Proposal Writing

byDr. Curtis Berthelot P.Eng.Dr. Dennis Pufahl P.Eng.

Department of Civil Engineering

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Lecture Objectives

Define a professional proposal. Investigate the necessary elements of a good proposal. Present a proposal framework.

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What is a Proposal?

Summarizes and presents a proposed project framework in clear and concise detail.

Forms the basis of the contract terms for the project:

• Treat the proposal as a contract. First impression of your technical and business competence. Basis for Chapter 1 of the final report. It is your intellectual property:

• You may wish to protect it.

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Proposal Types

Unsolicited:

• Typically based on informal communications.

• Proposes an idea. Request for Proposals (RFP):

• Formal call for defined services/products.

• Typically used to investigate alternative solutions to a specific client defined need.

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Background Work to a Proposal

Define the needs of the client:

• Big picture: warm and fuzzy motherhood.

• Specifics: real proof of value of your proposed solution

• Political issues/concerns: public infrastructure. Define the purpose of the proposal:

• Marketing-industry application of existing products/services.

• Informative-research and development. Define the audience and decision maker(s):

• Technical.

• Business/Executive.

• Political.

• All of the above.

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Contents of a Good Proposal

Address the needs and the proposed benefits for the decision maker(s):

• Get to know your internal champions and suit their needs. Explicitly define the project deliverables:

• Fully understand and communicate what client is going to get. Be slightly conservative:

• DO: under-sell in the proposal and over-deliver in the project.

• DO NOT: over-sell and under-deliver (this is the result of an unfocused proposal-break through the motherhood).

Provide sufficient detail so as to decrease the risk of a failed project and an unhappy customer.

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Small Project Proposal

Letter or memo describing:

• Professional services being provided.

• Fees being charged.

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Large Project Proposal Cover Letter Executive Summary Introduction/Background Goal/Mission (Motherhood) Objectives Scope what is included in the proposal (what is not-optional) Benefits/Significance (technical and business aspects) Literature Review-Industry State of Play (R&D) Work Plan (project milestones, elements and tasks) Project Team Members Schedule and Budget Deliverables Schedule (dissemination of results plan) Final Report Layout (starts to build the client’s expectations) Appendices

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Executive Summary

Overview of the contents of the proposal for people that are too busy to read the proposal at length:

• Summarize the need.

• Summarize the features, advantages and benefits of your proposed solution.

• Summarize the deliverables (in context of client’s specific needs).

• Summarize project budget and schedule.

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Introduction/Background

Introduce the problem. Summarize related background to the problem. Explicitly define the problem. Convince/educate the reader that it is necessary to solve the

problem. Define possible conventional solutions to the problem. Set the stage for your solution (bring all readers to the same state

of mind that you want them at).

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Goal/Mission

Establish the strategic purpose of the project (25 words or less):

• Big picture.

• Far reaching impacts.

• Strategic perspective. Describe in the context of the client’s strategic plan.

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Objective(s)

Tactical milestones of the project. Define in the context of the client’s more immediate needs.

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Benefits/Significance

Define the benefits (significance) of the project:

• Economic.

• Industrial/Corporate.

• Political.

• Social.

• Environmental. This is most often the critical marketing “hook” of the proposal.

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Scope

Establishes the boundaries of the project: Define what is included in the project:

• The scope of this project considers……. Define what is not included in the project (optional list of obvious

related items not included):

• The scope of this project does not consider…….

• Usually intuitive that what is not in is out.

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Literature Review-Industry State of Play

Used primarily in research and development type proposals. Establishes the state of knowledge related to the specific problem

being investigated. May review industry’s current state of play.

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Project Work Plan

Define the project step by step:

• Project Milestones

• Elements

• Tasks Used to track your progress. Appendix A: Project flow chart may help to visually map the main

components of the project.

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Project Team

Define the personnel involved with the project. Summarize the unique qualifications/competence of the team

members:

• Engineering is increasingly becoming a profession of specialists.

Define the roles and responsibilities of each team member in the context of their unique qualifications/competence.

Appendix B: Project Team Curriculum Vitea’s.

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Budget and Schedule

Define the project funding requirements with respect to the project work plan:

• Project milestones

• Project elements

• Element tasks Project funding in terms of:

• Labor

• Materials

• Equipment (capital)

• Travel/Overhead/Administration, etc. Appendix C: Project Gantt chart visually illustrates project schedule

and budget by milestone, element and task.

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Deliverables Schedule

Used to identify mechanism of dissemination of results.• Progress/Interim reports:

• Informs client of progress.• Use Gantt Chart to illustrate progress (percentage

complete).• Identify and quantify delays, describe impact of delays and

your plan to overcome the delays.• Facilitates project management golden rule:

• “Plan to Change”.• Annotated Outline of Final Report.• Final Report.• Presentations/Seminars.• Publications.

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Layout of Final Report

Chapter 1: Proposal written in past tense. Chapter 2: Theoretical framework/literature search. Chapter 3: Study results/findings. Chapter 4: Interpretation of results. Chapter 5: Summary, conclusions and future recommendations. Appendices.

• Appendix A: Project Flow Chart.

• Appendix B: Project Team CV’s.

• Appendix C: Project Gantt Chart.

• Other Appendices as required to contain specific information.

• i.e. data.

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Closing

As an engineer, if you want to love life, love your job. This applies in the work you propose to undertake in your career.

• Work in areas of fundamental interest to you:

• This helps fuel your effort.

• May be applied or theoretical.

• Has all components of an interesting engineering problem and/or engineering process.

• Take pride in the final deliverables (report and presentation).

• May want to add projects you do (including proposal) to your professional portfolio.

• Job application portfolio.

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Your GE 390 Proposal

Proposal writing is in my opinion, one of the most difficult but important exercises you undertake as a practicing engineer.

Take this exercise very seriously:

• Start to hone your skills now. Try to implement the principles of the closure slide when writing

your proposal.

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Discussion