We ask the key personnel we select on programs we are bidding to step up to a huge undertaking when we ask them to deliver a proposal to a customer via an oral presentation. We also place a lot of responsibility on both senior and junior people to deliver fantastic presentations.
A widely held belief among people doing federal business is that a protest costs far too much and is not good business because the agency will retaliate. I reject both claims as not being factual. Now a protest can cost hundreds of thousands,
We recently wrote about the protest process. Here is more detail. Several places exist to protest. They include the Contracting Office (CO), any federal district court, the Washington, DC Federal Court of Appeals, and the General Accounting Office (GAO).
This is one of the most interesting subjects regarding the procurement process. Many people dismiss the process as ineffective since only about 10-12% of protests win. But that reveals a lack of understanding. Most protests fail because they are unskillful.
Many times we forget that over 50% of the communications package that we deliver to our customers, friends, and families is body language. We rarely take the opportunity to explore what the body can do for us in delivering powerful oral presentations and answers to the Government's questions.
Knowing as much as you can about the room where you will present will help make your presenters more comfortable, confident!
One of the most interesting subjects in government contracting is sole source. Sole source is so interesting because, it is fairly well defined, has very few court cases, and it is clear as to what is proper (only one firm can perform), but most of the involved parties do not understand how to handle sole source properly. Here are some vignettes regarding sole source.
During the past 18 years, I have worked as a Proposal Manager / Technical Writer for many Fortune 500 companies and numerous medium and small businesses. My work has focused on helping Government contractors to prepare proposals ranging in size from $20,000 to $4 billion. These proposals have primarily been for contracts in the fields of telecommunications, information technology (IT), logistics, and base operations and maintenance (O&M) support contracts.
As a proposal services vendor, I have been in a position to see how hundreds of companies select their business development targets over the past 15 years. This has included everything from small disadvantaged business to Fortune 50. It has amazed me to see that many companies, small and large, have pursued contracts with a shotgun rather than a rifle.