The FASTPROP
System
How to Write Winning
Proposals Without Wasting
your Time and Money
By Kathy Borkoski
The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
Table of Contents
Why Your Proposal Process Needs to Change: Big Shifts in the Government Marketplace ................... 1
The Biggest Proposal Problems Facing Government Contractors ........................................................ 3
The Need for a Better Proposal Process: How FASTPROP Was Born .................................................... 4
The Biggest Myths about Proposals ................................................................................................... 6
The 3 Categories of Company Proposal Experience ............................................................................ 7
Group 1: Large businesses with complicated proposal writing and review processes. ....................... 7
Group 2: Large and/or small businesses that do not have a proposal process but are looking to
implement a consistent way of developing proposals. ........................................................................ 7
Group 3: Businesses that have never bid on a Government RFP before.............................................. 7
THE FASTPROP SYSTEM ..................................................................................................................... 9
STAGE I: PRE-RFP ......................................................................................................................... 10
Step 1: Capture ................................................................................................................................... 10
Step 2: Pre-Proposal Preparation ....................................................................................................... 11
STAGE II: RFP RELEASE ................................................................................................................. 13
Step 3: Immediate Actions .................................................................................................................. 13
Step 4: Create an Outline .................................................................................................................... 14
STAGE III: WRITING THE PROPOSAL ............................................................................................. 16
Step 5: Create Writing Assignments with Detailed Guidance ............................................................ 16
Step 6: Coach Your Writers ................................................................................................................. 17
Step 7: Managing Budgets .................................................................................................................. 18
Step 8: Technical Editing ..................................................................................................................... 18
STAGE IV: EFFECTIVE REVIEWS......................................................................................................... 20
Step 9: Types of Review Meetings ...................................................................................................... 20
Step 10: Getting Good Feedback ........................................................................................................ 20
STAGE V: FINAL ASSEMBLY & SUBMISSION .................................................................................. 22
Step 11: Document Assembly ............................................................................................................. 22
Step 12: Submission ............................................................................................................................ 22
Final Tips to Ensure Your Success ................................................................................................. 23
For more information and details on all of these areas, visit our
website: TridentProposals.com
© 2014 Trident Proposal Management
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
WHY YOUR PROPOSAL PROCESS NEEDS TO CHANGE:
BIG SHIFTS IN THE GOVERNMENT MARKETPLACE
There is no denying that proposals are hard work piled on top of
already busy schedules, demanding clients and tight budgets.
Complicating the matter is the fact that writing an adequate proposal
is not enough: to win that critical government contract you are
pursuing, you have to write a better proposal than everyone else!
Your company’s overall success in the Government marketplace
depends on: 1) keeping existing contracts and 2) winning new ones.
Success in the world of
Government contracting is
centered on the proposal. No
matter how well you perform
or how much business
development work you’ve
done, a bad proposal could
throw all that hard work out
the window.
“The Government marketplace is changing.”
The Government marketplace is changing and previously accepted truths are being turned upside down.
Contracts are shrinking or disappearing altogether, more contracts are being set aside for small
businesses, and more and more proposals are being awarded to the Lowest Price, Technically
Acceptable (LPTA) bidder. As a result, competition is cutthroat. But at a time when even an incumbent is
no longer guaranteed to win, promises of exceptional performance and the best qualified staff won’t
guarantee a win either. On the contrary, in this current market, these promises may be interpreted by
the grader as “expensive.” As a result, companies are losing contracts that were once a “sure thing,” and
can’t carry the employees that supported that contract due to shrinking overhead budgets. This forces
once-loyal professionals to move from one company to another to keep the same job. In this fickle
environment, writing the “right proposal” has become one of the most critical factors in determining the
success or failure of a company in the Government marketplace.
Learning how to simplify and
improve your process is the
only way to do it right the
first time and avoid costly
rewrites.
So, how do you write the “right proposal”? Whether you’ve attended
workshops centered on complicated, manpower-intensive proposal
processes most commonly used in the industry or are just starting out
and are unsure of how to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP),
the FASTPROP System provides a simple, easy-to-follow path.
By the end of this ebook you will know exactly what your team needs to do in order to win. If you follow
the FASTPROP System you will reduce time-consuming rewrites and keep your subject matter experts
(SMEs) billing to the client, while creating a proposal that is more compliant and compelling than
anything you’ve written before. Implementing the FASTPROP System will improve your company’s
likelihood of winning contracts while saving money.
© 2014 Trident Proposal Management
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
In this ebook, I will clearly and succinctly lay out proven strategies that have been applied successfully to
win contracts. I won’t always paint a rosy picture: in this industry, a company is not guaranteed to win a
contract, even when they do everything right. What the FASTPROP System will do is show you which
steps are “a must” and where to invest your time and money.
Before we begin, I want to make sure you understand that the completion of this exercise will not result
in any kind of certification. But don’t worry, you don’t need a certificate in order to write a proposal. It is
commonplace in this industry to see professionals boast about their certifications—do not let that
intimidate you. What you really need to succeed in this field is a solid process and practice. Knowing
theoretically how to do something is not the same as actually doing it. That’s why this process focuses
on action and efficiency. As government budgets continue to shrink, you as the proposal writer have to
become more creative. You can’t afford to keep writing proposals in the same expensive way—now is
the time to streamline and this is the ebook to help you do that.
RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT FROM THE FASTPROP SYSTEM
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Know what questions to ask during meetings with your client that will improve your proposal.
Understand the linkage between good capture and a winning proposal.
Develop win themes that focus on supporting the clients’ specific goals rather than just saying
“we’re the best.”
Eliminate pre-RFP work that will be discarded as soon as the RFP comes out.
