The Capture Plan has formed the basis for the “bid” decision that supports the proposal activities.

 

What elements of the Capture Plan should be reflected in proposal planning, and proposal document (that is, the response to the solicitation)?

The complete Capture Plan is beyond the scope of this discussion. However, here are four of the most important elements, to the Government Proposal Manager, from the Capture Plan:

  • The discriminators: This is a list of the ways in which our bid is not only different from, but better than, the bids of our competitors. We use this in the body of the proposal, and in the Executive Summary.
  • The answer to the two most basic marketing questions:
    • WHO will make the procurement decision?
    • WHAT criteria will be used?
  • The Precipitating Event – This reflects our knowledge of WHY the customer seeks to buy this product at this time, in this way. This lets us (the proposal team) know how to respond to the customer’s needs in the context of the PROCUREMENT, and not just in the context of the SOLICITATION.
  • Right Price – The customer has probably established either a single-point estimate of the price it expects the winner to offer, or at least a RANGE of prices. We should know that, and use it to guide not only our technical and management solutions, but also how to organize the program to achieve that price bogey.

Summary

The Government Proposal Manager is not only allowed, but also expected, to reflect the important elements of the Government Proposal Capture Plan.