Bid and Proposal Basics

for Fairfax County

Vendors

Lucy Look

Proposal Manager Independent Consultant

Certified Foundation, APMP

lucylook00@gmail.com (703) 629-7322

1

Introduction & Summary

You can do it yourself

Critically important: compliance and

responsiveness

Your proposal is only a complex project –

manage it

Think like the evaluator (Selection Advisory

Committee (SAC) member)

2

Compliance &

Responsiveness

Compliance = strict adherence to the RFP

Responsiveness = addressing the underlying needs

RFP Requirement: … describe methods for ensuring all employees possess and

maintain required licenses, education, and professional credentials.

Non-compliant: ABC Company has methods in place to ensure all employees

possess and maintain required licenses, education, and professional

credentials.

Compliant, but not responsive: ABC Company had a world-class 9-step

procedure for managing credentials, licenses, etc. to ensure contract

requirements are met.

Compliant and responsive: ABC Company’s Credentialing Manager (CM) will

verify licenses, education and credentials for all team members supporting this

contract prior to hiring or assignment to the contract. The CM executes the 9-

step Credentialing Process show below. The CM monitors credential expiration

dates on a monthly basis and coordinates with the HR Manager to schedule

training and renewals to eliminate lapse of the credentials. 3

(compliance/responsiveness, ctd.)

4

ABC Company’s Credentialing Process

Proposal Project Management

Plan

Estimate 15% of budgeted hours for planning.

1. Proposal Schedule

2. Proposal Outline (w/ page estimates)

3. Proposal Strategies & Themes

4. Compliance Checklist

5

RFP Analysis - Shredding

Shredding

Read EVERYTHING – find buried info

Check the clauses incorporated by reference.

Build a Compliance Checklist: Document EVERYTHING that’s

needed or an instruction – or else! Look for shall, will,

demonstrate, method, must, approach.

Define problems and requirements

Determine resources and info needed

Generate actionable tasks for team members on a

schedule

6

7

SAMPLE Compliance Matrix/Checklist

8

SAMPLE Shred of RFP/RFP

W

9

SAMPLE Outline w/ Writer Guidance

Insights into Source Selection

Teams (i.e. Evaluation Boards)

Wendy Frieman of The Lewin Group conducted

Contracting Officer interviews & presents this information.

The government does compliance first.

The government looks for the gold.

Who wins is not pre-ordained.

The government breaks the proposal into pieces.

Bad performance has a disproportionate weight.

The contracting officer could have the deciding vote.

What industry sees as its beautiful solutions, the

evaluation teams often see as fluff.

10

Help the Selection Advisory Committee

(SAC) give you a good score!

Biggest score buster: not compliant or responsive.

Late = Out

Be clear and concise. Organize your sections.

Don’t give extra stuff.

Simple is good. You don’t need fancy graphics and color accents.

Make your words count. Be direct, clear, and support your claims

with facts and examples.

Don’t rely on your past relationships or work with this office. Your bid

will be evaluated on its own.

Work history: highlight government especially

The SAC is truly invested in a fair process. Everyone has an equal

chance.

11

Example RFP (NGCSS)

12

From http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/solicitation/

Example Proposal Start

1. Assign Proposal Project Manager(s)

2. Read/shred the entire RFP ASAP

3. Find showstoppers! (set-asides, requirements for past

performance, experience, qualifications, clearances,

etc.)

4. List questions to ask (via email or Pre-proposal

Conference

5. Make a plan: schedule, resources, rough budget,

outline, people

6. Set up document locations & work flow

7. Update VIP 13

Example Shred

14

Looking for instructions, required content, specs, things to comply with,

and statements about what they want in your solution.

Example Schedule Shred and plan immediately up front before writing.

Items for the schedule:

Review: Outlines and main + supporting points

Review: 1st Technical Proposal draft; recover

Review: 1st Cost Proposal draft; recover

Review: “finished” proposals; recover

Proofreading

Polish final proposals; PENS DOWN.

Production (formatting, getting page numbers straight, get document

ready to print)

Make 1 hard copy of each proposal and review in a quiet room. You

WILL find mistakes and things that look bad.

Print the proposal and burn+verify CDs. Don’t wait until the day it is

due.

Cushion days in case someone is sick, snow, other emergency. 15

Example Document

Management Directory/Folders (on network, Dropbox, Box, etc.)

Fairfax County_NGCS

Administration (organizing documents like schedule, checklists)

RFP (all documents from the government)

Proposal

Cost Proposal DRAFT

Technical Proposal DRAFT

Covers_Spines_Tabs DRAFT

Final Submission Files

Print files

Cost Proposal

Technical Proposal

Covers_Spines_Tabs

CD files

Cost Proposal

Technical Proposal

16

Take-Aways

Compliance and Responsiveness

Help the evaluator

Make a plan

Organize to be efficient and increase your

chances of winning.

17

Are you registered?

Fairfax Vendor Internet Portal

• Online services

• Data management

• Notice of Solicitations

• Bidding

• Purchase Orders

• Invoicing

www.fairfaxcounty.gov/vendorportal

703-324-VIPS (8477)

Registration is free!

18

General tips

Check the procurement site 2x daily!

Don’t parrot back the requirement

Substantiate your claims! No fluff!

Plan regular short check-in calls

Use (relevant) graphics and images - enhance understanding and better

impression. (Word SmartArt, http://www.getmygraphic.com)

Wear the evaluator’s shoes! (And convince your team to as well.)

Allow enough time for production: getting the files ready, burning CDs, & printing.

Test your printing resources ahead of time; stock up early!

Make a dummy ready to submit if this is your first time (make a production list).

Control documents (network, Dropbox, Box)

Conduct reviews of the entire document –Evaluator perspective!

Late delivery risk ship/send early!

Evaluators are offended by spelling/grammar errors.

19

Need Help?

Outsourcing Options

Do it all internally.

Outsource the whole proposal.

A la carte Subject Matter Expert (SME) or proposal specialist support

Outsource printing FedEx Office (online or email direct)

Staples

Proposal specialists enexdi (Tysons Corner, VA)

Mimeo.com (online only)

Common Outsourcing Resources

Independent consultants

Proposal or business development consulting firms

Specialty proposal staffing agencies

20

Best Practices Resources

Shipley Proposal Guide, Newman

APMP (Association of Proposal Management Professionals –

national & National Capital Area) – newsletters, webinars, training,

annual conference 10/21/16

Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) – mailing

list for educational sessions

APMP Body of Knowledge

LinkedIn groups: Proposal Management Professionals, APMP,

APMP-NCA (must be a member)

Handbook for Writing Proposals, Hamper & Baugh

Small Business Administration – mailing list for educational sessions

Email lucylook00@gmail.com for a copy of this presentation. 21