Ensure your proposal complies with the RFP requirements rather than just telling a story that
doesn’t grade well.
Understand how to maximize the value of every meeting without wasting folks’ time.
Establish a daily rhythm of reports and expectations so nothing falls through the cracks and the
process stays on track.
Train reviewers to give actionable feedback that can transform and improve the proposal.
Coach your writers to provide the right information—the first time.
Improve communication and understanding for every member of the team so they know what is
expected of them and when.
Develop Volume and Section Leads that can get the most out of their writers, faster.
Create an outline of the proposal that answers every question in the RFP and informs the writers of
exactly what needs to be written. (This step alone has saved my clients tens of thousands of dollars
in rewrites.)
Ensure your proposal response will be easy to grade.
Determine the best way to highlight your company’s best benefits.
Address a complicated Performance Work Statement (PWS) or Statement of Work (SOW) without
parroting back what the Government has asked for.
Produce a final version free of small mistakes that would otherwise distract the grader.
© Trident Proposal Management, 2014
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
“Your biggest problem isn’t writing the proposal.
Your biggest problem is doing it right the first time and not
wasting money on rewrites that cut into your profit margin.”
THE BIGGEST PROPOSAL PROBLEMS FACING GOVERNMENT
CONTRACTORS
What problems do large businesses face when writing a proposal?
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A proposal process that is so unwieldy it requires extra people on the team just to manage
PowerPoint presentations, task lists, and meeting invites.
Color Team reviews that rip the proposal to shreds but don’t provide any actionable feedback.
A desire to reuse the proposal that won the last contract—even when the requirements have
drastically changed.
Hundreds of hours of wasted pre-RFP writing.
Writers who are exhausted before the RFP is even released.
High-stress, political meetings that don’t produce decisions.
Terrible communication between the business development team and the people actually writing
the proposal.
What are the roadblocks to writing a great proposal for small businesses?
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Proposal managers who assume their team knows how to write proposals because someone went
to an expensive proposal course a couple of years ago.
Company leadership leaves the proposal to an “Army of One,” giving no writing or review support.
Company tries to write the proposal on a shoestring budget – not investing on infrastructure to win
more contracts such as strategic hires, more proposal support, or technology.
Leadership tosses the bulk of the proposal work to the employee not billing the client—even if he or
she is a poor writer and doesn’t understand the work.
People just start writing without a plan, strategy, or direction.
Reviewers don’t understand the proposal process, haven’t read the RFP (let alone any RFP), were
given no training on how to review, and just make edits for grammar rather than content.
Not enough quality reviews of the proposal.
No metrics or criteria to make a bid decision, so decisions are essentially guesses.
Relying solely on in-house support only because the leadership doesn’t know how to leverage the
outside expertise.
Little time and effort spent on lessons learned or asking for feedback from the proposal team.
Instead, you just jump right into the next proposal, making the same mistakes over and over.
© Trident Proposal Management, 2014
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
THE NEED FOR A BETTER PROPOSAL PROCESS:
HOW FASTPROP WAS BORN
In 2010, I was hired by Trident Proposal Management as a Proposal Coordinator.
The purpose of the role was to support proposal managers in process and task
management. It was my first full-time job after the Navy, I had never heard of an
RFP, and I certainly didn’t know what it took to write a proposal response. Even
before the ink was dry on my employment contract, my first proposal hit—and it
was like drinking from a fire hose.
My new boss and mentor, Jeff Everage, tried to explain definitions, jargon, best
practices, technical editing, how to manage a team of 15 people, formatting
complicated documents, maintaining version control, and color teams—but it was easier said than done,
and frankly, harder than learning a foreign language.
When that proposal ended, my head was spinning but Jeff was pleased that his first hire was starting to
“get it.” The next proposal was supposed to hit in three weeks, so he took his first vacation in a year and
went to a remote portion of Alaska where he would be out of touch for about 10 days. And of course,
that’s when my second proposal hit. Or as I like to call it, my first solo adventure in “proposaling.” This
time, I had no Jeff to rely on, no mentor to guide me.
The proposal manager I was supporting was in no rush to get assignments to the writers. He said, “This
will end up being a mad dash at the end, so let’s not get out of the gates too fast.” And when I asked
about creating an outline for the writers to follow, he said, “The writers are experienced—they know
what needs to be done.”
I was not surprised when all I got back from our five writers was a bunch of random paragraphs pulled
from old technical volumes a few minutes before our first review. What did surprise me was seeing the
proposal manager act surprised about it. To add insult to injury, no one had given our reviewers specific
directions on how to provide feedback, so the feedback from the Vice President of the company was a
terse, “This proposal needs a lot of work before the next review. We have to win this contract. Fix it.”
(“Or you’re fired!” was the unspoken conclusion to his statement).
As we sat around the table after the review, no one knew how to improve the proposal. They were only
discussing how to continue doing what we already knew didn’t work.
Backed into a corner with no plan and poor guidance, my brain went
on alert. I knew there had to be a better way. That is when I dug deep
into my bag of tricks and began implementing the tactics and
techniques I developed over a decade of leadership in high-stress
environments as a bomb technician.
© Trident Proposal Management, 2014
“I began implementing the
tactics and techniques I
developed over a decade of
leadership in high-stress
environments as a bomb
technician.”
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
Tactic 1: Consistent Status Updates. Throughout my time in the Navy, I learned a great deal
about leading people in stressful environments. One of the most valuable lessons I learned was that in
most cases, more than half the solution to a problem requiring teamwork is getting folks with different
goals to work together to achieve one outcome. With this in mind, I implemented short daily task
meetings to ensure better coordination efforts with people who were working from the client site.
