FEDERAL Govt Contracting - Color Reviews For Successful Proposals

Color Reviews for Successful Proposals

US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series - 2016 Presented By: Jennifer Adeli JUNE 7, 2016

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series CALENDAR OF EVENTS: (All Webinars are at 12pm EST & Recorded) JUNE 1 - Maximizing The Value of Your GovCon Business https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/74156936435694851

JUNE 2 - Capture Planning - To Bid Or Not To Bid https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7051206926535220483

JUNE 3 - Teaming Agreements - The Good, The Bad & The Enforceable https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7352313683359938307

JUNE 6 - Teaming With Tribally Owned 8(a) Businesses https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4324839202604449539

JUNE 7 - Color Reviews For Successful Proposals https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3973323136181419267

JUNE 8 - Preparing The FSO for a DSS Audit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/423786240906737667

JUNE 9 - Life After 8(a) - Best Practices & Case Study https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6473232146721067779

JUNE 10 - The Politics Of Procurement https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3924758807094447107

JUNE 13 - Contract Administration - Best Practices https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2132047978959217667

JUNE 14 - So You Have A Facility Clearance, Now What? https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9028972158695833091

JUNE 15 - Unsolicited Proposals - Why, What & How. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4729436391901262849

JUNE 17 - SBIR's - The Good, The Bad & The "How" https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6337198369128857857

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

AGENDA

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series AGENDA:

• Introduction – HOST • Introduction – GUEST • Presentation • Conclusions • Q&A

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

INTRODUCTION Host

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

Jennifer Schaus About The Host * Approx 20 Yrs in Gov Contracting * Career: D&B (Govt Division) Federal Sales & GSA Scheds * Frequent Speaker: Chambers, NCMA, AFCEA, etc * Member: WIPG * Education: Towson University – B.A. UC Berkeley - Leadership Accelerator Cornell University - Exec Leadership

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

Jennifer Schaus Jennifer Schaus & Associates * DC Based Consulting Firm * Over 10 Yrs in Business * Support Services for Gov Cons Proposal Writing / Contract Vehicles (GSA) Sales & Biz Dev Certifications – SBA 8(a); SDVO; etc.

Events

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

INTRODUCTION Guest

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

Jennifer Adeli ABOUT OUR SPEAKER 20 years of government services Career: •Capitol Hill •Education consulting and lobbying •Big 5 consulting (Arthur Andersen and Booz Allen) •Mid-sized contractor: NetStar-1 •Entrepreneur: Launched WinBiz 2011 Education: •MBA, Georgetown University •B.A. Political Science UCSB

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

Jennifer Adeli

WinBiz Proposals Northern Virginia-based 100% virtual Customer profile: •Small and mid-sized federal contractors •Any industry or agency Services: •Proposal Management •Writing and Editing •Graphics and Desktop Publishing •Pricing •Capture, BD and Orals •SharePoint proposal site development (free hosting for customers)

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

PRESENTATION Color Reviews for Successful Proposals

WHAT WE ARE GOING TO COVER 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

•

Why we do “color reviews”

•

Jargon & Lingo

•

Color review best practices

•

Process and tools

•

Timing Considerations

WHAT ARE COLOR REVIEWS? 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series What are Color Reviews?

• Color Reviews are Shipley defined reviews – usually Pink, Red, Gold What Color Reviews are NOT • Time to say “I told you so” • Real-time solutioning • Opportunities to show off what you know and no one else does Why should you review?

• Stop writing and read (and get some rest!)

• Gain outside perspective • Score yourself against the government criteria • Identify holes, risks and opportunities • See the proposal in format and page limits • Get buy-in from team, especially executives

JARGON AND LINGO 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series Color Review

Purpose

Pink Team

•

80% written. First draft of proposal response. Annotated outline.

Red Team

•

90% written. Near final content in all sections. If any holes, they are known and in process.

Gold Team

•

100% written. Final proposal, no holes, all sections done.

Executive approval of final proposal response document

White Glove

• •

Final proposal review before being boxed/emailed Fix nit picks

Redline

•

Markup content using track changes and comments

Recovery

•

The time period after review to address all the findings

In-brief

•

Meeting to kickoff the review and distribute instructions

Debrief

•

Meeting to discuss reviewers findings and formulate recovery plan

COLOR REVIEW BEST PRACTICES 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series • • • • • • • •

Clearly explain instructions, roles, deadlines, rules Assign readers to sections – not the whole proposal Don’t review your own work Provide win themes and reference material to reviewers Use the RFP Section M (evaluation criteria) Independent compliance check Give reviewers enough time to read in detail, and not real-time during the review Comments in soft-copy; preferably online

COLOR REVIEW BEST PRACTICES, CON’T 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

•

Focus on the meat – Do not get hung-up on typos, grammar, formatting. Those will be cleaned up during editing and production

•

Make suggestions!

