National Sponsored Programs Administrators Alliance

of

HBCUs

Proposal Writing Workshop

Presented: by Dannie E. James Sr. CEO

About the Presenter

Dannie James, Sr. – CEO

23 Years in the Military

10 Years as Government Contract Officer

12 Years as a Gov. Contract Professional

2 Years at Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Passion for growing small businesses

Passion for success!

2

About the Presenter

3

4

Overview

Preliminary Preparation for Bidding

Receiving the Bid Package

Determining potential for bidding

Working the Solicitation

5

Overview

Proposal Development Insights

Theme development

Factors for proposal success

Pleasing proposal readers

Elements of a successful proposal

The executive summary

Why proposals lose points

6

Overview cont.

Developing your Technical proposal

Developing your Price/Cost proposal

Preparing the Response

Concurrent Actions

7

The Art of Writing

8

Preparations for Bidding

Solicitation versus Contract

Contract Types

FAR part 16

9

10

Preparations for Bidding

Solicitation versus Contract

Contract Types

FAR part 16 germane

Forms

SF33, SF1147, SF1442, SF1449, et all

www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/formslibrary.do

?formType=SF

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12

Preparations for Bidding

Solicitation versus Contract

Contract Types

FAR part 16 germane

Forms

SF33, SF1147, SF1442, SF1449, et all

www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/formslibrary.do?formType=SF

Acronyms and Terms

RFP, IFB, RFQ

www.dau.mil/pubs/glossary/preface.asp

13

Understanding Acronyms

FSS

Federal Supply Schedule

SDVOSB

Service Disable Veteran Owned Small Business

FAR

Federal Acquisition Regulation

FFP

Firm Fix Price

14

15

Receiving the Bid Package

Carefully examine solicitation and verify that you have everything – DO NOT ASSUME!

Assemble the government’s solicitation

16

Receiving the Bid Package

Carefully examine solicitation and verify that you have everything – DO NOT ASSUME!

Assemble the government’s solicitation

Duplicate working copies of solicitation

3 ring binders

Paperless

Review solicitation with key players

Engineering, Production, Accounting, Pricing, etc.

17

Determine Potential to Bid

Opportunity consistent with business

plan?

Do you have adequate plant capacity &

equipment/personnel?

Can you beat the competition?

Is the risk manageable?

Can you make money?

18

Determine Potential to Bid

19

Working the Solicitation

Organize technical & cost teams

Establish proposal work area – war room

Utilize checklist of important issues - quality, testing, delivery, etc

Assign writing responsibilities to team members

Order needed specs & standards immediately

Team members must read—1-2-3 times!

20

I don’t think we

understood the

requirement

We only read

the solicitation

once.

So you don’t end up like these guys

21

Uniform Contract Format

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Uniform Contract Format

Learn the sections of solicitation

Part I - The Schedule (Sections A - H)

Part II - Contract Clauses (Section I)

Part III - Attachments/Exhibits (Section J)

Part IV - Representations and Instructions

(Sections K - M)

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Uniform Contract Format

Part I—The Schedule

Section A--Solicitation/Contract Form

Section B--Supplies/Prices

Section C--Descriptions/Specs/SOW

Section D--Packaging/Marking

Section E--Inspection & Acceptance

Section F--Deliveries or Performance

Section G--Contract Admin. Data

Section H--Special Contract Provisions

24

Uniform Contract Format

Part II--Contract Clauses

Section I--Contract Clauses

Part III--Attachments/Exhibits

Section J--List of Attachments

Part IV--Representations & Instructions

Section K--Representations & Certifications

Section L--Instructions/Notices

Section M--Evaluation Criteria

FAR part 15.204 Contract Format

25

26

Working the Solicitation

Understand special preparation instructions (Section L)

Understand the bid proposal evaluation criteria (Section M)

Record all assumptions for future use

Establish master proposal milestone schedule and stay on it.

27

Section M Evaluating Criteria

52.212-2 EVALUATION--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (JAN 1999)

The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

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Section M Evaluating Criteria

EVALUATION FACTORS.

a. The cumulative rating of the technical

evaluation factors is approximately equal to

price. All technical factors are considered of

equal importance and are listed below:

FACTOR A – Past Performance

FACTOR B – Technical Approach/Methods

FACTOR C – Management

FACTOR D -- Safety

29

Section M Evaluating Criteria

FACTOR A – Past Performance

Selection authorities will consider past

performance on U.S. Government, Department

of Defense and other similar contracts with

respect to budget and cost control, quality of

work and compliance with performance

schedules, as determined by CPARS (ACASS)

and other sources.

