NOAA’s $5.5 billion FY15 budget request promotes environmental intelligence with a tagline that emphasizes Science, Service and Stewardship. The value of NOAA was stated best by Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA administrator. She said the job of NOAA is to “make science matter for millions of Americans thanks to the environmental intelligence from [...]
Opening date for the Silver Line is yet to be determined, last month the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority suggested that the Silver Line could start this summer. Initially the Silver Line was set to open in late 2013 or January 2014. So far the seven-level parking garage and the plaza are complete. [...]
Late in the afternoon on Friday February 7th, OPM gave notice of the cancellation of the Customized Human Resources Solutions Services (CHRS) contract by posting a vague one-sentence statement to FBO. The notice that “THIS SOLICITATION IS HEREBY CANCELLED” undoubtedly ruined the weekend of many bidders, and provided no explanation to why [...]
TEACH (Train, Educate, and Coach) is a major new Multiple Award IDIQ coming out this year from the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI). The value is estimated to be $600-$800M annually for seven years (1 base year plus 6 option years). Task Orders issued under [...]
The Professional and Technical Support Contract (PRO-TECH), originally estimated by Deltek to be released last December, finally kicked off Wednesday with an Industry and Speed Dating event hosted by Deltek. The NOAA presentation was led by Mitchel J. Ross, Director of Acquisition and Grants Office, from the NOAA, Silver Spring office. This [...]
It is critically important to capture and apply the “lessons learned” from each proposal. I learned just how important this is as a Proposal Manager at Lockheed Martin and at SAIC for several years. Win or lose, best-in-class companies assess their strengths and weaknesses after each capture. They typically do this shortly [...]
On March 19th, APMP will host their monthly dinner and speaker series. The featured topic is “How to Win your Next Recompete”, everyone working on recompetes is encouraged to attend. There is a best-of-the-best panel with noted federal radio host Mark Amtower moderating. Panelists include Bob Lohfeld of Lohfeld Consulting; Kristin DeFrene [...]
The TV shows House of Lies and House of Cards provide graphic lessons for proposal professionals. Both shows have characters that are determined to be game changers in their chosen field of work, and both have unbridled ambition to jump over their competition using any possible means. One wants to own his own agency and be the boss (Don Cheadle). The other wants to ultimately be President or at least the person who controls the office (Kevin Spacey).
The business question at top of all our minds is, how much proposal volume will we see in 2014? Study of proposal market patterns over several years and our own month-by-month sales records from the past 15 years provide insight into this question.
Looking Back, Federal Proposal Market in 2013
Business in 2013 was slower than in 2012 at all proposal consultant agencies known to OCI. The volume of 2013 business at OCI was down slightly compared to 2012. As far as we know, business at all other proposal consultant agencies was down farther. Figures we have heard in networking with significant competitors include business that was 14%, 17%, 25%, 35%, 40% and 50% lower in 2013 than it was in 2012. The market was slow enough that most proposal consultants experienced abnormal amounts of time on the bench. A few consultants left the industry, while others worked some in areas other than proposal services to augment their income. Many businesses, especially DoD contractors, had layoffs and austerity programs due to the drop in federal business.
The $2.5 B Utility and Monitoring Control Systems-IV (UMCS-IV) contract is the largest opportunity in 2014 for building control systems providers and integrators. This Army Corps of Engineers program focuses on Building Automation, HVAC, Metering, Electronic Security, and Intrusion Detection. It is open to all Federal Agencies to utilize. The RFP for both the restricted and unrestricted award pools was released on January 21, 2014, and a Bidder’s Conference is announced for February 4th, 2014. The program, managed from the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center (CEHNC) in Huntsville, Alabama.
