Winning Government Business, 2nd Edition

Winning Government Business, 2nd Edition

by Steve R. Osborne
Released February 2011
Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 9781567263534

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Book description

Get the edge over the competition for government contracts!
In the battle for government contracts, seize the competitive advantage with Winning Government Business: Gaining the Competitive Advantage with Effective Proposals, Second Edition.
Includes complimentary access to the Winning Government Business website.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. About the Author
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Preface
  8. Part 1 - The Foundations of Winning Proposals
    1. Chapter 1 - Winning New Business from the Federal Government
      1. Why Proposals?
      2. Why Is Proposal Preparation So Difficult?
        1. Puzzling RFP Structure and Content
        2. Inconsistent or Confusing RFP Requirements
        3. Insufficient Time
        4. Lack of Proposal Skills and Experience
        5. Lack of Tools and Processes
      3. Winning
      4. Common Proposal Mistakes
      5. Key Characteristics Of Winning Bids
      6. Keys To Winning Consistently
      7. Value Of Winning
      8. Solving The Problem
      9. Gaining The Competitive Advantage
    2. Chapter 2 - Anatomy of a Government RFP
      1. Part I—The Schedule
        1. Section A: Solicitation/Contract Form
        2. Section B: Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs
        3. Section C: Description/Specifications/Statement of Work
        4. Section D: Packaging and Marking
        5. Section E: Inspection and Acceptance
        6. Section F: Deliveries or Performance
        7. Section G: Contract Administration Data
        8. Section H: Special Contract Requirements
      2. Part II—Contract Clauses
        1. Section I: Contract Clauses
      3. Clauses Incorporated By Reference
      4. Part III—List Of Documents, Exhibits, And Other Attachments
        1. Section J: List of Attachments
      5. Part IV—Representations And Instructions
        1. Section K: Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors or Respondents
        2. Section L: Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors or Respondents
        3. Section M: Evaluation Factors for Award
    3. Chapter 3 - Federal Government Source Selection
      1. The Federal Acquisition Regulation
      2. The Federal Government Acquisition Process
        1. Market Research
        2. Acquisition Strategy and Methodology
        3. Development of RFP Evaluation Factors, Subfactors, and Criteria
        4. Source Selection Organization
        5. Source Selection Plan
      3. Overview of the Source Selection Process
      4. Technical Evaluation
        1. Scoring Systems
        2. Technical Strength, Weakness, Uncertainty, and Deficiency
        3. Proposal Risk
        4. Proposal Risk versus Technical Weaknesses
        5. Summary of Technical Evaluation
        6. Winning the Technical Evaluation War
      5. Past Performance Evaluation
        1. Sources of Past Performance Information
        2. Past Performance Assessment
        3. Tips for Maximizing Past Performance Scores
      6. Cost Evaluation
      7. Integrated Assessment
      8. Competitive Range
      9. Comparative Analysis of Proposals
      10. Final Source Selection
  9. Part 2 - The Pre-Proposal Phase
    1. Chapter 4 - Strategic Business Planning
      1. Strategic Planning as Part of the Business Acquisition Process
      2. Strategic Planning as a Competitive Advantage
      3. Developing a Mission Statement
        1. What
        2. Who
        3. How
        4. Why
        5. Value of the Mission Statement
      4. Strategic Business Modeling
        1. Lines of Business
        2. Strategic Success Indicators
        3. Strategic Activities
        4. Assessing Necessary Culture
      5. Organizational Performance Assessment
      6. Competitor Analysis
      7. Gap Analysis
      8. Developing and Implementing Action Plans
    2. Chapter 5 - Long-Term Positioning
      1. Developing Customer Relationships
        1. Visits by Senior Management
