Foreword New Concepts New Words New Process Chapter 1—RFP Briefing Chapter 2—Outline the RFP Chapter 3—Prepare RFP Analysis-Risk Assessment Chapter 4—Prepare and Conduct RFP Briefing Chapter 5—Outline the Proposal-Requirements-Questions Chapter 6—Develop Initial Project Solution Chapter 7—Prepare Proposal Development Plan Chapter 8—Prepare Evaluation Data Chapter 9—Design Proposal - Prepare Writer's Kit Chapter 10—Prepare and Conduct KickOff Briefing Chapter 11—Select Resource Library Components Chapter 12—Revise Contract Solution Chapter 13—Write Rough Draft Proposal Chapter 14—Conduct Red Team Review - Debrief Chapter 15—Develop Final Solution And Pricing Chapter 16—Write Proposal Final Draft Chapter 17—Conduct Gold Team Review and Debrief Chapter 18—Publish Final Proposal-Deliver-Archive Chapter 19—Prepare After Action Report, BAFO, Obtain Debrief Chapter 20—Expand Proposal Development Resource Library
old words – old concepts
In preparing this book, we threw out all the old rules and invented new ones. This was not a frivolous endeavor, but an effort based on past proposal development experience, and case studies. Out with the old Old Rules —include the style guides like the Chicago Manual of Style, MLA, GPO, and standard proposal guides like Shipley Guide, Hi Silver, Tom Sant, et al, and some things we learned from APMP. We also threw out most of what we had done as well—How to Lie, Cheat and Steal Your Way to a Winning Proposal, the PlayBook for Proposal Development, and FASTstart. New Rules—usually impact how your team does things. For example, our case studies provided overwhelming evidence that errors increase exponentially when people work longer than 10 hours in a single day. So, we established a new rule, and then developed a process where people did not have to work longer than first 8 hours. Old Words—at it was hard but once you really get going, throwing out old things becomes easier. Soon we were getting rid of clichés, and entire concepts as well. Our decisions were typically based on reactions from our customers who work for the governments we serve, Federal, state, and local.
old terms – old methods
first proposal June 17, 1981—324 proposals later...
different people see proposals differently
the new proposal process
introduction
trends have you seen the elephant? new words — new ways
the ten blind men and the elephant
repeatable, agile, effec7ve
based on what the customer thinks Red Team
It’s not ready for red team - Pink How about Team Fuschia?
“Rich, I really do not want to be captured.”
The ORANGE BOOK takes the place of the old guides and style manuals. It is written specifically for proposal writers. It is designed to be edited (tweaked) for individual preferences
Another criteria the old words had to meet was a general agreement on what the words really mean. If there was any question about meaning, over the side they went, like fish guts off an ocean trawler, with the Old Concepts include seagulls cheering us on.things such as Storyboarding, Win Themes and Discriminators. We prove in our case studies that people do not fully understand the concepts, and that their attempts to use the concepts waste inordinate amounts of time and accomplish little.
New Concepts include such things as proposal design using a journalist’s approach to narrative non-fiction. Combined with a well-planned proposal outline and graphics development in before the writing begins—a kind of Writer’s Kit—the writers get more done in less time. The proposal becomes more compelling. Others New Concepts include target dates in the development process that can never be broken, a two review limit, a limit on approved-only acronyms, graphics done only in PowerPoint, and the Proposal Writer’s guide the Orange Book.
Out goes “Capture Manager.” In comes “Account Meet Manager.” David, a very nice
contracting officer from a very nice Federal agency. (He is a real person but is portrayed here by a model.) You will be seeing a lot of him and others from the FAR-side. Dave is very good at “snarking.” Making snide remarks.
architectural brief METHODOLOGY
the core team is trained and cerJfied on each of the 20 process concepts
a clear and concise, formal review of the RFP, by the core team, seFng out the overarching goals and detailed requirements. This forms the starJng point of the proposal's design and will be conJnually tested against, as the design progresses.
process builds tacit awareness in the core team — improves control, quality, impact, knowledge transfer
trained core team
agile informa7on management
syntac7c and structural analysis
Risk
RFP Requirements
RFP briefing
specifica7on/clarifica7on
it works e-‐mail —Monday, September 08, 2008 1:06:15 PM “Our team was quiet. They did not ask quesJons because they didn’t have any quesJons. We have never seen such a comprehensive presentaJon of what the customer wanted, and, what we had to do to meet those requirements.”