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Bases of Award

The Government intends to award a contract resulting

from this solicitation to the lowest priced, technically

acceptable offeror that is a responsible contractor.

Initial Evaluation – The Government will evaluate all

proposals received to ensure that each proposal is

complete in terms of submission of each required

volume, as specified in Section L. The Government may

reject proposals which are missing a significant amount

of the required information.

31

Bases of Award

Technical Evaluation.

After the Initial Evaluation, the Government will review

those proposals remaining for consideration to determine

technical acceptability. The Government will consider

the following evaluation criteria in determining the

acceptability of the technical proposal. To be considered

technically acceptable, the technical proposal must

provide the information requested in Section L and

conform to the requirements of the solicitation.

32

Working the Solicitation

Record all assumptions for future use

Establish master proposal milestone schedule and stay on it.

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Theme Development Backbone of your proposal

⁻ Your Strength

⁻ What separates you from the pack

⁻ How you will provide more “bang for their buck”

⁻ Prove that all indicators “point” to you

Why should the government buy from you? ⁻ Value

⁻ Quality

⁻ Experience

⁻ Advanced methods

Consistent in Technical and Cost proposals

Must answer – What is Special about you

35

Factors for Proposal Success

The purpose of a proposal is to sell

Introduce yourself (HBCU) in writing

Know your customer and his problems and

requirements

Present a solution

Highlight your HBCU and credentials

36

Factors for Proposal Success

Winning proposals provide evidence.

Convinces the evaluators that you understand requirements

Convinces the evaluators that you can solve their problem(s)

Convinces the evaluators that you can provide value

Convinces the evaluators that you can do the job (facts, figures, references, insights, and resumes)

37

Factors for Proposal Success

Winning proposals distinguish themselves

from the competition

Convince the evaluators that you are better

Convince the evaluators that your solution is

clearly superior due to price, risk, technical merit,

value added

Convince the evaluators that your firm will cause

the least amount of problems

38

Pleasing Proposal Readers

Highlight important ideas

Make certain those ideas stand out

Back up ideas with facts/evidence

Help make evaluators’ job easier

Make it easy for the evaluator to find

specific answers in your proposal

39

Elements of Successful Proposals

Executive summary

Responsiveness/compliance matrix

Indexes

Bullets

Transmittal letter

Table of contents

Graphics

Headers and footers

40

The Executive Summary

Executive Summary written by Proposal Manager

Style and Language must be Convincing

Write Exec Summary FIRST Influences train of thought

Guides rest of proposal

Difficult if done last

Adjust as necessary as you write other parts

Can use some graphics

Limit to one/two pages

41

Why Proposals Lose Points

Failure to follow instructions

Questionable understanding of requirements

Incomplete responses—no specifics

Noncompliance with specification

Insufficient resources/information about resources

Technical/price imbalance

Poor proposal organization—not logical

Wordiness

42

Why Proposals Lose Points

Failure to show relevance of past

performance

Unsubstantiated rationale for approaches

Restating requirements without explaining

how they will be performed

Unprofessional appearance, typos,

unnumbered pages, smudges, poor

grammar, white out, etc

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SERVICE or PRODUCTS

Service Product

RFP RFQ

Request for Proposal Request for Quote

Service or Product

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The Technical Proposal

Tells whether or not you understand the problem

Must respond to all requirements of SOW

Must demonstrate specific experience in relevant areas

Must prove your project team has been successful in the past

Must answer: What are you going to do?

How are you going to do it better than your competition?

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The Technical Proposal cont.

May be required to address management – past performance

personnel – quality assurance

technical – environmental concerns

safety – security

facilities

Guidance available in solicitation Sections L & M, and SOW

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The Cost Proposal

The Cost Proposal Do best job first time. Don’t rely on final price

proposals

BAFO is a thing of the past

Seek assistance if unsure

Separate task developing cost proposals

Not in business to lose money

Recover costs & ROI

Need good indirect rates.

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The Cost Proposal

Start gathering cost information early

Cost should be consistent with tech

proposal

Record all assumptions for later use

Double-check numbers

Should be in an easy to read font & pitch

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Cost Proposal Overview

Introduction

Terms Defined

Budgeting

Indirect rate computation

Elemental Schedule of Costs

Proposal Summary

52

Introduction

FAR Part 31 Contract Cost Principles and Procedures

FAR Part 31

53

Terms Defined

Fixed costs

Variable costs

Direct costs

Material

Labor

Indirect costs

Material overhead

Labor overhead

General and Administrative (G &A)

Profit

54

3 types of Costs

Allowable

Allocable

Reasonable

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What is a Budget?

