Transcript Document

What Does a Contracting Officer Want?:
Strategies for Developing Responsive
Proposals to Government Solicitations
11.20 and
11.21.14
Stephen J. Yuter
Director of Acquisition & HCA
DHHS/Indian Health Service
Agenda
 What is Responsive?
 Bid/No-Bid Considerations
 Win Themes
 Effective Use of Questions
 Risk Management Considerations
 Key Sections of the RFP
 Evaluation Standards
 The “3 Cs” of Responsive Proposals
 Key Takeaways
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Does This Sound Familiar?
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Assessment of the Marketplace
 Understanding the customer’s needs
 Reviewing Requests for Information
 Analyzing competitive intelligence gained from legitimate sources
 Investigating the need for partners to meet past performance requirements
 Determining the likelihood of submitting a responsive and successful proposal
 Ensuring the customer has funding for the project
 Determining if this is a strategic opportunity and in line with your business
 Analyzing if the risk is manageable
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What Gets Evaluated?
 Technical Approach
 Management Approach/Corporate Experience
 Past Performance
 Quality Control
 Price/Cost
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What Is A Responsive Proposal?
 Identifies your benefits and discriminators
 Sells your win theme
 Anticipates and responds to competitor win themes
 Assesses the customer’s goals and mitigates risk
 Effectively communicates to the customer that you
understand & have proposed a solution that addresses
and fulfills their requirement(s)
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Bid/No Bid Review & Considerations
 Before committing time and resources to a specific
opportunity, organizations must pursue a rigorous
“bid/no-bid” process
 Considerations:
 Extent of successful and relevant past experience performing this
work?
 Technical proficiency in performing this work?
 Quality of team, including subs and key personnel?
 Availability of key resources (manpower, facilities, capital) to
support requirements under the customer’s schedule?
 Extent of customer rapport?
 Extent of market intelligence regarding
opportunity?
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Bid/No-Bid Considerations (cont’d)
 Strength/weakness assessment vs. likely competitors?
 Ability to respond with an effective proposal?
 Importance of price and effectiveness of pricing strategy?
 To what extent does this opportunity have growth potential?
 To what extent does this opportunity align with our strategic growth plan?
 Does this work pose a conflict of interest threat to other programs or
proposals we are pursuing?
Unless you can assign a positive rating to the opportunity after assessing these
factors you are almost certainly best served by not bidding the opportunity
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Competitive Analysis
 Realistic assessment of:
 who the other likely bidders are;
 how you stack up against them for the specific
requirement;
 at a minimum, understand if there is an incumbent
contractor, who that incumbent contractor is, and
perform a competitive analysis
 SWOT Analysis: you should understand how a particular
procurement opportunity aligns with both your
strengths and weaknesses, and those of your likely
competitors before proceeding
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Win Themes
 The end product of your competitive analysis should be the articulation of multiple “win
themes” on which the proposal will be predicated.
 “Win themes” - articulate all the reasons why the customer should prefer your
solution over all others
 Win themes should be focused on the factors that differentiate your “strengths” from
your competitors in a manner that is highly beneficial to the customer.
 A “win theme” cannot relate to a factor that is immaterial to the customer – “Our
headquarters is located in Class A Building”.
 Likewise a “win theme” can not relate to a factor that is performed equally well by
many vendors – “We were rated among the top 100 IT firms in the Washington D.C.
area
 A real “win theme” links a unique attribute to a tangible benefit to the customer
“Since the introduction of our proprietary continuous learning program we have
achieved a documented 10% per year reduction in program labor hours in the
performance of our multi-year programs.”
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Price To Win
 Price must be always be evaluated - you always need a
pricing strategy
 Although “best value” procurements may result in awards
to other than the lowest priced offeror, increasingly price
is a major consideration, if not the major consideration,
impacting the award of virtually all contracts
 You need to carefully assess what price is likely
necessary to win the contract given the nature of the
requirements and the nature of the competition
 Understand how similar contracts have been priced as
awarded by this customer and how your competitors
typically price similar work
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Make Effective Use of Questions
 DO ask questions for the following reasons or purposes:
 To address and resolve clear inconsistencies in the solicitation or related
documents (Ex. the Deliverable Schedule in the SOW is inconsistent with
the Deliverable Schedule in Section J of the solicitation).
