How to write losing proposals is not a particularly positive topic to discuss. However, many federal contractors seem quite adept at preparing such proposals so the discussion is most likely a worthwhile one. A small book could be written on the topic but, in an attempt at brevity, we provide the following list for your consideration: [...]
The bad news: When responding to a bid that is publicly posted, your firm is competing against the countless thousands of companies that are also interested in that bid opportunity. In many cases, even the unqualified will bid and almost all bidders will spend countless hours and oodles of money preparing their proposals. Requests for [...]
Many people who have evaluated federal proposals have attended our proposal writing seminars. Without exception, they say the following: Give us exactly what we asked for in the RFP, no more or no less. Avoid sales pitches without substantiation, e. g., the collective experience of our company exceeds “x” person years. Keep it short, concise, [...]
You must assume that the people evaluating your proposal are intelligent, focused individuals. Why? Because they usually are. They may not read the entire proposal but you have to assume they will read enough to make a judgment consistent with their political agenda and the contract’s objectives. Yes, their agendas play an important role in [...]
Everyone has heard the stories of delivery vehicles screaming down the Beltway only to just make or miss a proposal filing deadline. Or the stories of proposals that never made their destination due to mishandling by delivery services. Why do companies put themselves in this dreadful, high-pressure situation? Why are hundreds of thousands of dollars lost? There [...]
Agencies sometimes prefer their own homegrown IDIQs. Bureaucracies are bureaucracies worldwide- they tend to be parochial, self-serving, and mistrustful of outsiders. It is no different in the world of IDIQs. Most IDIQs are created and awarded by agencies at the cabinet or subcabinet levels, e.g., the Department of Homeland Security or the Coast Guard within [...]
Most public bids have been pre-sold by vendors to varying degrees and often several pre-sellers will be the only companies that really have a chance of winning. Experienced contractors also know that bidding opportunities for a reoccurring contract are inherently biased toward the incumbent contractor—the company holding the contract. Incumbent contractors win rebids of their [...]
The federal government doesn’t know the exact number of active Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQs), but a rough guess is that the number is over 3,000 and is increasing at a rate of around 30 percent annually. Most federal contractors don’t even try to keep track of them. Even prime contractors who deal in [...]