Throughout the rest of our proposal process, I knew the exact status of the documents and could put
out fires as soon as they ignited. Everyone knew what was expected of them, they all appreciated that
their hard work was no longer in vain, and we saved time by eliminating the need for a lot of extra
meetings.
Tactic 2: A Standardized, but Flexible, Process. After graduating from the Naval Academy, I
served as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer. In layman’s terms, I was a Navy diver and bomb
technician. I had the opportunity to train and deploy during wartime with small teams of highly capable
men and women who worked in high-stress environments on a regular basis. We all operated from a set
of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), but because no two bombs are alike, we used the procedures
as a guide and applied both ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking to handle each unique situation. As
we sat at the table after our initial proposal review, I knew we all needed to be on the same page and
the best way to accomplish that was implementing an SOP. I went through the documents and added a
structure we all agreed would address every question in the RFP. By providing a framework, we could all
move in the same direction while still maintaining the freedom to add individual insight and specific,
compelling examples.
By the time Jeff came back, the proposal process was running smoother than he had ever seen. He knew
we were on to something and had the beginnings of a much more streamlined and effective proposal
process.
The FASTPROP System is Born
Four years and billions of dollars in contract wins later, I am an expert at producing proposals that win
more Government contracts for my customers. Not only did I learn how to manage, write and review
winning proposals from some of the best proposal experts in the business, I also learned how to “shape”
RFPs so my customers are far more likely to win them. Part of my shaping strategy includes “extraction”
of information I need from my client – the information I know must be in the proposal (a step my clients
very often don’t even think about!). The more proposals I supported, the more I refined the process,
adding efficiencies along the way without ever sacrificing quality, reducing wasted pre-work and keeping
my teams from burning out before the proposal even hit. I’ve applied this process to capture and
proposal teams of all sizes, straightforward and technically complex subjects, and small and large
businesses. And it works every time.
Before we begin to dive into the process itself, I want to go back and talk about something I mentioned
at the beginning of this ebook. Government contracting is a very competitive industry, and from what
you have already read or have experienced yourself, the proposal process can easily go off course.
© Trident Proposal Management, 2014
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
Remember: No matter how qualified, no company is guaranteed to win—even when they do
everything right. However, if you believe your product or service is solid and you are willing to do the
work needed to win, I will do whatever I can to help you succeed. So, in order to get you ready for the
FASTPROP System, I’m going to start by dispelling some myths about the marketplace, help you
determine where you currently stand, and identify what you want to accomplish. That way you will be
able to maximize the benefits of the FASTPROP system.
THE BIGGEST MYTHS ABOUT PROPOSALS
MYTH 1: “There is no point in bidding on a re-compete because the incumbent is
going to win it anyway.”
This myth is partially true. Yes, when the contract has an incumbent, the switching costs of bringing in a
new performer are very high. When an incumbent has a great reputation and strong relationship with
the customer, it becomes a VERY HARD combination to beat. If you have enough information (and you
can verify it is accurate!) to make that determination, you should seriously consider your bid decision. If
you do decide to bid, you are going to need some very competitive pricing and an outstanding proposal
in order to win. Caveat: If the incumbent is performing badly and is not well-liked by the client, that is
another story. Then it’s game on!
MYTH 2: “I need a large proposal team with outside consultants and experts to
be able to write the proposal.”
This is absolutely false. There are plenty of examples where “David” with a laptop beat the incumbent
“Goliath” with his team of proposal experts. The truth is, a well-trained and subject-matter-experienced
proposal team can tackle an RFP of any size. A small, well run proposal team has the ability to produce a
better proposal than a large, unorganized proposal team.
MYTH 3: “I have to be an expert in order to run a proposal or at least have some
Government experience.”
This myth is also false. All you really need is the FASTPROP System and some careful reading to develop
a compliant proposal. This doesn’t mean you will win, but these are the two basics in the game.
MYTH 4: “I have a big advantage because of my company’s socio-economic
status.”
False. Unless you are a HUBZone with a niche capability no one else has, your socio-economic status is
very unlikely to give you an advantage. There are a lot of other companies out there with the same
“unique” advantage. What is your company’s real advantage? What really differentiates you from the
rest?
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
MYTH 5: “Small Businesses can’t prime Full and Open competitions and Large
Businesses can’t bid on Small Business Set-Asides.”
This notion is also false. In addition to small business set-asides, Small Businesses can bid on any Full and
Open competition. There is no restriction. Large businesses cannot prime on a Small Business Set-Aside,
but they can be part of a small business’ team and perform up to 49% of the awarded work. In this case,
picking the right team can give you a competitive advantage.
THE 3 CATEGORIES OF COMPANY PROPOSAL EXPERIENCE
Having worked with a wide array of clients I have observed that companies fall into 3 categories. And
interestingly, every category can benefit from implementing the FASTPROP system.
Group 1: Large businesses with complicated proposal writing
and review processes.
If you’re part of this group, you have a process so complicated that you lose time and money navigating
through it.
Group 2: Large and/or small businesses that do not have a
proposal process but are looking to implement a consistent
way of developing proposals.
You know you need a more solid proposal process (because you recognize how stressful and
complicated writing RFPs can be without one) but don’t have time to figure out what’s best for your
company.
Group 3: Businesses that have never bid on a Government
RFP before.
Whether you are a well-established or new business, you may have the right service offering but you’ve
never even seen a Government RFP before. You start to read the RFP line-for-line and start to feel
anxious and overwhelmed: What are all these requirements? Where do you start? How do you even find
what is supposed to go in the proposal? At this point, you need to decide if you want to try to do it on
your own and learn how to do it yourself or if you should have an outside consultant guide your first
effort. It’s time to make a cost-benefit analysis.