 To address and resolve pricing or performance contingencies that would
otherwise be subject to different treatment by bidders (Ex. – the hours of
operation for a contract to operate government facilities).
 To shade the customer’s treatment of an issue in an manner that is
advantageous to you (Ex. – obtain confirmation that offerors that have
previously produced the contract items are entitled to waiver of first article
test requirements)
 To resolve “make or break” issues that require resolution in order for you
to develop a competitive bid (Ex. – requesting permission to use excess
inventory from a prior contract when the cost of acquiring new material is
exorbitant or involves excessive lead times)
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Make Effective Use of Questions (cont’d)
 DO NOT ask questions under the following circumstances:
 Where your question will tip off the competition to
your proposed technical solution (Ex. please confirm
that the performance standard will be deemed met if
the offeror proposes a roving patrol to cover three of
the six security points)
 Where your question reveals a fundamental lack of
understanding of the customer’s requirements
 Where the questions are repetitive or are becoming
argumentative
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Effective Writing = Responsive Solution
DO
 Provide a summary of your proposed solution, establishes and communicates your
win themes, and provides a compelling depiction of how your proposed solution is
highly beneficial to the customer and superior to competing solutions
 Use graphics, text boxes, and tables to summarize, depict and communicate your core
messages (but don’t overcomplicate)
 Ensure that the proposal speaks with one voice. The communication, messaging and
themes needs to be consistent throughout.
DON’T
 Rely on broad, repetitive, unsubstantiated claims of grandeur
 Repeat the requirements – Restating the requirements of the SOW is NOT a technical
approach
 Addressing technical requirements by stating that you understand and will comply
 Assume the reader appreciates the benefit associated with a proposal attribute
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Risk Management Considerations
Technical Risk
 Identify technical issues that present cost, schedule, or performance risks
 Two types of issues present risks
 Those that all bidders will need to address because they are inherent in the work
 Those that are specific to your organization


Ensure technical assumptions are not too aggressive
Evaluate alternative approaches
Schedule Risk
 Ensure the schedule is realistic
 Do not ignore the implications of using a schedule that both you and the customer know is unrealistic
 Look at alternatives
Cost Risk
 Ensure that you conduct a sensitivity analysis to understand the implications of changing cost
assumptions
 Management challenges need to be understood
 Don’t try to hit a number—develop a proper estimate and then make a pricing decision
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Competing Proposals and Risk Awareness
Anticipate the Competing Proposals
 Anticipate the competitors’ win themes
 Evaluate the effectiveness of competitors’ likely win themes
 Determine how to neutralize their win themes, benefits, and
discriminators
Risk Awareness
 It is critical that you identify as part of each proposal the risk
associated with each requirement or customer hot button
 Risk awareness must precede proposal drafting
Government evaluators evaluate proposals to assess risk
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Standards and Risk
Identify Strengths
& Weaknesses
 Significantly above standards
 Clearly above standards
 Slightly above standards
Determine Score based on
Strengths & Weaknesses
Outstanding
Good
Determine Risk
Rating
Rating
High
 MEETS STANDARD
 Slightly below standards
 Clearly below standards
 Significantly below standards
Acceptable
Marginal
Medium
Low
Unacceptable
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Proposal No-No’s
 Don’t assume that the customer sees the benefits you
offer - spell it out
 Don’t assume the customer recognizes the superiority of
your solution - make it clear
 Don’t ignore subsidiary requirements because they are
encompassed in parts of your proposal
 Don’t repeat the customer - clearly identify each
requirement, and state how you are meeting or exceeding
it in a beneficial and advantageous manner
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“Best Value” Proposal
You cannot submit the “best value” proposal unless:
 You thoroughly understand the customer’s requirements
 Your proposal reflects that your core competencies meet
the requirements, and addresses “hot button” issues
 You know your competition - danger of “incumbentitis”
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Stakeholder Engagement
 Facilitates better procurement packages
 Facilitates trust
 Broadens perspective
 Fosters understanding of contract pipeline
 Improves acquisition planning
 Solves problems
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CO’s Stakeholders: A Daily Juggling Act
OSDBU
POLICY & LEGAL
VENDORS
CUSTOMERS
PROGRAM MANAGERS
SENIOR MANAGEMENT
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Go From Bad…
 Ignores all prior draft solicitation information
 Does not approach the opportunity with an understanding of at least
some of the existing challenges or initiatives
 Communication during this timeframe is more focused on selling them
than understanding the customer
 Proposals are not aligned to the instructions, hard to read, hard to
follow, and/or hard to evaluate. Proposals read as if copied and pasted
from prior materials
 Demonstrates lack of understanding of requirements
 Proposals do not actually commit to anything, but instead simply
describe what they are currently doing
 During discussions and negotiations, they attempt to change aspects
of their proposal including key personnel, pricing, or milestones
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…To Good
 Submits a response to the RFI or sources sought announcement that provides specific
information the Government requested, and not standard marketing information.
