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