Progress
- Request For Payment (Invoice)
- Request for Purchase
- Registered Financial Planner
- Registered Financial Planner
- Rifampicin
- Ret Finger Protein
- Ready for Production
- Request For Procurement
- Radio Fixed Part
- Rocky Flats Plant
- Request for Production
- Request For Papers
- Removed From Project
- Ready for Pull
- Report for Planning
- Radio Frequency Plasma
- Reasonable Further Programs
- Ready For Procurement
- Reverse Flow Pivot
- Radar Data Front Processing
- Radar Fix Point
- Religious Freedom Project
- Reverse Frame Prediction
- Request For Prosecution
- Request For Price/Product
- Rate Feasibility Problem
- Ring-Focused Paraboloid
- Ringing Fuse Panel
- Riparian Fencing Project
Posted by Jon under Musings, Processes & best practice |
I spent a couple of lovely days recently as chief cheerleader for a dear friend who was playing in a pretty high-powered tennis tournament. (You’ll be pleased to hear that said cheerleading was of the sit-drinking-coffee whilst shouting “Good shot!” variety, rather than involving me wearing a cute dress and waving pom-poms).
As I watched, a few parallels struck me that might be useful for us proposal folks:
1) The time devoted to preparation. The final two days of matches were played at Wimbledon. The previous five days were spent practising on grass courts. (How often do proposal teams come together for the first time after the RFP’s arrived?)
2) The role of the coach. The tennis team wouldn’t have dreamt of practising without bringing in a skilled coach – someone who’d help each of them to refine their technique and polish their skills. (Too often, proposal teams comprise the same old faces, with no fresh faces to stimulate improvements).
3) Unsettling the competition. Our friend was in no doubt from the start that she was going to win the tournament. That had a huge mental impact on the other competitors – the third-best player in the event, for example, repeatedly double-faulted on her usually-reliable serve when facing our friend. (What do you do that unsettles your competitors?)
4) Confidence at every stage. Tennis players facing a serve concentrate incredibly hard – on where they’re going to hit the ball, on the importance of winning the point. The moment they allow their minds to think, “Don’t miss!” is the moment they do precisely that. (Your behaviour as a proposal manager impacts your team that way; confidence breeds success, and you have the power to make your contributors think of themselves as winners).
5) Every point counts. (Every question in the RFP counts, too!).
6) Celebrating success. The women’s singles trophy that our friend won was almost as big as her. Her name went up onto the honours board for everyone to see, alongside the other winners dating back for fifty or so years. (Where’s your proposal centre’s honours board, of the bids you’ve helped to win? And don’t forget – when people look up at the boards, there’s no record of the losers).
Our friend won, naturally. It was all down to my cheerleading abilities, of course ☺