text components graphic components cost components signature design paleUes templates and pre-‐set graphic areas writer’s guide (The Orange Book) informaJon-‐sharing
solu7on development
planning
evalua7ve criteria
narra7ve design
kickoff briefing
proposal outline designed by a trained non-‐ficJon editor proposal outline supplemented by a trained narraJve graphic designer proposal outline driven by RFP requirements idenJfied by a reJred contracJng officer
11
final solu7on
12
resource selec7on
13
rough draS
detailed scoresheets requirements driven quanJtaJve scoring idenJfies the needed fixes writer’s briefed one-‐on-‐one
14
red team and scoring
15
final solu7on and pricing
writers must run and report readability staJsJcs graphic arJst completes art work and illustraJons editor runs grammar check and completes all tables, capJons and other devices desktop publisher completes all formaFng and runs spell-‐check editor completes final edit pass writers are discharged on submission of final draY
16
March 2007—Na7onal Park Service contract to ferry passengers to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The proposal was delivered in a steamer trunk built to match one photographed in the wreckage of the Titanic—used by immigrants heading for Ellis Island.
17
18
19
20
Quan7ta7ve Review Improvement Workshop Customer Debrief
final draS
review and make final adjustments publish and deliver
process improvement
next genera7on
Resources
Organization
Resource Utilization
Solicitation Research Budgets Conferences Site Visits Pre-‐solicitaJon NoJce DraY RFP RFP Answers to QuesJons
Plug and Play Folder System – Master Documents
Library Index Text Components Graphic Components Style Manual Process InstrucJons Proposal Archive CapabiliJes Past Performance Key Personnel Best PracJces
Business Development Resources Customer Profile Strategic Summary CompeJJve Intelligence CapabiliJes Statement Past Performance Summary
Proposal Development Resource Library
01—Organize Folder and Files System
Text Components – Graphic Components
RFP Original RFP Master Documents Folder System Templates
Capabili7es Awards-‐Commenda7ons Cer7fica7ons Financial Capability
Past Performance Key Personnel Transi7on Plan QASP – EVM -‐ BV
Management Technical Cost Certs and Reps
Final DraS Review / White Glove Binders Delivery Title Pages Tabs RoadMap
Proposal Development RFP Briefing
Resource Library
Production
02—Outline RFP Proposal Instruc7ons RFP Sec7on Outlines RFP thumbnails RFP Sec7on Text Files
03—RFP Analysis and Risk Assessment Unique Word Frequency Study Acronym Study Unique Word Frequency Report Acronym List Report
06—Outline the Proposal Proposal Requirements
unique word frequency report approved acronym list RED TEAM scoring sheets
09—Design Proposal – Prepare Writer’s Kit Approved Acronym List Sec7on Outlines Template Instruc7ons Contact List Writer’s Kit
Execu7ve Summary Technical Management Cost Certs and Reps
07—Prepare Proposal Development Plan
08—Prepare Proposal Evalua7on Data Red Team Scoresheets
04—RFP Briefing -‐ Bid No-‐Bid RFP Briefing Agenda RFP Briefing Slides Proposal Schedule Handouts RFP Analysis RFP Sec7on Outlines Proposal Schedule
Rough Draft
KickOff Briefing
10—Prepare and Conduct Proposal KickOff Mee7ng RFP Briefing Agenda RFP Briefing Slides Proposal Schedule
11—Develop Response Plan
16—Write Final DraS Proposal Execu7ve Summary Technical Approach Management Approach Cost Certs and Reps
12—Select Resource Library Components
17—Conduct Gold Team Review and Debrief
Teaming Subcontrac7ng Plan Past Performance, Key Personnel Transi7on Management Technical QASP – EVM -‐ BV Cost Reps and Certs
13—Write Rough DraS Proposal Execu7ve Summary Technical Management Cost Certs and Reps 14—Conduct Red Team Review -‐ Debrief
Publish/Deliver Final Proposal
18—Publish – Deliver -‐ Archive
05—Develop Ini7al Project Solu7on Teaming Key Personnel Technical Subcontrac7ng Plan Transi7on QASP – EVM -‐ BV Past Performance, Management Cost
15—Develop Final Solu7on And Pricing
Graphic Components Transfer Segment Sani7ze
Text Components Transfer Segment Sani7ze
Process Improvement Process Assessment
19—Prepare ASer Ac7on Report, BAFO, Obtain Debrief
Resource Development New or Updated Graphic and Text Components Capabili7es Past Performance Management Awards-‐Commenda7ons Key Personnel Technical Cer7fica7ons Transi7on Plan Cost Financial Capability QASP – EVM -‐ BV Certs and Reps
Final Draft
20—Add to Proposal Development Resource Library
Resources Solicitation
Organization
Resource Utilization
Plug and Play Folder System – Master Documents
Proposal Manager
Resource Library
Proposal Development Resource G Library
r a p h i c A r t i s t
D e Proposal Coordinator s k t Proposal Development o p RFP Briefing core team KickOff Briefing P u b Emphasis on l i organizing informaJon s selecJng resource materialsh e understanding the RFP r Contracts Manager Proposal Editor
Business Development Resources
Production
Rough Draft
Final Draft
Dividends include Significant savings in Jme A more responsive proposal A more compelling proposal Integrated core team of specifically-‐trained people Significantly higher evaluaJon scores complete the work in less Jme much higher quality proposal Publish/Deliver much more responsive proposal Final Proposal team develops tacit knowledge Solution Development
Process Improvement
Phase ends in RFP briefing to the decision makers. Resource Development New or Updated Graphic and Text Components
Process Assessment
ExecuJve Sponsor
Account Manager
decision team
For NIH CIO-‐SP3 there were 26 Master Documents. Each represents a specific SecJon of the RFP.