Formal statement of plans

Future

Dollars

Management tool

Planning

Controlling

Evaluating

56

Basic Rules for a Budget

Based on attainable goals

Wide participation in the preparation process

Inform all affected of goals

Established before beginning of period

Those evaluated have authority to influence

Flexible to permit changes

57

Elemental Schedule of Costs

Labor

Direct Labor

Indirect Labor

Material

Bill of Material (BOM)

Direct materials

Raw materials

Purchased or subcontracted items

General and Administrative

Profit

58

Computation of In-direct Rates

In-direct salaries & wages

In-direct supplies & expenses

All other allocations

Total in-direct expenses (overhead pool)

Total in-direct Total direct = IN-DIRECT RATE

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Cost Proposal Cover Sheet (Cost or Pricing Data Required)

1.Solicitation/Contract/Modification Number DAAHO1-06-R-O001

2.Company

Advanced Tank Technologies

500 East Highway

Washington, DC 20001

3.Point of Contact

Jane Doe

Contracts Manager

(202) 555-1212

4.Contract Administration Office Audit Office

DCMC Baltimore District Branch Office

200 Townsontown Blvd., West 8181 Professional Place

Towson, MD 21204-5299 Landover, MD 20785-2218

(301) 339-4800 (301) 436-2090

5. Type of Contract Action: New FFP Contract

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Cost Proposal Cover Sheet 6. Proposed Cost + Profit or Fee = Total:

$938,241 + $93,824 = $1,032,065

7. Government Property

We will not require the use of any government property in the performance of this

work.

8. Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) and Estimating & Accounting Compliance

A.Our organization is NOT subject to the Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB)

Regulations (Public Law 91-379 as amended and FAR Part 30). We have a Small

Business Exemption.

B. This contract action is NOT subject to CAS. We have a Small Business

Exemption.

C. NO, we have not submitted a CASB Disclosure Statement (CASB) DS-1 or 2).

C. We have NOT been notified that we are or may be in noncompliance with our

Disclosure Statement or CAS.

D. NO aspect of this proposal is inconsistent with our disclosed practices or

applicable CAS.

E. YES, this proposal is consistent with our established estimating and accounting

practices and procedures and FAR Part 31, Cost Principles.

61

Cost Proposal Cover Sheet

9. This proposal reflects our estimates and/or actual costs as of this date and

conforms with the instructions in FAR 15.403-5(b)(1) and FAR 15.408, Table

15-2. By submitting this proposal, we grant the Contracting Officer and

authorized representative(s) the right to examine, at any time before, award,

those records, which include books, documents, accounting procedures and

practices, and other data, regardless of type and form or whether such

supporting information is specifically referenced or included in the proposal as

the basis for pricing, that will permit an adequate evaluation of the proposed

price.

10. 21 November 2016

11. Georgia Burdell, President

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DCAA

Defense Contracting Audit Agency is responsible for

performing all contract audits for the Department of Defense, and

providing accounting and financial advisory services regarding

contracts and subcontracts to all DoD Components responsible

for procurement and contract administration. These services are

provided in connection with negotiation, administration, and

settlement of contracts and subcontracts. DCAA also provides

contract audit services to some other Government Agencies.

http://www.dcaa.mil/

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Other Portions of the Proposal

References

Past performance

Experience

Management section

65

66

References

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Subpart 15.4 – Contract Pricing

Part 31 – Contract Cost Principles & Procedures

Table 15-2

67

68

References

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Subpart 15.4 – Contract Pricing

Part 31 – Contract Cost Principles & Procedures

Table 15-2

DCAA Contract Audit Manual (CAM)

Information for Contractors

69

70

References

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Subpart 15.4 – Contract Pricing

Table 15-2

Part 31 – Contract Cost Principles & Procedures

DCAA Contract Audit Manual (CAM)

Information for Contractors

Contract Pricing Reference Guides

Vol. 4 – Advanced Issues in Contract Pricing

www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/contractpricing/chap-index.htm

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References Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Subpart 15.4 – Contract Pricing

Table 15-2

Part 31 – Contract Cost Principles & Procedures

DCAA Contract Audit Manual (CAM)

Information for Contractors

Contract Pricing Reference Guides

Vol. 4 – Advanced Issues in Contract Pricing

www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/contractpricing/chap-index.htm