        2. Annual Briefing of Your Company Capabilities
        3. Other Customer Interactions
        4. Customers versus Users
      2. Collecting Market Information
        1. Identifying Your Customer’s Long-Range Needs
        2. Helping Your Customer Articulate Program Needs and Sell a Program
        3. Becoming Familiar with Your Customer’s Procurement Practices
        4. Identifying Future Programs
        5. Building and Maintaining a Long-Range Schedule of Upcoming Procurements
        6. Identifying Potential Competitors and Building Competitor Profiles
        7. Tapping Sources of Competitor Information
        8. Building a Strategic Marketing Database
      3. Establishing A Bid And Proposal Library
        1. Copies of Previous Proposals
        2. Proposal Database
        3. Graphics Database
        4. Résumés for Key Personnel
        5. Past and Current Performance Database
        6. Lessons-Learned Database
        7. Competitor Database
        8. Marketing Information Database
        9. Value of B&P Library
    3. Chapter 6 - Building and Organizing the Capture Team
      1. Capture Team Members
      2. Capture Team Organization
      3. Capture Team Roles and Responsibilities
        1. Capture Manager
        2. Proposal Manager
        3. Program Manager
        4. Production Manager/Proposal Administrator
        5. Technical Volume Manager
        6. Cost Volume Manager
        7. Contracts Manager
        8. Marketing Manager
        9. Other Proposal Functions
      4. Required Qualifications for Capture Team Leaders
        1. Capture Manager
        2. Proposal Manager
        3. Production Manager/Proposal Administrator
        4. Technical Volume Manager
        5. Cost Volume Manager
        6. Contracts Manager
      5. Using Consultants
        1. Assessing Your Need for Consultants
        2. Selecting Consultants
    4. Chapter 7 - Pre-Proposal Phase Activities
      1. Making Bid Decisions
        1. Bid Decision Criteria
        2. Bid Decision Evaluation Form
        3. Bid Committee
        4. Practical Exercise
      2. Pre-Proposal Conferences
      3. Proposal Planning
      4. Commenting on Draft RFPs
      5. Writing Proposal Sections against the Draft RFP
      6. Proposal Team Training
    5. Chapter 8 - Bid Strategy
      1. The When and Who of Developing Bid Strategies
      2. Customer Assessment
        1. Customer Name/Organization
        2. Customer Buying Pattern
        3. Customer Acquisition Strategy
        4. Customer Documents
        5. Past Performance with Customer
      3. Program Requirements Assessment
        1. Summary of Program Requirements
        2. Schedule
        3. Technical Disciplines Required
        4. Personnel
        5. Processes and Systems
        6. Location and Facilities
        7. Penalties and Other Special Requirements
      4. Competitive Assessment
      5. Developing a Bid Strategy
        1. General Strategy
      6. Developing Specific Bid Strategies
        1. A Methodology for Developing Specific Bid Strategies
        2. Cost as a Specific Bid Strategy
        3. Reviewing Specific Bid Strategies after Final RFP Release
        4. Customer Contact Plan
        5. Capture Plan
      7. Risk/Opportunity Components of Bid Strategy
      8. Developing Bid Strategies For Service-Type Contracts
        1. Bidding as the Incumbent
        2. Bidding as the Non-Incumbent
  10. Part 3 - The Proposal Development Phase
    1. Chapter 9 - Analyzing Customer Requirements
      1. Getting Started
        1. Using RFP Ambiguity as a Competitive Advantage
        2. Reading the RFP
      2. Key Proposal Preparation Documents
        1. Program Requirements Document
        2. Proposal Requirements Document
        3. Evaluation Criteria Document
        4. Dissecting Evaluation Criteria
      3. Document Configuration Management
    2. Chapter 10 - Developing a Proposal Preparation Plan
      1. Proposal Outline
        1. Creating an Overall Proposal Outline
      2. Proposal Requirements Matrix
        1. Creating the Proposal Requirements Matrix
      3. Author Guide
        1. Sheet 1 of the Author Guide
        2. Sheet 2 of the Author Guide
        3. Example of Risk Mitigation