name the RFP name the proposal
create folders and file system
download RFP files archive RFP original install Plug and Play folder system
open, review and analyze file contents and structure break down RFP into subset documents transfer subset document contents to templates saniJze and rename RFP files
publish list of Master Documents
01
The NIH CIO-‐SP3 RFP was 154 pages, plus two separate pricing and rate tables in Excel, and the original 3-‐page solicitaJon noJce
Folder and File Organization
01 -‐ create Shared Proposal Development locaJon 001 -‐ name the RFP 002 -‐ name the proposal 003 -‐ download RFP files 004 -‐ archive RFP original 005 -‐ install Plug-‐And-‐Play folder system 006 -‐ open, review and analyze file contents and structure 007 -‐ break down RFP into subset documents 008 -‐ transfer subset document contents to proposal template 009 -‐ saniJze and rename RFP files 010 -‐ publish list of Master Documents
redline RFP SecJons select RFP SecJons to outline outline selected RFP secJons prepare Proposal InstrucJons
extract compliance items from all secJons compile Proposal Requirements Matrix (Excel) compile RFP List of QuesJons generate RFP SecJon thumbnails
export RFP SecJons to text files run AntConc soYware conduct Unique Word Frequency Study conduct acronym study
02
Outline the RFP
02 – Outline the RFP 001 -‐ redline RFP SecJons 002 -‐ select RFP SecJons to outline 003 -‐ outline selected RFP secJons 004 -‐ prepare Proposal InstrucJons 005 -‐ extract compliance items from all secJons 006 -‐ compile Proposal Requirements Matrix (Excel) 007 -‐ compile RFP List of QuesJons 008 -‐ export RFP SecJons to text files 009 -‐ run AntConc soYware 010 -‐ conduct Unique Word Frequency Study 011 -‐ conduct acronym study 012 -‐ generate RFP SecJon thumbnails
publish RFP Outlines publish List of QuesJons publish Unique Word Frequency Study publish Acronym Study publish RFP Briefing Thumbnails publish RFP Requirements Matrix
review resources review RFP Redlines annotate RFP Briefing slides prepare RFP Analysis
review RFP Briefing slides review RFP Analysis
publish RFP Analysis
review Proposal Requirements Matrix review RFP SecJon Outlines review RFP Redlines prepare Risk Assessment
publish Risk Assessment
review Unique Word Frequency Study
publish Unique Word Frequency Report
review Acronym List Study
publish Approved Acronym Report
03
Prepare RFP Analysis and Risk Assessment
03 – Prepare RFP Analysis and Risk Assessment 001 -‐ review solicitaJon and business development resources 002 -‐ review RFP Redlines and annotate in RFP Briefing slides 003 -‐ prepare RFP Analysis 004 – review RFP Redlines and Proposal Requirements Matrix 005 – prepare Risk Assessment 006 – review Unique Word Frequency Study 007 – prepare Unique Word Frequency Report 008 – review Acronym List Study 009 – select approved acronyms 010 – prepare Approved Acronym Report
review RFP Briefing slides and annotaJons prepare final RFP Briefing slides review Unique Word Frequency Report
prepare RFP Briefing agenda
04
run Jming trial and adjust briefing
publish final RFP Briefing slides
publish Unique Word Frequency Report prepare handouts
publish handouts
review RFP Briefing agenda
publish RFP Briefing agenda
Prepare and Conduct RFP Briefing and Bid / No-Bid
03 – Prepare RFP Analysis and Risk Assessment 001 – review RFP Briefing slides and annotaJons 002 -‐ prepare final RFP Briefings slides 003 – run Jming trial and adjust briefing 004 – prepare RFP Briefing agenda 005 – prepare handouts 006 – review Unique Word Frequency Study 007 – prepare Unique Word Frequency Report 008 – review Acronym List Study 009 – select approved acronyms 010 – prepare Approved Acronym Report 011 – distribute agenda, confirm RFP Briefing
confirm RFP Briefing distribute agenda
problem this is a concise statement of a problem common to proposal development
impact this is a full descripJon of the impact of the problem: why it happens, how it affects proposal development and the members of the team, a measure of the quanJtaJve effects (Jme and cost,) and finally an assessment of the risk to winning.