 Submits detailed, well thought-out questions to any draft solicitation materials detailing
requirements that will impact delivery post-award
 Suggesting additional evaluation criteria that will support the evaluation
 During any face-to-face discussion, bring ideas, suggestions, and potential solutions for
consideration.
 Questions are specific and represent an understanding of your current challenges.
 Proposals are well organized to Section L instructions and address every portion of
Section M evaluation criteria with substantiation and proof points to demonstrate they
(1) understand the requirement, (2) have a viable solution, and (3) are a low-risk
contractor
 During contract award and negotiation, they are easy to work with and do not try to
alter terms, pricing, or requirements of contract during discussions and negotiations
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Goals (Before and After the RFP)
To help the customer define their technical
requirements, assess alternatives, get an RFP
written, and understand and execute the
.
procurement process.
To understand their plans and goals, their
procurement processes, and their preferences
To introduce yourself. While you want the customer
to recognize you later, you want to be perceived as
an asset to them, and not a drain on their time.
To identify the decision makers and who are
involved in the procurement, especially the
evaluators. Also, to identify how they fit into the
customer’s organization.
To influence the procurement, and recommend
procurement strategies, RFP requirements,
evaluation criteria, and/or small business utilization
requirements.
Assess the competitive environment and determine
what other companies already do business with the
customer in similar areas, what other companies
may have influenced the procurement, the
strengths and weaknesses of the competition, and
which are competitors and which are potential
teaming partners.
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Pay Attentions to Key Sections of the Solicitation
 Section C: SOW/PWS
 Section H: Special Contract Requirements
 Section L: Instruction to Offerors
 Verbatim Compliance to Section L
 Section M: Evaluation Criteria
 Proposal/Performance Strategy Guided by Section M
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Evaluation Criteria Structure
Basis of
Award
Cost
Non–Cost
Past
Performance
Technical
Management
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Section C – SOW/PWS
Why?
 contains a description of the work that will be performed on the contract
Key Information
 Description of customer need
 Place of performance
 Technical work areas
What to Do
 Dissect the SOW
 Identify the main requirements
 Craft a response to ensure you address each requirement given the strengths and
weaknesses of your organization
 Identify the customer’s key areas of concerns
 Evaluate technical trade-offs to understand the pricing implications
 Ensure ambiguous requirements are thoroughly assessed and assumptions documented
 Look for requirements, contradictions, feasibility, and opportunities for differentiation
between you and your competitors
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Section H – Special Contract Requirements
Why?
 incorporates government procurement requirements and laws into the contract
Key Information
 Work location and equipment
 Travel requests and procedures
 Key personnel requirements/substitutions
 Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI)
 Contract transition
 Cost management (accounting/purchasing/EVM)
 Security requirements
 Small business contracting and/or subcontracting goals
What to Do
 Ensure steps are taken to ensure compliance
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Section L – Instructions to Offerors (Proposal
Preparation)
Why?