    3. Chapter 11 - Effective Proposal Management
      1. Proposal Responsibility Matrix
      2. Detailed Proposal Schedule
        1. Tier 1 Proposal Schedule
        2. Tier 2 Proposal Schedule
        3. Tier 3 Proposal Schedule
      3. Managing Daily Proposal Progress
      4. Basics of Proposal Management
        1. Management Style
        2. Work Environment
        3. Proposal Work Schedule
        4. Team Communications
        5. Proposal Kickoff Meeting
        6. Ready Access to Proposal Information
        7. Co-location of the Proposal Team
        8. Successful Proposal Managers
    4. Chapter 12 - Writing the Winning Proposal
      1. Writing to Evaluators
      2. Writing the First Draft
      3. Clear and Effective Communications
      4. Revising the First Draft
      5. Page-Limited Proposals
      6. Editing and Revision
      7. Graphics
        1. Using Graphics Effectively
        2. Types of Illustrations
        3. Action Captions
    5. Chapter 13 - Tips for Effective Proposal Writing
      1. Present Tense
      2. Active Versus Passive Voice
      3. Concise Writing
      4. Long Sentences
      5. Ambiguous Writing
    6. Chapter 14 - Preparing the Winning Cost Volume
      1. Common Cost Proposal Mistakes
      2. Cost Volume Evaluation
      3. Contract Type and Cost
        1. Contract Type and Cost Risk
        2. Contract Type and Profit
        3. Cost Strategy
      4. Major Cost Components
        1. Understanding the Relationships among Cost Categories
        2. Managing Indirect Costs Effectively
      5. Starting Point
      6. Preparing Cost Estimates
        1. Work Breakdown Structure
        2. Quick-Look Cost Estimate
        3. Price to Win Cost Approach
        4. Initial Cost Estimates
        5. Scrubbing Initial Cost Estimates
      7. Preparing The Cost Volume
        1. Executive Summary
        2. WBS and WBS Dictionary
        3. Explanation of Costing Approach
        4. Cost Summaries
        5. Basis of Estimate
        6. Risk Management
        7. Ground Rules and Assumptions
      8. Maintaining Good Cost Performance Records
      9. Best-Value Procurements
    7. Chapter 15 - Proposal Reviews
      1. Different Types Of Reviews
        1. Storyboard Review
        2. Pink Team Review
        3. Red Team Review
        4. Gold Team Review
        5. Black Hat Review
      2. Formal Versus Informal Reviews
      3. Informal Author Guide Review
      4. In-Process Pink Team Review
      5. Red Team Review
        1. Red Team Instructions
        2. Conducting the Red Team Review
        3. Debriefing of Red Team Results
      6. Gold Team Review
    8. Chapter 16 - Proposal Production
      1. Production Organization and Management
      2. Proposal Configuration Management
      3. Configuration Management of Graphics
      4. Internal Documentation Standards
      5. Hard Copy and Electronic Proposal Submittal
      6. Final Quality Assurance Check
  11. Part 4 - Post-Proposal Submittal Phase
    1. Chapter 17 - Post-Proposal Submittal Phase
      1. Oral Presentations
        1. Oral Presentations as Part of Formal Source Selection
        2. Organizing Your Team
        3. Practicing the Presentation
        4. Presentation Tips
        5. The Relative Importance of Oral Presentations
        6. Other Oral Presentations
      2. Responding To Post-Proposal Customer Inquiries
        1. Developing Written Responses to Customer Inquiries
        2. Preparing a Final Proposal Revision
        3. Making a Good First Impression
    2. Chapter 18 - Contract Award and Performance
      1. Post-Award Debriefings
        1. Making the Most of a Debriefing
        2. Proper Behavior at a Government Debriefing
      2. Closeout
  12. Postscript
  13. Appendix A - Sample Capture Plan
    1. Customer Information
    2. Program Requirements
    3. Customer Key Evaluation Requirements (CKERs)
    4. Competitors
    5. Bid Strategy
  14. Appendix B - Acronyms and Abbreviations
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Winning Government Business, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Steve R. Osborne
  • Release date: February 2011
  • Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
  • ISBN: 9781567263534