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
A Note On When To Use Proposal Experts or Consultants:
When you start feeling the pressures of proposal deadlines and are tempted to hire outsiders to finish
the work, there are a couple things you should consider first. You should only use an expert or
consultant when it makes sense to your company’s bottom line AND you’re sure about your
consultant’s reputation and value. Here are some good reasons to bring-in outsiders:
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This is your first Government proposal and you would like an experienced guide.
You’ve submitted a couple of proposals but you know you are wasting a lot of time and money. You
want an expert to help you streamline your processes.
You will make more money when you outsource the proposal because it will allow your team to
keep billing instead of working on the RFP.
You can outsource the writing role to someone who knows the customer really well and also knows
your work. This is often someone who has retired from your company or the customer and will work
part-time as an independent consultant.
You have subject matter experts (SMEs) ready to support the proposal, but they need more
guidance to increase your chances of winning.
The consultant or company would fill-in important gaps in knowledge you are missing that are
essential to winning.
You prevent using the same personnel for every proposal, burning them out with double duty.
5 Keys to Hiring the Right Proposal Expert or Company:
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Identify the role you want them to fill before you hire them. For example, do you want someone
that can manage the whole process or just edit the document at the end? Will they be helping with
the entire proposal (technical volume, cost/pricing, and contracts) or just the technical response?
These differences greatly affect the amount hiring an expert will cost you.
Ask other Government contractors for referrals and recommendations.
Give the consultant/company a copy of the RFP so they can accurately estimate how much time it
will really take them to support you.
Interview and compare at least 2-4 proposal consultants/companies so you can get a more accurate
idea of how much time and expense your proposal effort really needs. During interviews, ask about
the types of proposals they’ve worked on in the past and the types of processes they recommend
implementing.
Don’t always go with the lowest rate. Often consultants with a higher hourly rate can get the job
done in fewer hours, reducing the overall cost to you.
© Trident Proposal Management, 2014
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
THE FASTPROP SYSTEM
The FASTPROP System provides a simple path for your team to follow when responding to Government
RFPs. Learning how to simplify and improve your process is the only way to develop winning proposals
at minimal cost. By the end of this ebook, I guarantee you will know exactly what your team needs to do
to win – where you can shave steps of your current processes and where you absolutely shouldn’t—all
while creating a proposal that is more compliant and compelling than anything you’ve written before.
The FASTPROP System breaks down the entire proposal process into 5 simple stages and 12 easy-tofollow steps. I assure you, if you integrate these 12 simple steps into your proposal process, you will see
results.
STAGE I: PRE-RFP
1. Capture
2. Pre-proposal Preparation
STAGE V: ASSEMBLY &
SUBMISSION
11. Final Assembly
12. Submission
STAGE IV: EFFECTIVE
REVIEWS
9. Types of Review Meetings
10. Getting Good Feedback
© Trident Proposal Management, 2014
STAGE II: RFP RELEASE
3. Immediate Actions
4. Create an Outline
STAGE III: WRITING THE
PROPOSAL
5. Work Assignments
6. Coaching your Writers
7. Budgets
8. Tech Editing
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
STAGE I: PRE-RFP
The Prep-RFP stage consists of two steps: Capture and Pre-proposal Preparation. In this stage, you are
going to set yourself up for success by doing your homework and taking care of some simple
maintenance issues.
Step 1: Capture
For the true “newbies” reading this ebook, “capture” is the industry term for all the business
development and marketing activities you completed prior to the RFP’s release that will increase your
probability of winning (pWin). The topic of capture can be an entire ebook by itself (something we’re
working on now) so I’m not going to provide you a rigorous capture process here. If you need more
advice on capture, go to our website, www.tridentproposals.com, and visit our Capture Resources page
for videos, tutorials, and blog posts on how to start the capture process.
Instead, when I refer to capture as Step 1 of the FASTPROP process, I am underlining the importance of
collecting all the information your company learned in your capture process so that it may be integrated
into your proposal. Here are some questions that can help you gather this critical information:
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What are the key messages (often referred to as win themes or win arguments)? What
differentiates your company from the competition and how will you leverage those differences in
your proposal?
What do you have to write or explain to establish yourself as a credible bidder?
What can you avoid writing that might highlight what you don’t know well enough about the
customer, organization, or the necessary technology?
What are the customer’s perceptions of your company and teammates (good and bad)?
Who is your biggest competitor? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How does the
government view their current work on the contract you are going to big on? Is it favorable or
unfavorable?
Which past performance examples (company or individual) will resonate with the customer when
they read your proposal?
Who knows the customer well and could be turned to for help during the proposal process to help
review your work?
I recommend scheduling a 2-4 hour meeting with anyone who helped during the capture phase, SMEs
who understand the work and the client, and the entire proposal team. During the meeting you should
walk through all these questions and get this information into the hands and heads of the people who
need it most—the writers.
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
Step 2: Pre-Proposal Preparation
Most companies think there is a lot of proposal writing work that should be done prior to the RFP’s
release. In my experience, 90% of the content generated during this time hits the cutting room floor on
the first day. As I’ve worked with clients during the Pre-Proposal Preparation phase, I’ve whittled down
the most effective and valuable activities to 5 things you should take care of before the RFP is released.