solu7on this is a complete descripJon of the soluJon and the recommended steps to avoid recurrence of the problem in the future.
01—Plug and Play Folder System and Master Documents
02—RFP Outline
03—RFP Analysis and Risk Assessment
04—RFP Briefing
the quality assurance surveillance plan examines each process concept, and each part of the developing proposal compliance
risk
quality
cost/7me requirements
does the item? meet all of the proposal requirements meet the proposal development Jme and cost expectaJons meet or surpass proposal development standards pose a risk to the proposal or contract delivery meet contractual obligaJons stated in the RFP
OLD
NEW
OLD
NEW
OLD
NEW
OLD
NEW
branding capture management win theme plaster on the walls deaf explanaJons IT-‐driven file sharing ad hoc management meeJngs direcJves subjecJve review non-‐standard processes “what” but not “how” story boarding distributed funcJon ad hoc team building various style guides-‐ignored ad hoc calendar no boilerplate win themes discriminators long conferences 15% relevancy
writers cannot edit artwork writers develop MS Word tables tables formaUed by writers cut and paste old proposals old school numbered outline non-‐integrated storyboards mulJple color reviews general review instrucJons extended hours mulJple briefings ad hoc progress checks grouped briefings reviewers rarely finish
page checks by Jred eyes no process evaluaJon liUle process improvement
cogniJve design account management narraJve planning visualizaJon proposal whisperers plug and play folder system wriUen protocols instrucJon sets task specific training quanJtaJve evaluaJons standardized processes each stage is driven by formal WBS line-‐by-‐line requirements capture evaluaJve freeware specialized core team explanatory-‐acJon narraJve lean manufacturing approach text and graphic components narraJve design 30-‐minute briefing specific relevancy details —one-‐on-‐one saniJzed component resources
all artwork is completed using PowerPoint all tables are compiled using Excel tables placed in Word by desktop publisher writer is provided a writer’s kit proposal is fully designed narraJve design is compelling design includes pre-‐packaged components one formal review with scoresheets grammar, spelling checked before review one-‐voice edit before review wriUen scoresheets restricted hours no meeJngs—one-‐on-‐one progress checks
White Glove review by fresh eyes process parJcipants score the managers full plus/minus briefings improvement workshops customer debrief shared with IPT
CMS – Content Management System One-‐Look progress informaJon shows what is complete and what is not
HDMI
you access the individuals or the documents by clicking the buUons
Stages of your proposal process Proposal development steps show esJmated duraJon relaJve to other steps Click on steps to go to a locaJon containing all the informaJon for that step Key Target business days elapsed Your volume leads and writers can access proposal development resource library to get text and graphic components to help them complete their assignments
This screen example is mapped to our new, 20-‐step proposal development system. You can map any ac7on plan.
