Proposal Management

A Government Proposal Manager Is… One who must direct 30 to 50 authors, who don’t want…

This article is the first in a series offering solutions to the "unsolvable" problems of proposal development.

The nature of the problem. Everyone has an opinion. And the more that is at stake, the more they stick to their opinion.

Depending on the type of work and how the RFP defines the requirements, you may need to conceptualize your approach as well as your content. This is typically true of proposals to provide solutions or to perform research.

During recent years, the need to prepare quick turnaround task order proposals has become a challenge for companies providing service to the Federal Government. The days when nearly all proposals had a minimum 30-day bid period have gone for good.

I’ve never seen a perfect RFP. No one else has, either. The Government uses its bidders to do a lot of the de-bugging of its solicitations, functioning as an unpaid quality assurance staff. 

There are many ways to improve you proposal process, and improve your proposals. Most of these ways involve spending money, from "not much“ to "a lot“. Here are five ways to improve your proposals at low cost:

In this series, we have already written about the importance of the Capture Plan and the Proposal Plan. These documents, and the activities that go with them, are the responsibilities of the Capture Manager and Proposal Manager, respectively.

Carefully “Shred“The Request For Proposal (Or Bid, Etc.) Before Making A Bid/No Bid Decision
“Shredding“ means breaking down each element of the customer or client request. You can do this manually or use an automated process tool that includes

A lot of misunderstanding exists about storyboards. This is partly because, when they are not properly implemented, data acquired in the storyboard process does not make it into the files that the writers start with. To often, storyboards are treated as a discreet step that, once finished, is never looked back upon — storyboards become a brainstorming tool that every one is forced into. No wonder so many people try to avoid doing them.