 Provides instructions for responding to the RFP
Key Information
 Proposal format and organization requirements
 Proposal submission requirements
What to Do
 Look for instructions regarding page count, page layout (margins, fonts, page sizes),
submission method, and outline/content
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Section M – Evaluation Criteria
Why?
 describes the criteria the government will use to award the contract
Key Information
 Method of evaluation (best value, low cost, etc.)
 Cost reasonableness
 Method for evaluating each part of the proposal
 Ranking of the relative importance of each proposal part
What to Do
 Look for scoring method, score weighting, evaluation process, past performance
approach, and “best value” terminology.
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Evaluation Standards
 Standards are the baseline against which the agency
evaluates the offeror’s proposals to determine their
acceptability and value
 Standards should specify a target performance level for
the proposal
 Standards require evaluators to evaluate proposals against
uniform objectives rather than against other proposals
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Insight into Evaluation Guidelines
DO evaluate proposals against the RFP/RFQ requirements.
DO NOT make assumptions. Evaluate the text in the proposal.
DO LOOK carefully at the text in the proposal that may include statements and/or
assumptions that could indicate increased cost/price and/or risk to the
Government.
DO document your reasoning for any potential increased risk to the Government
on the evaluation form for the Contracting Officer’s review.
DO NOT compare proposals against one another. They must be evaluated
individually against the evaluation factors in the RFP/RFQ.
DO NOT rank proposals. Only determine if they meet, or do not meet, the
acceptable standards specified in the contract.
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Responsive…and Effective
 A winning proposal will be easy to evaluate. Write the proposal to reflect the
evaluation criteria, and then explain how or why. Give proposal evaluators
what they want and need right up front in firm and direct positive statements.
 If there is anything special or unique about your proposal that you the want
the government evaluators to know, write it out first.
 Tell the Government what the approach will do for them, what the benefit of
it is, and then tell them how it will be done.
 The goal is to give them what they want, in the order they want it. Think
about why they are reading the proposal and what they are evaluating.
 Put yourself in the shoes of the readers of your proposal for a government
contract.
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The “3 Cs” of Responsive Proposals
 Customer-focused
 Writes to the customer’s needs
 Compelling
 Translates features into benefits
 Transition from engineering to customer’s perspective
 Complete
C
 Wears the reader’s shoes
C
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Customer-Focused
CUSTOMER-FOCUSED
Read & understood RFP from customer’s
point of view
Demonstrates value
Inspires confidence in delivery
Connects the dots
Lots of typos
COMPLIANT
Read the RFP
Point-by-point answers (mechanical)
Lack demonstrations of performance
Says what you have to offer
Unclear connections
 Often with Resumes
Unanswered questions
 Leave the point open to
interpretation instead of drawing
the conclusion
Too many exceptions to terms and
conditions
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Compelling
COMPELLING
Has a value proposition and
demonstrates how it is accomplished
Tells a story well – even if it’s not the
right story
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COMPLIANT
Meets RFP requirements
 Builds the box, but not much
attention to the value
proposition of what’s inside the
box.
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Complete
COMPLETE
Sync of word and number picture
Few if any typos or gaps that distract
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COMPLIANT
Answers the questions
Doesn’t explain why that information is
relevant
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Look like a Partner to the Government






Follow the guidelines in the RFP
Submit a professional looking document
Establish credibility early, esp. if a new relationship
Devote time and space to where your value is supported
Demonstrate that you can do the job well
Do your homework
– Know your customer and what they need
 Make the best first impression you can
– Make it professional
– Make it complete
– Talk to what’s important to the audience
 Be clear on what you can deliver
– Back it up with examples or demonstrate from related experience
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“Incumbentitis”

In•cum•bent•i•tis [in-'kəm-bənt-'i-tis] Noun. Disease-like condition leading to lost proposal
recompetes and resulting in widespread abdication of responsibility, distribution of blame, and
devastation of morale. Frequently disfigures the BD process and scars the psyche. Highly contagious;
should be quarantined immediately if symptoms appear. Fatality rates range as high as 90% if left
untreated. Ex: The proposal relied too heavily on past accomplishments and customer relationships,
failing to demonstrate a new solution or offer adequate innovations to meet future requirements,
and thus indicating a diagnosis of severe untreated Incumbentitis.
