ABM Government Services
www.abm.com
Winning Proposal Techniques
Donna Freitas
Vice President
Strategic Business Relations
February 6, 2017
2
Winning Proposal Techniques…
 Market /Opportunity Positioning
 Capture Planning/Positioning
 Pre-Proposal Activities
15 Minute Break
 Proposal Development Activities
 Post-Proposal Activities/Closeout
 Win OR Lose Debriefs
3
Market/ Opportunity Positioning…
Define
Identify
Need Requirements
Receive/
Issue
RFI/RFQ/Draft Review
RFIs/RFQs
RFP
Issue
Final
RFP
Conduct
Bidders
Conference
Receive Conduct Receive Award
Proposals Orals
BAFO Contract
Customer
Milestones
Proposal
Phases
Key
Activities
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Capture Planning and
Positioning
•Develop Capture Plan
•Develop Procurement Summary and
SOW
•Establish Customer Profile
•Identify Customer Hot
Buttons/Notional Winner Profile
•Conduct SWOT – Competitor Analysis
and Self-Analysis
•Conduct Strategy Session
•Identify Initial Win Themes
•Develop Initial Teaming Strategy
•Obtain input from HR, Finance, Risk,
(Bonds, Insurance), Legal, Contracts
Pre-Proposal Activities
•Allocate Proposal Resources
•Develop B&P Budget
•Develop Draft Proposal Schedule
•Develop Draft Proposal Outline
•Develop Storyboards
Proposal Development
•Analyze RFP
•Confirm Bid Decision
•Finalize Compliance Matrix,
Schedule, Outline
•Resolve Contractual and COI
issues
•Finalize Win Strategy and
Themes
•Conduct Kick-off Meeting
•Conduct Daily Stand-up Calls
•Attend Bidders Conference
•Finalize Storyboards
•Pink Team (Storyboard) Review
•Prepare Initial Pricing
•Prepare First Draft
•Pink Team Review
•Prepare Final Draft
•Green Team/Red Team (Final
Draft) Review
•Recover from Red Team
•Gold Team Review
•Finalize Pricing
•Produce Final Proposal
•Submit Proposal
Post-Delivery Activities
•Confirm Proposal Receipt
•Respond to Errors, Omissions,
Clarifications (EOCs), as
appropriate
•Respond to BAFO Request, as
appropriate
•Prepare for Oral Presentation, as
appropriate
•Negotiate Contractual Issues
•Arrange for Customer Debrief
•Archive Proposal
•Reward Good Performance
Market/ Opportunity Positioning
OBJECTIVE: To provide the earliest possible influence on customer vision,
need, recognition, and requirements definition… even before customer identifies
the need.
Includes:

Shaping the Market
 Network within the industry; trade associations, attend conferences – learn of
things coming, monies available…
 Acquaint customers with your firm and key personnel
 Learn customers way of thinking
 Learn customers vision, need, requirements

Identifying Opportunities
 Search outlets – GovWin, FedBizOpps, conferences, networking
 Contracts previously awarded – follow-ups with customer
 Teaming/Partnering pipeline reviews
… Long term leads best!
More
5
Market/ Opportunity Positioning (Cont’d.)
Includes:
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Qualifying Opportunities
What is required? What is expected? What is the scope of Work?
Anticipated RFP release date? Will there be a DRAFT RFP?
Size and duration of job?”
Technical Point of Contact?
Is this a re-compete?
How does customer perceive the incumbent?
What are the incumbent’s weaknesses
Can the incumbent’s strength be neutralized
What is the set-aside – if small/large business/should we team up?
Critical Capture Creation
 In the absence of a capture planning
and positioning, the proposal team
starts from scratch.
 Important information obtained from
strategic positioning and capturing
intellectual data effectively front-loads
the proposal plan.
 Approximately 60% of the information
transfers from the capture process
creating a proposal strategy and
proposal-specific material to write more
compelling responses.
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The formula for
winning an
opportunity is
60-30-10
Roughly 60% of
resources
should be spent
before the RFP
is released, 30%
from release to
proposal
submission, and
10% in proposal
follow-up
Capture Planning and Positioning
Includes:

Conducting a Fatal Flow Analysis – Previous Protests, Work Performance,
Negative Experiences w/us - Key Personnel Criteria Hard to Fill, Poorly Aligned
Past Performance, Very Strong and Well Liked Incumbent, Major Competitor
Pricing Habits, Finance, Risk, HR Concerns.

Developing a Procurement Summary and SOW – Is funding in place, when
on FEDBIZ OPS, RFP coming out, Do we expect due date to slip? Value, FOIA
needed, Risk factors in scope of work?

Establishing a Customer Profile – Which customer personnel should be visited
(such as regional office, contracting office, military installation), Mission and
Strategic Objectives, Customer Evaluation Process?