Please note that none of these steps involve sitting down and writing the proposal prior to the RFP’s
release.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Conduct a gap analysis
Build your proposal team
Conduct pre-proposal training
Gather evidence of past performance
Align your industry standards
(1) Conduct a gap analysis. (i.e., know your team, know your customer, and know your
competitor.) During pre-proposal preparation, the first step is to conduct a gap analysis, or essentially,
map out your company's capabilities against the solicitation requirements. This will help you uncover
where your company strongly meets the requirements of the RFP and find the areas you need to fill to
be considered a credible bidder. If you find there are holes, you will need to figure out a way to fill
them – whether by hiring new people or bringing on teammates with the capabilities you are lacking –
preferably before the RFP is released and your options are limited because people have joined other
teams.
(2) Build your proposal team. It's important for individuals to know exactly what they are going
to be tasked with when the proposal hits. Assign roles and responsibilities for each person and make
sure the entire team understands who is doing what. This gives everyone the opportunity to train,
understand the material they will be required to write, and mentally prepare for the time commitment
that will be required of them upon RFP release.
(3) Pre-proposal training. Proposal training before the RFP is released is critical to realistically
setting expectations for your team. This might include instructions on how the process is going to work
and what information needs to be known well in advance. This is also a great opportunity to make
introductions. Establishing relationships between writers and SMEs is really helpful and will avoid
confusion after the proposal hits.
(4) Gather evidence of past performance. It is important to understand how the work your
company performed on a contract, or your Past Performance Reference, is relevant to the RFP. If you
know the RFP is going to ask about program management, then you want to draw out specific evidence
that speaks to that. You want to make sure that the Past Performance References you present cover the
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
PWS in its entirety. Ideally, you’ll have one or two that cover the whole PWS, but if not, you’ll want to
make sure that as a group, you have full coverage. Also, this isn’t the time to write those past
performances – you just want to collect the minimum information that makes it clear where you have
coverage and where you don’t. This lets you know if you need to add a teammate to fill any holes you
may have.
A matrix that lays out the PWS elements in the left column and the contracts you are putting forward as
relevant across the top is very helpful here. We call this a Past Performance Matrix. It allows you to see
the full picture of how the contracts you have chosen hit different areas of the PWS, and more
importantly, it allows you to see where you have no coverage.
Note: If the past performance work is very relevant but the performance ratings aren't so good, you
might not want to use it as an example.
(5) Align your industry standards. The final step in the pre-proposal process is to make sure
your infrastructure, such as your management processes, the tools you use, certifications you’ll need,
and anything else that is industry standard (such as security requirements), is in place. You also want to
make sure your team (the people that are going to perform on the contract) meets the required
personnel standards well in advance. That way, if you find out that someone needs a PMP certification
(and they don’t have it) you have enough time to get it. There are a lot of details that need to be in place
that if you don’t address in advance will make it very easy for the Government to disqualify you from
further consideration.
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STAGE II: RFP RELEASE
Once the RFP is released, there are several steps to take, including some immediate actions (and by
immediate we mean within hours of the RFP being released). These are crucial steps that if taken care of
immediately, will make the rest of the proposal process much easier for you.
Step 3: Immediate Actions
These are three immediate actions to take as soon as the RFP is released:
1. Read the entire RFP
2. Develop your proposal calendar
3. Conduct more team training
(1) Read the entire RFP. It sounds obvious but you would be surprised how many people don’t do
it! If the RFP has information that is a little bit confusing or conflicting, now is the time to draft up
questions to ask the Government. After you read the entire RFP, you will have a better idea of what you
are being asked to do and who you will need to do it. Also, make sure to share the Government’s
responses with your team – they may generate follow-on questions.
(2) Develop your proposal calendar. Once the RFP hits, you
have a set amount of time to write and develop a very complicated
document (depending on the organization, it could be anywhere from
14 days to a couple of months). If you don't strategically plan your
milestones, you won’t understand the true impact of delays. You may
even set yourself up for a huge, stressful crunch right before the due
date that will prevent you from producing the amazing proposal you
know you need and want. A proposal calendar helps you create
pockets of time between your review meetings to accomplish the work
you need to do.
Items to include on your
calendar: review meetings,
dates for tech editing and
compliance reviews, when
questions are due to the
Government, when the
proposal is due, when you
will print or produce the
proposal, when inputs are
due from writers and
teammates, and any other
times or milestones
everyone on the team needs
to be aware of.
In addition to laying out review meetings and times for editing, you
might also want to consider people's free time. Will you hold meetings
or expect people to work on weekends? How are you going to deal with holidays that fall prior to
submission?
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
On top of major milestones, it is important to establish regular
Try to keep daily status
proposal communication protocols. This may be periodic meetings, or
meetings to 15 minutes – get
for larger efforts, a daily status meeting. Daily status meetings should
the highlights from each of
be short and to the point, prevent excessive emails and phone calls,
your Leads. Then, if you need
enable rapid tasking and problem solving, and keep the entire team
more detail on a specific
section, hold only the
informed of the overall status of the proposal. It is an opportunity for
relevant folks at the end of
all key team players to participate and tell the proposal manager
the meeting.
what issues they're running into so that they can fix them
immediately. This is not a time to hash out every detail of the solution. Time is money when you
consider the amount you pay everyone each hour. I try to keep my daily meetings to 15 minutes. I get
the important information from my Leads, and then, if a topic needs to be discussed in greater detail, I
will hold only the relevant people at the end of the meeting.
(3) Conduct more team training. As I mentioned before, the more you can prepare your folks
the better. Once the RFP comes out, it's really important to make sure everyone is on the same page.
You should expect to conduct training on the proposal process and specific tasks multiple times, both in
groups and for individuals.
Step 4: Create an Outline
This is the most skipped yet most important step in a proposal. If you just start
writing, or start with the last proposal you submitted, you risk missing critical questions and areas you
must address in the RFP. The guidelines below will help you quickly create an outline that will ensure
you address everything in the RFP, save time and rewrites, and get the right information from your
writers.
