Ed Admin, Author at OCI Wins

How “Beetle Bailey” Can Improve Your Presentation Skills

Some years ago, the comic strip Beetle Bailey contained a valuable lesson for business presenters. As General Halftrack walked into his office, his secretary asked: "How was Lt. Fuzz's presentation?" The General replied: "Like the Washington Monument." Puzzled, the secretary asked, "The Washington Monument?” General Halftrack responded, "Yeah, it took him a long time to get to the point."

How often have you felt the frustration of General Halftrack because the speaker didn't "get to the point?" Worse, have people listening to your presentations been exasperated because they didn't know where you were taking them, didn't know what your point was?

By Ed Admin|2010-11-01T16:31:20+00:00November 1, 2010|Proposal Orals Coach | Orals Coaching|0 Comments

Analyzing the Final Solicitation

The release of a final RFP is the trigger for shifting from the capture (or pre-proposal) phase to the proposal development phase. It may be a time when several concurrent activities are initiated as the team works to quickly assemble resources, finalize plans, notify team members, brief management, and perform other activity for effective transition to this phase. The following focuses on the specific activity related to evaluating the solicitation.

By Ed Admin|2010-11-01T16:20:51+00:00November 1, 2010|Proposal Management|0 Comments

Why Oral Presentations are Important: Part Two – The Murder Board

The term “Murder Board” may sound like something Tony Soprano might convene, but it has nothing to do with a criminal act. It has everything to do with helping people become better and more persuasive speakers, and it is a vital step for an oral presentation for a government contract.

By Ed Admin|2010-10-05T17:38:40+00:00October 5, 2010|Proposal Orals Coach | Orals Coaching|0 Comments

Why Oral Presentations are Important: Part One

Introduction

Many proposal managers and writers believe that all that is needed to win a contract is a well-written proposal that “answers the mail” of an RFP. An oral presentation is merely a formality.

By Ed Admin|2010-08-31T20:43:48+00:00August 31, 2010|Proposal Orals Coach | Orals Coaching|0 Comments

Government Proposal Consulting | Becoming a Proposal Consultant

Working in a consultant agency, we often receive calls from proposal professionals who want to make the shift to a government proposal consultant. Common questions are: “How can I go out and do this?” “What is it like?” “What can I expect?”

By Ed Admin|2010-08-30T21:11:44+00:00August 30, 2010|First Time Proposals|1 Comment

OMB Memorandum 10-26 Immediate Review of Financial Systems IT Projects

On June 28, 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Memorandum 10-26, Immediate Review of Financial Systems IT Projects. This Memorandum establishes government-wide policies associated with financial system modernizations. These policies require Federal agencies to set the scope for financial system modernizations in a manner that reduces project costs, aligns projects more closely to top priority business needs, accelerates deployments, and improves the performance of the systems once deployed.

By Ed Admin|2010-07-31T17:09:17+00:00July 31, 2010|Miscellaneous|0 Comments

PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING – RESERVING WORK FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) is issuing a proposed policy letter to provide guidance addressing when work must be reserved for performance by federal employees. The policy letter is intended to implement direction in the President's March 4, 2009, Memorandum on Government Contracting which requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to ''clarify when governmental outsourcing for services is and is not appropriate.'' The proposed policy letter would:

By Ed Admin|2010-05-25T16:26:51+00:00May 25, 2010|Miscellaneous|0 Comments

What is “Best Value”?

“Best Value” is the common-sense manifestation in the FAR of what intelligent buyers do every day all over the world. Part 2.101 of the FAR defines Best Value as the expected outcome of an acquisition that in the buyer’s estimation provides the greatest overall benefit in response to the requirement.

By Ed Admin|2010-05-25T15:51:42+00:00May 25, 2010|Proposal Evaluation|0 Comments

Fog Index and Pace

Perhaps the main reason of writing is to communicate — arguably this is the root purpose of any writing. In order to communicate through your writing, it must be easily understood. In two-way communication — face to face — you can reiterate a point in response to a question, or simply communicate through a raised eyebrow or a confused look. Writing, however, is one-way communication, so you have only one chance to ensure comprehension. Two techniques that you can use to improve your readers’ comprehension are the use of Fog Index and Pace. The following paragraphs describe these techniques.

By Ed Admin|2010-04-28T13:53:39+00:00April 28, 2010|Proposal Writing|0 Comments

Difficulties in Determining Best Value

In 1961 I was involved in an RFP for a mainframe computer which was a best value RFP, and our agency did not award to IBM. How many readers can make such a claim? Not many, because the agencies then were usually not very experienced in buying IT and were very mesmerized by IBM's marketing prowess. As a result, major agencies such as Justice and the Army found ways to award to IBM, even when the performance did not justify the higher price.

By Ed Admin|2010-04-28T13:24:52+00:00April 28, 2010|Proposal Management|0 Comments

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