Identifying the Customer Hot Buttons/Notional Winner Profile – Are there any
issues, What keeps them awake at night… What would be the customer’s ideal
contractor?
More
8
Capture Planning and Positioning (Cont’d)
Includes:
 Conducting a SWOT – Competitor & Internal Analysis – rate 1-5 (highest)
ABM XXX YYY ZZZ
Overall technical competence
Management competence
Reputation as high/low cost producers
Interest in the procurement (new client/footprint/service line)
Availability of resources/personnel (meet criteria)
Capability to respond to requirements
Financial capability
Historical/potential teaming arrangements
Potential risk factors
More
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Capture Planning and Positioning (Cont’d)
Includes:
Conducting a Strategy Session – What the customer wants – what competitors
can offer, what we can offer
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Identifying Initial Win Themes – Embodies the Strategy… Tell the customer
why to choose us, Link the features of our offerings to the customer benefits…
are specific and quantifiable
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Developing Initial Teaming Strategy (GAP Analysis/Experience Matrix)
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Obtaining input from HR, Finance, Risk, (Bonds, Insurance), Legal,
Contract Administration – Their input is needed for a NO or GO
Developing a Capture Plan – identify and mitigate weaknesses and competitive
gaps, enhances positioning w/customer on critical issues by providing
solutions>>> you gain a better understanding of customer needs, facilitate
proposal process, and improve win rate.
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ABM Government Services
www.abm.com
COMING UP NEXT…
MORE Winning Proposal Techniques… During
the Proposal Process AND After the Proposal
is Submitted!
Donna Freitas
Vice President
Strategic Business Relations
February 6, 2017
Pre-Proposal Activities
INCLUDES:
 Allocating Proposal
Resources (Be open to new
ideas)
 Developing Proposal
Budget
 Developing Draft Proposal
Schedule
 Developing Draft Proposal
Outline
 Developing Storyboards
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INCLUDES:
 Identifying Roles and
Responsibilities
Capture Manager
Proposal Manager
Proposal Coordinator
Graphic Artist
Volume Leads
SMEs/Proposal Writers
Review Lead & Team
HR, Finance, Contracts
Senior Management
 Establishing Milestones
Proposal Development Activities
INCLUDES:
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Analyzing the RFP
Confirming Bid Decision
Finalizing Compliance Matrix,
Schedule, Outline
Resolving Contractual and COI
Conflict of Issues
Finalizing Win Strategy and
Themes
Conducting Kick-off Meeting
Conducting Daily Stand-up
Calls
Attending Bidders Conference/
Site Visit (Questions to Ask
and Not Ask)
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Finalizing Storyboards
Pink Team (Storyboard)
Review
Preparing Initial Pricing
Preparing First Draft
Pink Team Review
Preparing Final Draft
Green Team/Red Team (Final
Draft) Reviews
Final Edits
Gold Team Review
Finalizing Pricing
Producing Final Proposal
ENSURING Delivery
Understanding… Proposal Strategy
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Proposals are NOT a ONE SIZE FITS ALL
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Have a consistent theme… Same strategy throughout (Executive Summary,
Corporate Experience, Key Personnel, OR Chart, Technical Approach, Past
Performance.
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Say HOW you’re going to do the work… not just that you’re going to do the work.
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Provide EXAMPLES on projects (ones profiled would be best) of how you
successfully managed similar work scopes.
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Propose Key Personnel that MEET CRITERIA.
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Minimize fluff and focus on Team Strength, Similar Experience, Carefully Planned
Organization, Appropriate Staffing, Technical Approach … all that tie into a fair and
reasonable Price.
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Use a SharePoint Site to manage the proposal document/or Wall Sheets
Become the Solution Provider
Executive Summary… write about:
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Identify the Customer’s Mission… what they are looking to achieve?
HOW YOU can accomplish their objectives?
Quantifiable Solutions on other contracts
Strength of TEAM members
Providing VALUE and LOW-RISK… HOW should be in the proposal… It’s a
Winning Technique!
Evaluators find WINNING proposals by weeding out LOSING proposals!
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Post-Delivery Proposal Activities
Includes:
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Confirming Proposal Receipt – CALL – Make Sure Proposal Was Received
Responding to Errors, Omissions, Clarifications (EOCs), as appropriate
Responding to BAFO Request, as appropriate
Preparing for Oral Presentation, as appropriate
Negotiating Contractual Issues
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Arranging for Customer Debrief - WIN OR LOSE
Archiving Proposal
Rewarding Good Performance
Questions
www.abm.com
“In the business world, the rearview mirror
is always clearer than the windshield”
THANK YOU!
Donna Freitas
Vice President
Strategic Business Relations
February 6, 2017