– Provide data points to support narrative – Give examples to strengthen draft content – Suggest ghosting opportunities against competition

•

No Seagulls allowed! Don’t peck the writer to death. Provide actions to resolve issues – Yes: “This is unclear. Suggest adding Point A and cut Point B.” – No: “This doesn’t make sense.”

•

Encourage what is working in one section to be used in another section

TIMELINE RULES OF THUMB 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series •

•

Divide up the sections –

5 pages per hour for in-depth review; complex and dense

–

8 pages per hour for mid-level review; average complexity

–

10 pages per hour for light review; low complexity and density

Reader fatigue @ 4 hours max – 20-35 pages per person assigned –

Best results @ 15 pages, ~ 2 hours

•

In-brief 30 minutes

•

Debrief 2 hours (diminishing returns @ 3 hours)

•

Total time commitment = 4.5 to 6.5 hours

•

Block off your calendar – multitasking does not work

IDEAL COLOR REVIEW CADENCE 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

3:00 pm In-brief 3:30 pm Distribute files Reviewers have discretion to read their 2-4 hours of content until the next morning...

9:00 am Comments Due 9:00 am – 11:00 am Compile and adjudicate comments (cherry pick) 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Debrief and discuss 2:00 pm Distribute recovery assignments and files

SAMPLE 30 DAY SCHEDULE 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series Sun

Mon

Tues

Wed

Thurs

Fri

Sat

1 RFP Release

2

3

4

5 Kickof

6 Draft Writing

7 Draft Writing

8 Pink Team

9 Pink Recovery

10 Pink Recovery

11 Pink Recovery

12 Pink Recovery

13 Pink Recovery Pens Down

14 Red Team Inbrief 3pm

15 Red Team Debrief 2pm

16 Red Recovery

17 Red Recovery

18 Red Recovery

19 Red Team Recovery

20 Red Recovery

21 Gold Team Inbrief 3pm

22 Gold Team Debrief 2pm

23 Gold Recovery

24 Gold Recovery

25 Gold Recovery

26 Final Edits

27 Production & Print

28 Ship

29 Delivery

30 Due

TOOLS AND MATERIALS 2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series •

Online document management – – – –

•

Virtual meeting room – – –

•

Skype for Business (formerly Lync) Go to Meeting Webex

In person meeting room – – – –

•

Coauthoring Version history Security groups Maintains file formatting

Print outs of RFP and proposal White board Note taker Conference phone

RFP evaluation criteria and color review scoresheet

SAMPLE SCORESHEET SUMMARY

Target

TABLE 3

COMBINED TECHNICAL /RISK RATING

Rating Outstanding

Description Proposal meets requirements and indicates an exceptional approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths far outweigh any weaknesses.

Risk of unsuccessful performance is very low.

Good

Proposal meets requirements and indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements.

Proposal contains strengths that outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is low.

Acceptable

Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths and weaknesses are ofsetting or will have little or no impact on contract performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate.

Marginal

Proposal does not clearly meet requirements and has not demonstrated an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. The proposal has one or more weaknesses which are not ofset by strengths. Risk of unsuccessful performance is high.

Unacceptable

Proposal does not meet requirements and contains one or more deficiencies. Proposal is not awardable.

Your Score (Put an “X� and comments please)

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

CONCLUSIONS

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

CONCLUSIONS • • • •

Reviews are vital to the writing process Constructive feedback is actionable Give enough time to be effective Tools, technology and scoresheets are your friend

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series

Q&A

CONTACT DETAILS

Ms. Jennifer L. Schaus Washington DC +1-202–365–0598 jschaus@jenniferschaus.com www.JenniferSchaus.com -----------------------------Jennifer Adeli Northern Virginia 2 0 2 – 2 4 6 -5 3 6 6 jennifer@winbizproposals.com www.winbizpoposals.com

2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series CALENDAR OF EVENTS: (All Webinars are at 12pm EST & Recorded) JUNE 1 - Maximizing The Value of Your GovCon Business https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/74156936435694851

JUNE 2 - Capture Planning - To Bid Or Not To Bid https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7051206926535220483

JUNE 3 - Teaming Agreements - The Good, The Bad & The Enforceable https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7352313683359938307

JUNE 6 - Teaming With Tribally Owned 8(a) Businesses https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4324839202604449539

JUNE 7 - Color Reviews For Successful Proposals https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3973323136181419267

JUNE 8 - Preparing The FSO for a DSS Audit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/423786240906737667

JUNE 9 - Life After 8(a) - Best Practices & Case Study https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6473232146721067779

JUNE 10 - The Politics Of Procurement https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3924758807094447107

JUNE 13 - Contract Administration - Best Practices https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2132047978959217667

JUNE 14 - So You Have A Facility Clearance, Now What? https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9028972158695833091

JUNE 15 - Unsolicited Proposals - Why, What & How. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4729436391901262849

JUNE 17 - SBIR's - The Good, The Bad & The "How" https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6337198369128857857