Proposal 101From RFP release to Proposal Submission

Alan SchechterSolutions Director

Proposal Development – Team Sport

• Proposal Manager – The PM for the proposal development

• Sales Team

• Business Team

• Technical Team

• Delivery Project Management Team

• Procurement Team – Subcontractors and Product Vendors

• Financial Team – Client Pricing

• Independent Reviews– Legal Review– Technical Review– Financial Review

• Management Approvals

Proposal Lifecycle

• An intense project with all the phases of any IT project

• Identify Opportunity – Idea Phase

• Proposal Start-up Tasks

• Development Tasks

• Approval Tasks

• Production and Delivery Tasks

• Follow-on Support Tasks

Identify Opportunity – Idea Phase

• Pre-release– Identify the opportunity

– Identify the Subject Matter Experts

– Identify the Proposal Resources

– Identify possible partners and technologies

Proposal Start-up Tasks

• Bid/No-bid review– Opportunity Costs including understanding proposal commitment– Development & Production Budget

• Schedules– Client Dates: Vendor Conference, Questions, Submission– Internal Dates: Development, Approvals and Production

• Compliance– References, Resumes, Forms, Signatures, Production requirements

• Team Coordination– Assignment Matrix– Meeting and Status Reporting– Contact Information

Development Tasks

• Understanding and addressing each requirement

• Developing the Solution– Defining the approach

– Determining Resources and Products

– Creating the Implementation Schedule

– Writing the Proposal

– Identifying the Risks

– Developing the Costs

• Subcontractors (A RFP within the proposal development cycle)– Requirement & Schedule

– Statement of Work

Approval Tasks

• Submission approvals– Proposal review

– Technical review including implementation schedule

– Financial review including risks

– Legal review including any subcontracts

• Management Approvals– Good Business Sense

– Supporting materials

Production and Delivery

• Editing & Formatting

• Printing and Assembly– All forms and signatures

– Quantities and packaging

• Shipment

Sample Timeline

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

      1   2   3   4   5   6

    RFP Released                    

  7   8   9   10   11   12   13

    Conference     Bid/No-bid            

  14   15   16   17   18   19   20

    Questions duePink Team

Review                

  21   22   23   24   25   26   27

           Red Team

Review     Pricing Due    

  28   29   30   31   32   33   34

        Editing/Formatting Finalize Pricing Gold Team    

  35   36   37   38   39   40   41

   Financial Review     Mngt Review Production & Shipment    

  42   43                    

    Proposal due                    

Typical Challenges

• No two procurements are alike

• From the Customer– Unclear requirements

– Conflicting requirements

– Difficult or unrealistic requirements

– Requirements are not finalized until after the answers are available

• Vendor– Communication /synchronization across teams

– Short Timeline