 Complacent Attitude: “they couldn’t possibly work this program without us.”
 Failure to Use a Good Proposal Process: Use a proposal management process that
can organize and guide the team in providing highly responsive answers to all RFP
requirements
 Failure to Staff the Proposal Adequately:
– Determine what is the requirement
– Find evidence that demonstrates the company can perform that requirement in an
excellent manner
– Fold in the “win themes”
– Be sure to emphasize features and benefits of the solution that are attractive to the
customer
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“Listen” to the Customer
 Schedule time for you to meet with them to discuss your current performance, and ask
them for a “wish list” of things they’d like to see you add.
 Schedule a neutral Third Party Assessment (TPA) to be sure they are really telling you
what you need to hear.
 Find out who else, besides your end customer, is driving the new procurement. Set
about learning what their priorities and preferences are.
 Answer the current RFP. Don’t rely on the old proposal. What you are doing now may
not be what they want in the future.
 Bid what the RFP requires, not what you know “they really want/need.” After you win,
you can attempt to seek approval for changes.
 Bid to win. Don’t automatically build unexpected costs into the new proposal if they are
not in the RFP. Your competitors likely will not.
 Bring in outside SMEs, capture managers, and proposal managers as consultants to
bring a fresh perspective to your approach.
 Find out all that you need to know about the customer to prepare a responsive
proposal. Priorities, preference, trade-off decisions, source selection, past experience,
and desired results are all of vital importance.
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Debriefings
 Provides a unique opportunity to gain valuable information for next
time to submit a better proposal
 Personal belief = more information is better – relationship building is
key
 Government mindset is risk-averse; Contractor mindset is
disappointed and concerned
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
To learn what was liked and not liked about your proposal or your
proposed team or your technical solution

To obtain suggestions about what you could do differently next time

To understand clearly areas where your proposal was downgraded or
did not obtain maximum scoring

Position yourself for next time
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Key Takeaways
 Select opportunities based on your strengths and correspondence with your company's
strategic goals, then your win strategies and competitive positioning flow naturally.
 Consistently winning proposals isn't about somehow finding a clever way to present
yourself so that you stand out. Consistently winning proposals comes from having a
story to tell that the customer wants to be a part of.
 Ensure ambiguous requirements are thoroughly assessed and assumptions documented
 Explain how certifications your organization possesses (CMMI, ISO, Six Sigma, etc.) can
benefit the customer and how they were implemented on prior projects or in day-today operations.
 Provide support for statements with rationale, assumptions, explanations, and logic
 Think in terms of solutions. Get to know customers in a specific area and offer solutions
to their needs.
– Focus on a specific department or agency. For example, you might tailor
products/services to help the FBI solve law enforcement problems, and for growth
expand the offering to other law enforcement agencies within the Department of
Justice.
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Key Takeaways (cont’d)
 In most RFP processes, price is not the most important evaluation criteria
used in making the award.
 Deciding whether to bid on a government contract has far-reaching, longterm, and cost implications for your company/organization. Carefully consider
your Bid/No-Bid strategy.
 Tools, such as a Bid/No-Bid Checklist and a Proposal Development Checklist,
can help you make decisions more quickly and efficiently.
 If you receive a negative response on a proposal, analyze what went wrong
and ask for an opportunity to resubmit an improved proposal. In any case,
request a debrief from the Contracting Officer.
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Final Thoughts
 Customer-focused content is needed to win
 Will not guarantee a win, but cannot get there without it
 You win by effectively communicating to the customer that you
understand & have proposed a solution that addresses and fulfills their
requirement(s)
 Ask yourself:




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How important is this to the reader?
What is my value proposition?
Is my message compelling?
Does this make me look like a good addition to the team?
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Q&A
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Thank You
Stephen J. Yuter, CPCM, CFCM, PMP, Fellow
Director of Acquisition & Head of the Contracting Activity
Indian Health Service
Department of Health and Human Services
(301) 443-4872
[email protected]
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