Cost and Accounting Standards (CAS) www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_05/48cfr9903_05.html

www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_05/48cfr9904_05.html

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Cost Flow

Direct Materials Direct Labor Overheads

Production Costs

Total Production Cost

General and Administrative

Expenses

Contract Price

Total Cost - - Production/Service

Profit

Plus

Minus

Equals

Equals

Calculating Cost

76

Preparing the Response

Assemble inputs from team

Review evaluation criteria

Use checklist

Insure that every element of the

evaluation criteria is addressed

100 questions

100 answers

not 99 or 101

77

Preparing the Response

Assemble inputs from team

Review evaluation criteria

Use checklist

Insure that every element of the evaluation criteria is addressed

100 questions, 100 answers, not 99 or 101

Revalidate PRICE & DELIVERY

GBC review or red line

Grandma's sanity check

78

Preparing the Response

Make sure reps & certs properly processed

Document every aspect of response

Make sure proposals are not excessively

elaborate

Winner will be held accountable

Response must be timely. Don’t assume and

don’t take chances

ORCA current - www.bpn.gov

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Preparing the Response

Check entire proposal

Technical consistency

Spelling

Page numbering

Section/subsection numbering

Font types/sizes/no landscape pages

Each copy has all pages

Appropriate signatures

Last minute amendments

81

Proposal Formats

Follow Guidance - Section L

If no guidance provided, recommend

follow Uniform Contract Format

If that doesn’t make sense, use best

business practices

82

Elements of Successful Visit

Do your homework on the govt agency

Select the right person to call

Make the appointment

Know what to say

Know what to bring

Do not bring unnecessary people

Know what to ask

Know what time to arrive and for how long

Know what you should do after a meeting

83

Oral Presentations

Rehearse numerous times

Plan for what could go wrong

One person in charge

Pay close attention to questions asked

Recorder or note taker

Presentation team MUST know the

proposal content

Use only appropriate graphics

84

Appropriate Graphics

85

Concurrent Actions

Prepare for pre-award survey

Technical

Production

Quality Assurance

Financial Capability

Accounting System

Prepare for audit

Prepare for negotiations

86

Now What

87

If You Don’t Win…

Arrange debrief from contracting officer

--- 3 days

Don’t be discouraged. No one wins

every time

Learn from the experience. Prepare

for the next bid

88

Discussion Topics

How is the government environment different

from the commercial sector?

The difference between a bid and a proposal

(IFB vs. RFP)

Pre-bid/pre-proposal conferences

Significance of instructions to

bidders/proponents

89

Discussion Topics

Understanding the basis on which a contract

award is made

Low bid versus best value

Concepts of responsiveness and

responsibility

Selection criteria and scoring

90

Discussion Topics

The need to follow instructions meticulously

Executing bid forms

Various formats

Signature requirement

Packaging and labeling

Delivery/on-time submittal

91

Discussion Topics

Preparing boilerplate and templates

Description of HBCU

Description of HBCU experience

Resumes / bio sketches of principals, employees and consultants

Similar information on key suppliers and subcontractors

Capability statement

Concept of copy/pasting and improving – over and over and over

92

Discussion Topics

What to do after bid/proposal is submitted

Following up with points of Contact (POC)

What’s appropriate, what’s not

Responding to requests for additional info

Preparing for an interview

Handling an interview

Post-interview actions

93

Discussion Topics

Debriefs

What they are

How to request one

How to prepare for one

How to handle one

Needed software

Contents of the Thumb drive folder

94

Proposal Preparation References

Solicitations / Bids & Proposals NCMA 800-344-8096

Cutting Through the Chaos

www.managementconcepts.com/publications

/acquisition/govtprops.asp

Winning Government Contracts for

your Small Business

www.wingovcon.com/book.htm

95

Proposal Preparation References

Proposal Writing Assistance websites www.proposalwriter.com

www.win-contracts.com/

www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04016/start.htm

www.odod.state.oh.us/tech/sbir/What_is_SBIR/Pre

paring_an_SBIR_Proposal/preparing_an_sbir_pro

posal.htm

government.onvia.com/?cat=6

www.google.com/unclesam

96

Questions

?

Proprietary Information 98

Thank You for Your Time and Attendance

205 Corporate Center Drive

Suite F

Stockbridge Ga. 30281

Office: 404-557-0027

info@jegroupllc.com

www.jegroupllc.com

"Where HBCU Meets Government"