Dear Proposal Doctor,

How can I get my clients to communicate the schedule accurately?

Dear Proposal Doctor,

Please help me to not kill my capture manager! This person is still running some of the meetings even though the RFP is out. The meetings are long and rambling. There are no agendas and no action items.

Proposal contributors are losing faith that we know what we are doing. They want to work on their sections. I am afraid that the energy is sapping out of the team just at the time that it should be ramping up.

When we examine why companies win or lose new business in the government market, the reasons are amazingly similar. Companies win more often when they focus on understanding customer requirements and objectives. They predictably lose more often when they don’t. Similarly, qualifying new business opportunities early in the business development life cycle results in better win rates, while late qualification results in fewer wins and cost increases in business development.

Q: What is capture management?

Lohfeld: Capture management is everything a company does to raise its win probability between the time it decides to pursue an expected government contract and the time the RFP is released.

Q: How does it work?

Lohfeld: After identifying an opportunity before the RFP is released, the company performs an early stage qualification review to make sure the deal fits the
company and that there is a reasonable chance of winning. A capture team is then created from the line operation or from a standing group of capture executives.

Creating winning proposals is not the same as writing a proposal. Anyone can write a proposal for government work, given enough time and resources. However, only one bidder writes the winning proposal. The best proposals have three things in common:

Congratulations, your proposal has made competitive range, and the government has contacted you to discuss your offer. What the government will and won’t tell you in these discussions can be a surprise to the unprepared bidder, but sophisticated players know the rules and what to expect.

Good capture managers are known for their business and technical skills, understanding of complex government requirements, and intimate knowledge of their company’s competencies.

But outstanding capture managers have at least one other asset: an innate drive to win.

Q: What is capture management?

Lohfeld: Capture management is everything a company does to raise its win probability between the time it decides to pursue an expected government contract and the time the RFP is released…

No proposal is ever perfect. Every company executive wishes he or she had just a few more days to tweak the last sections. But after the proposal goes out the door, it is time to reflect on what did or did not go well in the proposal process and what could have been done to improve the outcome. A review of lessons learned is a valuable step in improving proposal development efficiency and raising your win probability on the next bid.

Proposal activities in the government market generally peak in the summer months. The requests for proposals that we have been waiting for all year seem to drop at that time. To handle the peaks and valleys in proposal workload, get additional proposal expertise for must-win procurements or get a fresh view on how to present their solutions, companies reach out to proposal consultants. When you need help from proposal consultants, here are some things you should keep in mind.