Proposal Land

Better RFP Responses & Management
 
Proposal Land

Advice to Procurement Professionals: Use the Power of One

 

Bidders are highly motivated to do well: to submit, on time, a compliant proposal that will score well and offer the lowest price they can. So why don’t they do better? A major reason is the complexity of bid documents.  Simpler documents will lead to fewer questions during the process, and to better responses at the end of the process, where “better” means closer to the requirement, easier to evaluate, and more competitively priced. Herewith, some practical suggestions for keeping it simple.

Say It Once

Say it once, not in several places: With the best of intentions, repetition leads to small variations. Bidders seize on those variations and worry them to death:

  • Faced with different descriptions of the procurement purpose (or objectives, goals, vision, or mission), they read meaning into those differences and spend time trying to reconcile them.
  • Faced with inconsistencies in the response requirement (content, organization, layout, and format), they spend time crafting detailed questions to get clarity.

Help bidders avoid this unproductive work by saying things once.

Ask Just Once

With many people contributing to bid documents, it’s easy to ask for the same information more than once. As one example, an RFP might ask for information on continuous improvement in a section on quality as well as in the project management section. Repetitive questions baffle bidders, who then waste time trying to discern meaningful distinctions where there may be none.

Use One Word for One Concept

Proposal editors strive to eliminate meaningless variation in terminology: standardizing on “trainee,” for example, rather than using “trainees,” “students,” “course participants,” and “program attendees” to refer to the same people. Similarly, procurement documents should use one word for one concept. For example, pick just one from these sets of similar terms:

  • Mobilization, Transition, Takeover, Start-up
  • Delivery Date, Contract Start, Service Commencement, Effective Date

 

 

This post is based on an article I wrote for the National Institute of Government Purchasing, Canada West Chapter.

 

 

 

 

Term: Colour/Color Palette

 ,

The sum of the decisions made about how to use colour/color in the proposal. Affects headers, footers, headings, tables, graphics, and binder covers.

If you wouldn’t think this matters, you’ve never tried to get a proposal approved for submission by executives or communications specialists, who tend to care about the graphics.  In this as in all areas of proposal development and production, standardization contributes to submitting a professional document.

How to Foster Teamwork: Rule #11

 

No dickheads allowed.
Rhys Newman and Luke Johnson

Well, OK, that’s clear and to the point.

My slightly less vivid advice to proposal managers selecting team members has always been to choose team players above experts.  Of course, in an ideal world, those two would coincide – and it’s amazing how often they do.  It’s amazing how many people know what they’re doing and work well with others.

But those who don’t or won’t work nicely with others suck time and energy from an activity that has none to spare:

  • Stubbornly implementing their pet preferences in the solution, regardless of client priorities
  • Sticking their nose into areas that aren’t their concern
  • Violating rules for version control of documents.  Repeatedly.  Even after stern warnings.  Not that I’ve ever seen this . . .
  • Refusing to accept style standards that the rest of the team is using
  • Missing deadlines, missing deadlines, missing deadlines

So the final word of advice in this series?  Eliminate dickheads from your proposal team.  You’ll never be sorry you did.

 

 

 Proposals are schedule-driven projects that require a strict project management discipline. Right? Partly right. In proposal terminology, I’d call that answer incomplete.  Proposals are projects, for sure, but they’re also the output of teamwork. I’ve recently been learning how much the design business has in common with proposals.

This post is one of a series on proposal teamwork, inspired by a fabulous article on Medium on design teams:
“No Dickheads! A Guide to Building Happy, Healthy, and Creative Teams.”

 

Term: Contract Term

 

The period of time for which the contractor will provide the Work under the contract. Sometimes defined as a base period plus one or more option periods.  Note that the choice to exercise said option is the client’s unilateral one.

How to Foster Teamwork: Rule #10

 

Bring the outside, inside.
Rhys Newman and Luke Johnson

How People get Disconnected from the Outdoors

Proposal team workspace tends to be temporary, no frills, cheap.  In this speed-and-feed, cost-control-uber-alles environment, ergonomics gets little attention and any window is quickly plastered over with flipchart paper, the better to prevent industrial espionage.

With the long hours typical of proposals, people can go a long time without spending any appreciable time outside.  I went into one proposal den in the depths of winter and didn’t come out until the summer.  (That’s not literally true, of course — I trudged back to my hotel every night after dark, after all — but it’s true to my experience.)

The Consequences of this Disconnection

There’s just one thing.  It’s not good for people.

It’s not good for their physical health, it’s not good for their mental health, and it’s not good for what we might call their professional health:

  • Their productivity
  • Their capacity for innovation
  • Their ability to analyze and synthesize data and to see connections
  • Their frequency of  “Aha!” moments
  • Their willingness to work with other people, overlooking their quirks
  • Their ability to control their own quirkiness

The Remedy

What to do?  It turns out this is one of the easier ones:

  • Unblock a window.
  • Meet when possible in an open area where people can at least see outside.
  • Bring in flowers (or non-allergenic plants if pollen and scent are problems).
  • Start a photo contest and post pictures of the world beyond your proposal room doors.
  • Display colourful or interesting leaves and rocks that people bring in.

And where you have the option, actually get outdoors through the workday, too:

  • Model a protocol of getting outside at lunch, every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow.
  • Encourage walking meetings – outside.

 

 

 Proposals are schedule-driven projects that require a strict project management discipline. Right? Partly right. In proposal terminology, I’d call that answer incomplete.  Proposals are projects, for sure, but they’re also the output of teamwork. I’ve recently been learning how much the design business has in common with proposals.

This post is one of a series on proposal teamwork, inspired by a fabulous article on Medium on design teams:
“No Dickheads! A Guide to Building Happy, Healthy, and Creative Teams.”