1. Start with a blank Document, RFP requirements and the evaluation
criteria
2. Add details
3. Get the reviewers’ agreement on the outline
(1) Start with a blank document, RFP requirements and the evaluation criteria.
Starting with a blank piece of paper keeps you from deferring to anything you did in the past and allows
you to focus on what the Government is asking for this time. To develop a compliant outline, find the
section in the RFP with the proposal requirements (referred to as Section L or Proposal Format). Dissect
every sentence that asks for information from the offeror and make these major sections of required
information your headings. Then find the section that tells you how your proposal will be evaluated
(sometimes referred to as Section M or Evaluation Criteria). Using the evaluation section, make sure
that the Government didn’t hide any info you need to include in your outline. Also make sure your
outline follows the exact order of the RFP. Government graders will be given an evaluation sheet that
follows the order of the RFP. Help yourself out: don’t make the grader hunt for the information!
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For sections that require more of a form than an outline, such as past performance or resumes, develop
templates for your writers using the same process explained for the outline. Make sure that everything
the RFP asks for is clearly laid-out in your template.
Expert Move: Take your proposal headings to a higher level and reference exactly what section of the
RFP is being addressed in each section of your proposal. By doing this, you make it even easier for the
grader to check all the boxes on his or her grading sheet.
(2) Add details. Now that you have the headings of your
Don’t just cut-and-paste from
proposal, it is time to add details to answer the RFP’s questions.
your last proposal at this
Make sure to use bullets rather than paragraphs in your outline. The
stage. The goal of the outline
is to make sure you are
intent of the outline is to get agreement on what you will be writing
answering what the
and allow people to develop their own ideas, reasoning, and possibly
Government is asking for
identify examples you had not thought about. If you write paragraphs
THIS time.
instead of bullets, the reviewer will inevitably be pulled into editing
and reading your paragraphs rather than considering if you are really answering the question. Now is
not the time to miss important information.
If there are sections of the proposal outline that should be addressed similarly, such as the PWS or SOW,
create a cadence that each section should follow. For example, if the RFP asks you to describe your
technical approach for performing the PWS, your technical approach should have a heading for each
PWS outline. Then, under each PWS item, you could have subheadings for 1) the challenges in
performing the work, 2) a step-by-step description of how you do the work, and 3) 1-3 relevant
examples of where you have done the work in the past. Whatever subheadings you decide on, the
important element is that you address each one consistently. This way the grader knows where to find
the information they need for each PWS area, and doesn’t wonder why some sections address only part
of what you presented in other sections.
Finally, add key messages (win themes or win arguments) and references that will resonate with the
grader and differentiate you from other teams.
(3) Get the reviewers’ agreement on the outline. A lot of companies do not have a review
meeting specifically for the outline; however, you should make sure that you at least get a couple of
people to review the outline and confirm that everything required is addressed in the outline. This will
save a lot of time by helping you avoid rewrites after the first review of the rough draft.
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
STAGE III: WRITING THE PROPOSAL
In Stage III, you create work assignments for your writers and coach them every step of the way. In this
section, I provide important tips and suggestions for you to consider as you write.
Step 5: Create Writing Assignments with Detailed Guidance
During the writing process, it is important to create detailed work assignments for each person on your
writing team. The following recommendations will help you get the results you expect from your
writers:
1. Provide clear guidance to each writer
2. Provide templates and outlines for your writers that are specific to
their individual assignments
3. Set deadlines
4. Confirm that each writer is clear on your instructions
(1) Provide clear guidance to each writer. Be as specific as you can in your guidance to your
writers. Include comments on the outline for each writer and in each section that clearly explain what
you’re looking for. This will help you extract the information you want from your writers instead of
getting what they think you might want.
(2) Provide templates and outlines for your writers that are specific to their
individual assignments. If you give a writer an entire outline they are going to feel overwhelmed.
However, if you give them only their section, they will focus on exactly what you need them to focus on.
(3) Set deadlines. Every time you task someone or give them an assignment, it should come with a
deadline or due date. Additionally, don’t forget to make sure your due dates give you enough time to
provide feedback and ask for rework prior to each review you have scheduled. By giving multiple
deadlines you give yourself enough time to review their work, provide feedback, give them time to make
changes, and minimize procrastination. The result will be a better product.
(4) Confirm that each writer is clear on your instructions. Have you ever heard
someone say, “My folks know what I want,” and then seen them upset when they didn’t get what they
were expecting? I see it all the time! Being very clear on your instructions and asking the recipient to tell
you what you’re looking for in his own words can save you TONS of time. Do not assume they
understood you.
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
Step 6: Coach Your Writers
Coaching your writers is a critical step throughout the writing process. When coaching your writers,
there are several things to consider working with them on:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Conduct periodic check-ins prior to major deadlines
Help improve their writing skills
Remind them never to cut and paste directly from the RFP
Remind them to integrate the information from their section into
different parts of the proposal when required
(1) Conduct periodic check-ins with your writers prior to major deadlines. Ask your
section leads and writers to send you documents when they are not working on them so you can take a
quick look and provide them timely feedback and guidance. When reviewing their work you will want to
use the track changes and comments functions in Word. Be sure to go over your changes with them and
explain why you made them. It is okay to hold them to high standards and coach them, but do not take
over their work for them. Instead, use the comments function to explain what you’re looking for.
(2) Help improve their writing skills. By providing feedback on their writing throughout the
process, you are developing better proposal writers for future proposal efforts.
Good types of feedback include:






Use substantiated statements about the company’s experience and qualifications instead of writing
statements that sound like boasting and grandstanding.