Executive Sponsor
Account Manager
core  team Somebody Else
Project Manager
Quality Assurance
sec7on  design proposal outline
score sheet
table text secJon templates components outline graphic components
Human Resources
Contracts Manager
Past Performance
Technical Volume
Management Volume
Cost / Pricing Volume
Proposal Development Resource Library
Two Phases Eight Stages Twenty Steps
We structure the library according to the two phases, and eight stages of the development process. “Phase” is the dividing line between planning and execuJon. It signifies engagement of different specialists in the development team “Staging” is part of the Content Management System process of moving proposal development documents from one stage of the library to another. At each “Stage” the content of the resource library changes “Stage” is group of process acJviJes that can be performed concurrently. “Step” is a group of related tasks from the proposal development WBS
Specialists Responsible
Phase 1
Phase 2
Organize , Analyze and Plan
Write, Review, Edit and Publish
Stage
Stage
Step 01-‐Organize Proposal Development Folders and Files 02-‐Outline the RFP
1
03-‐Prepare RFP Analysis-‐Risk Assessment
Step 11-‐Develop Response Plan
5
12-‐Select Resource Library Components 13-‐Write Rough DraY Proposal 14-‐Conduct Red Team Review and Debrief
6
15-‐Develop Final SoluJon And Pricing 16-‐Write Proposal Final DraY
04-‐Prepare and Conduct RFP Briefing
2
05-‐Develop IniJal Project SoluJon
3
07-‐Prepare Proposal Development Plan 08-‐Prepare Proposal EvaluaJon Data
7
17-‐Conduct Gold Team Review and Debrief
4
09-‐Design Proposal -‐ Prepare Writer's Kit
8
19-‐Prepare AYer AcJon Report, BAFO, Obtain Debrief
06-‐Outline the Proposal-‐Requirements-‐QuesJons
10-‐Prepare and Conduct KickOff Briefing
18-‐Publish Final Proposal-‐Deliver-‐Archive
20-‐SaniJze Proposal Components for Resource Library
WriJng Team Review Team ProducJon Team
Core Team Decision Makers Project Team
5
1 2
6 3
7 4
8 23
Final Proposal Graphic About WIN-‐T 2002—Phase I of this development contract was to define and document the opJmal WIN-‐T architecture. Phase II was to develop and deliver a demonstraJon suite of hardware and soYware for government tesJng. IniJal contract value was $72 millions, part of an esJmated $6 billion program.
CS-‐087-‐02
Lifespan – less than 30 days 16 IteraJons of One Graphic WIN-T WIN-T WIN-T WIN-T
2109-a WIN-T 2109- WIN-T 2109-iWIN-T 2109-m 2109-be WIN-T 2109-jWIN-T 2109-n 2109-c WIN-T 2109-fWIN-T 2109-kWIN-T 2109-o 2109-dWIN-T 2109- WIN-T 2109-lWIN-T 2109-p g These are iteraJon files, and should be deleted WIN-T 2109immediately following Red Team Review, Gold h
Team Review or aYer the proposal has been delivered. GeFng rid of them resolves the potenJal, future data smog issues.
There were 16 iteraJons of this graphic for the Technical Volume. Changes from version-‐to-‐version included: Acronyms – 4 iteraJons CommunicaJons paths – 2 iteraJons AircraY and Ground Vehicles – 3 iteraJons Scenic Background 1 iteraJon Element Legend Icons – 3 iteraJons Lost File – 1 itera7on Wrong file – 1 itera7on Layout change – 1 iteraJon 24
Stage 5 – Write Rough DraY Proposal Has six volumes
Red Team Review Volume III Technical Volume has three secJons
SecJon 3 Contains four graphics xxxOldstuff contains support files to create the graphics
25
Proposal Development Resource Library
Concepts CMS Case Studies Informa7on Lifespan Graphics By PowerPoint The Make-‐It-‐Go-‐Away Impera7ve Feng Shui Design Data Smog* xxxOldstuff ASer-‐Ac7on Review Staging Phase Development Process Performance Analysis Sec7on Folder Content * From Data Smog — by David Shenk, 1997
26
Feng Shui Proposal Design
27
Feng shui
rough draft
Produce all graphics in PowerPoint—anyone can edit them
Choose the DirecJon, and, when you have chosen, discard all that has gone before, and Go in That DirecJon Place all related files in the same folder. Make old files, once used, Go Away. Move supporJng source files to xxxOldstuff as soon as you use them.
WIN-T Proposal 04-Technical Approach Increment 3 – Full OTM Connectivity ~04-003-Increment 3-Full OTM Connectivity-rough draft.docx callout-full OTM Connectivity for the Warfighter.ppt graphic-core suite is small and powerful.pptx graphic-external interfaces subsystem data interface.pptx graphic- full networking On-The-Move.pptx
xxxOldstuff graphic-aircraft.pptx graphic-antennae.pptx graphic-command and control vehicles.pptx graphic-command control-people at work.pptx graphic-computers-network.pptx graphic-elevation 1.pptx graphic-elevation 2.pptx graphic-elevation 3.pptx graphic-elevation 4.pptx graphic-field equipment.pptx graphic-maps.pptx graphic-naval craft.pptx graphic-reports-screenshots.pptx graphic-satellites.pptx graphic-warfighters.pptx photo-C4I-tank.gif photo-commander.gif photo-communications.gif photo-Hummer.gif photo-Hummer-2.gif photo-Hummer-3.gif photo-LAV-tank.gif photo-truck.gif
Copy all reusable source files to the resource library Delete source files in xxxOldstuff PowerPoint within 30 days aYer proposal delivery
28