Where Should Companies Focus Their Training Dollars First?

Training dollars have never been more critical for the GovCon community. In 2025, the bid and proposal industry faced widespread layoffs as large contractors shed experienced staff after the downturn triggered by government budget cuts. The result? Many organizations are relying on direct-charge technical staff—highly skilled in their domains but with little to no business development (BD), capture, or proposal experience to write recompetes and pursue new contracts. While these professionals bring valuable subject matter expertise, the lack of formal training in proposal writing can put recompetes and new business revenue at risk.

Why Effective Use of Training Dollars Matters

When technical staff are asked to step into proposal roles, they face several challenges:

• Compliance risk: RFP instructions and evaluation factors are misinterpreted.
• Missed customer focus: Technical staff may emphasize features over benefits.
• Inconsistent proposal design: Proposals become harder for evaluators to score.
• Underdevelopment of strengths: Technical staff may not understand how to formulate proposal strengths that facilitate winning proposal scores.
• Inefficiency: Writing without processes leads to endless revisions.

Training provides the bridge between subject matter expertise and winning proposal skills.

Where Should Companies Put Training Dollars First? Survey Says…

 Here’s what 185 respondents indicated on our LinkedIn Poll:

• 57 % – Proposal Writing
• 56% – Capture Management
• 45% – AI/GenAI Training
• 15% – Business Development

Proposal Writing (57%): Technical experts may struggle to translate their knowledge into evaluator-friendly, compliant, and high-scoring text. Training here helps bridge the gap between technical accuracy and persuasive writing that scores.

Capture Management (56%): Even the best-written proposal is at risk if capture is weak. With fewer BD staff, companies must ensure that capture activities, including customer engagement and shaping, are well-executed.

AI/GenAI Training (45%): Nearly half of respondents recognize that AI is already reshaping capture and proposal development. Training ensures teams use AI responsibly while accelerating content creation without falling into “AI Speak” traps that evaluators penalize.

Business Development (15%): While still essential, BD ranked lowest in this poll, suggesting companies may feel existing BD leaders can cover the gap or that capture and writing skills need urgent attention first.

An Opportunity to Efficiently Use Training Dollars

This trend of shifting proposal responsibilities can be a silver lining if addressed with the right approach. Short, focused training modules could introduce technical staff to the essentials of proposal writing, including compliance matrices, strengths, evaluator-centric writing, and compliant outlines. Companies could create playbooks, templates, style guides, and annotated examples to reduce the learning curve and standardize proposal design across teams. Furthermore, training isn’t a one-and-done exercise. As the industry evolves, companies must upgrade their team’s skills.

Conclusion

By investing in training dollars effectively, companies can transform this challenge into an opportunity and elevate technical staff into effective contributors who understand compliance, customer focus, and evaluator needs. If your company is grappling with this shift, now is the time to invest in Lohfeld Consulting’s proposal training. Our tailored programs empower your staff to deliver compliant, compelling, and competitive proposals, securing recompetes and winning new business. Click here for our list of public classes, or click here to arrange a private class.

Relevant Information

• Automated Tools Powering Growth Beyond AI Now

• How to Thrive in Turbulence: GovCon’s Winning Edge

• Spotting “AI Speak” in Proposals — and Why It Matters

By Brenda Crist, Vice President at Lohfeld Consulting Group, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow

Lohfeld Consulting Group has proven results specializing in helping companies create winning captures and proposals. As the premier capture and proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Writing, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training. In the last 3 years, we’ve supported over 550 proposals winning more than $170B for our clients—including the Top 10 government contractors. Lohfeld Consulting Group is your “go-to” capture and proposal source! Start winning by contacting us at www.lohfeldconsulting.com and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube^(TM).