Address the customer's needs.
Use the language and key words included in the RFP when you describe a process or experience.
Avoid using statements such as “we understand" or “we leverage.” Instead, demonstrate your
understanding by making direct statements and use more descriptive verbs than “leverage.”
Integrate win themes where applicable. For example, if a win theme is that your company has the
right experts, describe those experts, what they have done and how they will provide value to the
customer in your examples. In all of my discussion with government reviewers, the thing they want
most from your proposal is to walk away with the feeling that you understand their challenges and
can help them solve them.
Use high-impact statements. This writing style offers a specific structure which is clear to follow and
addresses key points the grader wants to see: what you did and for whom, what tools and
techniques where used, who participated, what specific results were achieved, and what types of
acknowledgements you received as a result. This provides the kind of information that makes it
evident to the reader your company has the experience necessary to perform the work, which is
very different from saying "we understand what you need.”
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
(3) Remind them never to cut and paste directly from the RFP. This is important
because if the grader notices you’re just cutting and pasting, your proposal will be graded poorly.
Additionally, your proposal will be much more interesting and easier to grade when you talk about the
work you’ve done and the results you’ve obtained.
(4) Remind them to integrate the information from their section into different
parts of the proposal when required. In some cases, writers will have to make specific
references to different portions of the proposal in their section or similar facts will cross multiple
sections. Make sure you help them know who to coordinate with to de-conflict information.
Step 7: Managing Budgets
The first rule in managing budgets is to actually have a budget. Estimating the
number of hours each part of the proposal should take helps you keep costs down and helps your
proposal team plan their days and weeks. You can work the budget backwards or forwards. If working it
backwards, you determine how much you are willing to spend on the proposal and then prioritize
amounts and hourly assignments based on the importance of each section and stage of the proposal. If
working forward (usually easier for more proposal-experienced companies) you allocate the amount of
hours you know a section takes for each phase and then perform a calculation based on hourly rate at
the end. Remember, when you calculate how much using a specific person costs, every minute spent on
a proposal can be calculated based on the hourly rate of the person performing the work and the
amount they did not earn the company because they were not supporting the client!
A granular and detailed budget will serve your team better than a general one. Break down hours into
specific tasks that will be performed and stages. For example, assign each writer for the Technical
Volume 5 hours to do the outline, 8 hours for a first draft, 3 hours for revisions, 8 hours for the final
draft, etc. And don’t forget to rebalance hours as needed based on new priorities. This means you will
have to check-in after each phase and review to see where your budget has been spent the most, where
it hasn't, and where your proposal needs the most attention. Then you can move the budget around
based on new priorities and your assessment of the situation. The final rule for budgeting is to make
sure you have an emergency budget—a handful of hours set-aside for the kind of emergencies that will
require you to call-in the cavalry.
Step 8: Technical Editing
What is the first thing most people cut when they try to shrink their proposal budget? –Editing.
The downfall to this cut is that your document loses a great deal of polish, focus, and readability. The
Government grader will struggle to understand the point you are trying to achieve in each section,
paragraph, and sentence. If you really need to cut, I recommend identifying an internal person to your
company with very good writing skills and, preferably, proposal experience. If you use the same person
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for each proposal, they will improve and all your writers will get used to the type of writing expected of
them. Another technique I have seen companies use is that they will outsource the editing to a proposal
expert or company to ensure that their document is VERY well reviewed and polished.
A technical editor will improve many aspects of your document, including grammar, flow, consistent
comma, period, and semi-colon usage, “one voicing” (so that it sounds like one person wrote the entire
document rather than 14 individuals), fluff removal, and identification of unsubstantiated statements.
Having “one voice” and good editing allows the grader to focus on your strengths instead of your
weaknesses (e.g., your engineering capabilities versus your spelling capabilities). When identifying that
perfect technical editor, these are the critical skills to look for:




Good writing style for the type of documents you typically submit
Proposal experience so they can provide effective feedback to the writers and verify compliance
with RFP requirements as they edit
Ability to format the document so you don’t have to hire someone else to make it look good
Should you hire a team or an individual? Consider hiring a team/company for large proposals so that
multiple writers with very similar training can edit very large documents more quickly
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
STAGE IV: EFFECTIVE REVIEWS
Step 9: Types of Review Meetings
Depending on the many proposal training courses or processes your company has been exposed to, you
have probably heard of “color teams.” Basically, these are Review Meetings, or specific times that the
proposal team and reviewers have decided to conduct a review of the current form of the proposal. I
have found that each company has a slightly different interpretation of the activities that should occur
during each review meeting. I have whittled down the many, many different review meetings into the 3
most critical during the proposal.
1. Outline review
2. Rough draft review
3. Final draft review
(1) Outline review. This may be the least formal of all your reviews and requires the least amount
of reviewers. Once you have built your high-level outline and compiled details from your writers to flesh
out the outline, take a couple of hours to have 1-3 independent reviewers determine if you are
answering all the questions the RFP asks, in the correct order.
(2) Rough draft review. Sometimes called a Pink Team, this is the first version of your proposal
you are ready to show your reviewers. It’s not going to be perfect, there may still be holes, and it’s
almost guaranteed that the reviewers are going to rip it to shreds, but it is the first major milestone in
your proposal’s development. Usually about mid-way between RFP release and proposal submission,
this review is the first time outsiders will look at what you are putting together. This critical meeting
helps identify where you need to take your proposal, what information you are missing, and how to
better frame your arguments to best answer the Government’s RFP questions. And don’t forget to
remind your writers not to take the comments personally!
(3) Final draft review. Sometimes called a Red Team, the proposal is at the 95% ready-for-delivery
level. It has been reviewed and edited a couple of times, there should be no major holes in information,
and it should answer everything the Government is asking. Usually conducted within a week of
submission, this review provides the polish and finishing touches.
Step 10: Getting Good Feedback
How often have you sent out proposal documents to your company leadership and experts only to get
back feedback that is too generic and non-specific to be actionable?
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These tips will ensure your review meetings are effective:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Prep and QA final documents for review
Keep your review team consistent
Give your reviewers specific guidance
Break-up reviewers into groups
(1) Prep and QA final documents for the review. To reduce or eliminate distractions from
the review, make sure you first edit the document for grammar, headers, footers and formatting. If your
grammar is horrible or if your proposal just doesn't make sense when a third party reads it, then your
reviewers won’t be able to get past the pain of reading it to give you effective feedback.
(2) Keep your review team consistent. Try to get the same people reviewing your proposal
every time. Why is this important? If you bring someone new in to review at the very end, there is a high
likelihood that they will have missed many conversations that would have otherwise explained why
certain decisions were made – and then they’ll make a recommendation to change something huge that
will take you a lot of time. Save yourself the headache and keep it consistent.
(3) Give your reviewers specific guidance. Tell your reviewers exactly what they should be
grading and how they should be grading it. It is important for them to take off their “my-company-isawesome” hat and put on their Government grader, “no-kidding-does-this-answer-the-question” hat.
Questions you can give your reviewers to consider during their grading:
Is the proposal compliant? Is it compelling? Is it easy to grade? Does it have inflammatory language that
would upset the graders? Is it well-edited, technically sound, and written in one voice? Last but not
least, this is your final chance to make sure your win themes are clear and where you want them in the
document, and that the sections are clearly integrated in a coherent way. It's all about the flow.
Expert Move: Don’t forget to make sure someone is cross checking all your numbers and references. This
includes doing the math on percentages to ensure you didn’t go over 100% somewhere, verifying names
match in all the different sections, and proper acronym usage (spelled out on first use).
(4) Break-up reviewers into groups. This is especially important for larger proposals. Break
your reviewers into groups so they can take a closer look at specific parts of the proposal. People get
tired and can only process a set amount of information during the quick turnarounds you need. The
more you split up large sections, the more focused feedback you're going to get.
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The FASTPROP System: How to Write Winning Proposals Without Wasting your Time and Money
STAGE V: FINAL ASSEMBLY & SUBMISSION
You completed all your reviews and your proposal is ready. The last steps in the proposal process are
final assembly and submission.
Step 11: Document Assembly
When you created your proposal calendar, time should have been allotted for the cleanup and final QA
of the proposal.
I like to have my proposal teams print out one copy of the final version and then have a couple writers
stop by a single room to do a final read through. This eliminates version control issues and lets folks see
the proposal in the format the Government will grade it – printed out. It’s amazing how much more the
eye picks up on paper copies. Once you’ve incorporated all the changes, it is time to package the
proposal for submission.
Step 12: Submission
The RFP will tell you specifically how and where you should submit your proposal. Many companies
forget to plan for this step and find themselves far too close to missing delivery times. Unfortunately,
the Government makes it very clear in the RFP that they will not accept late entries.
Submission considerations:
1. Electronic copy
2. Hard copy (or sometimes both)
3. Delivery
(1) Electronic copy. When the Government requires electronic submission, typically they're going
to tell you exactly what website to upload to and the precise format each document should be in.
Whenever you have a choice between submitting in MS Word or PDF, I HIGHLY recommend PDF. There
is no telling what kind of formatting changes will occur between different MS Word and Windows
versions. Eliminate that risk completely by submitting as a PDF (and if the Government says you have to
submit in Word, don’t be afraid to ask them in a formal question if PDF is acceptable). Don’t forget to
check to see if there is a specific file-naming convention requested in the RFP.
Additionally, I recommend submitting a day or so before the final deadline to avoid any “system
failures.” The Government usually states directly in their RFP that even if computer systems go down,
they will not make exceptions for late submissions.
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(2) Hard-copy. These submissions require more logistics planning. You will want to start planning
your printing plan early in the process to make sure you have plenty of time and the necessary resources
to get it done. Make sure you have someone (generally a third party) with fresh eyes who can page
check every single one of your documents. The last thing you want to realize the day after you
submitted is that you forgot a page.
(3) Delivery. Set up your delivery appointments and consider shipping times if shipping is required. If
you have a classified proposal you may need someone to deliver the proposal in a sealed package.
Sometimes that even means flying somewhere to do it. You will have to take those factors into
consideration in your overall submission plan. And don’t forget about your teaming partners! Make sure
your subcontractors get their packages (or anything they have to submit to you or the Government)
submitted on time (and typically before you do) as well.
FINAL TIPS TO ENSURE YOUR SUCCESS





A proposal outline is critical. If you forget everything I’ve taught you, don’t forget this.
Follow the FASTPROP System process and don’t cut corners.
Mine your network for people that can help you. Consider people outside your domain of expertise
as potential reviewers. Smart people give good feedback even when they don’t know the subject.
If your team is small, outsource parts of the process that need fresh eyes like the tech edit and
compliance.
Consider the financial benefit that you might get from outsourcing. Can you keep your team in the
market making money and keep your customers happy while someone else does the proposal? The
revenue generated may actually be MORE than the price you pay to outsource.
Remember, we are rooting for you and want you to succeed! If you need any help feel free to reach out
to us: [email protected]. Good luck!
For more information and details on all of these areas, visit our
website: TridentProposals.com
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