Contracting Officer Podcast Slides Knowledge & Insights From Contracting Officers 1

Episode Proposal Myths Original Air Date: 7 March 2016 Hosts: Kevin Jans & Paul Schauer 2

Formatting notes Hyperlinks: Blue font indicates hyperlinks – presentation must be in ‘Slide Show’ mode to activate the linkBlue Red bold font indicates a point of emphasis Green bold font indicates CO’s personal comment or perspective 3

Introduction Purpose of this podcast: To discuss (and hopefully dispel) some common myths about proposals These five things that as a CO I thought everyone knew… Spoiler alert: this is one I’ve held onto for a while because no matter what I say, someone will disagree. I guess we’ll see… 4

When do these Proposal ‘Myths’ happen? Acquisition Time Zones (from Podcast Episode 003)Episode 003 Requirements Zone Market Research Zone RFP Zone Source Selection Zone (or sole source) Generally during sole source negotiations for new contracts and ECPs 5

Why are these Proposal Myths important? Proposals are the finish line Government contracting is the complex sale The proposal is the final step in the complex sale Everyone wants to get to the finish line The government wants to make the award and receive the deliverable The contractor wants to win (or to move on) 6

Myth 1: Common Knowledge of Capability “The evaluators already know what we can do; we don’t have to explain it.” Never true This is an unfortunately common misconception in Government contracts While it may be true that the evaluators do know what you can do already, they can only evaluate what is in the proposal. FAR (a), specifically mandates that only the proposal and its contents will be evaluatedFAR (a) And only in relation to the factors and subfactors specified in the solicitation; Therefore, the CO (normally the Source Selection Authority) can only base the award on the evaluation of the responsive proposals 7

Myth 1: Common Knowledge of Capability What this means for you is that your proposal is the only part that matters NOTE: Compare this to the private sector, where Your impact outside of the proposal is as important as what is in the proposal Sometimes it’s even more important (the 80/20 Rule) the 80/20 Rule If you think about it, it cannot be any other way if the intent is to continuously compete contracts 8

Myth 1: Common Knowledge of Capability Here is a ‘modified’ story from my CO days: Military customer had an annual requirement for specialized safety suits Company A won the contract to deliver these suits for 5 years Company A performed very well and the customer was extremely satisfied At year 4, it was time to re-compete the contract. Company A had a great deal of insight on the requirement Because they had been building and delivering the suits for 5 years Without the requirement for the proposal to show, not just tell, it would have been impossible for a competitor to dislodge them 9

Myth 1: Common Knowledge of Capability Think about it: If Company A’s proposal only had to say “you know us, you know what we can do, just keep us and you’ll be happy,” Then Companies B, C, and D would not be able to compete At a minimum, competing offerors would be distinctly disadvantaged: They still must write an entire proposal instead of just one sentence And the incumbent would not undergo true evaluation = no faults You may laugh, but it really is this simple 10

Myth 2: Overall proposal outweighs details “The small details do not matter in the big picture” Almost never true Because everything must be correct in your proposal (see Myth #1), the importance of the details becomes crystal clear Unsuccessful offerors often complain about their failed offers: They were rejected “on a technicality,” or The government only looked for a reason to eliminate them NEWSFLASH: this is ABSOLUTELY correct! 11

Myth 2: Overall proposal outweighs details The Contracting Officer IS looking for a way to eliminate your proposal They usually have an abundance of proposals to review, and They are looking for the path of least resistance to get to one offeror Your best chance is to not give them easy ways to reject your offer: Failure to comply with FAR , Limitation on Subcontracting Failure to submit all required information under the RFP or RFQ Failure to explain your pricing strategy Failure to explain any anomalies in your past performance Tell (instead of show) what you will do to perform the work 12

Myth 3: Proposals are good marketing Rarely true Proposals are actually very expensive marketing Not very effective at sparking customer interest by simply making them review your proposals that are: Not strong Not focused on their needs Not focused on the mission and vision of the agency Quite obviously an extension of your marketing plan COs see right through proposals that were just thrown together in order to get in front of an agency 13

Myth 3: Proposals are good marketing Biggest problem: you create work for the CO Each proposal received must be reviewed So each of your “proposals” forces them to look at your marketing plan Think how that makes you look… They may think you’re an idiot (never a good thing) Plus, you’re wasting money Seriously, think about how that would be received by the CO: Repeatedly forced to look at your marketing plan and justify why they are not awarding a contract to you (reinforces negative impressions) That's not really a great way to build a long-term relationship 14

Myth 3: Proposals are good marketing The argument goes this way: Proposals as "positioning" or "marketing" let the agency get to know you By that argument, junk mail is a very effective way of getting in front of people. However, how much junk mail do you read? Imagine how frustrated you would be if you were forced to review and evaluate junk mail Proposals as marketing are actually a bad idea: Expensive for both sides Do you really want the CO thinking of your proposal as junk mail? 15

Myth 4: The “Shotgun” sales approach wins business Sometimes true Wind up doll? Just by sheer volume of proposals you may end up getting some sales Depending on the service or product that you are selling to the government, this may be mildly effective For example, submitting a large quantity of quotes may result in your offer achieving a strong position, and therefore able to win a couple contracts In reality, your position is not truly strong, just temporarily so due to volume of competition 16

Myth 4: The “Shotgun” sales approach wins business This is also a somewhat effective process if you are a commodity seller In other words, the government contracting officer is simply shopping on price The problems with this approach: It will burn you out It is repetitive, leads to boredom and stagnation (lack of innovation) It will drive you to spend more time on proposals and less time targeting the “right wants” 17

Myth 4: The “Shotgun” sales approach wins business For example, if you are winning 30% of the proposals that you send out, that is a good win rate (depending on what you do) However, if you simply double the number of proposals that you send out and your win rate drops to 20% Now you are spending more time bidding on things but actually getting less return for your effort This creates a downward spiral: you spend more time throwing more darts, only to end up with a lowering rate Even if your win rate stayed the same you are putting in more work, more proposals, and more quotes, all for the same effort and results 18

Myth 4: The “Shotgun” sales approach wins business The windup doll strategy is very expensive and tends to lead down a path of, “if I only talk to more people, I will definitely sell more” For many services and goods of the government buys this will not be true It’s also not true in the commercial market If your whole strategy is to throw a wide net and hope somebody buys what you sell, I suggest you take a few sales courses on the importance of client selectivity and qualifying leads 19

Myth 4: The “Shotgun” sales approach wins business Does the windup doll strategy work? If you are looking to generate some income from your efforts, then yes it eventually will. However, if you are looking for a return on investment for the number of proposals you submit in the number of opportunities that you bid on It is not likely to be a very effective technique Perhaps, but not as often as a targeted approach 20

Myth 5: You can win work you found on FBO after an RFP release Can be true… but it’s a hard way to run a capture business More often will cost you a lot of B&P money and result in a loss The problem with this approach is that it is completely reactionary By bidding only on things that are or were on FBO You have no way to build a plan, or Structure a long-term strategy that will grow your business Besides, it is exhausting to simply sift through the opportunities every day and hope you find one that is a good fit for you 21

Myth 5: You can win work you found on FBO after an RFP release In addition, Contracting Officers can usually tell someone who found this at the last minute If this is an agency that you have been watching, or talking to, or already have work with, Then it is okay to consider bidding on something when it comes out And then ask yourself why you didn't know about it ahead of time However, if you have never heard of this opportunity, you've never worked with this agency, and they have no idea who you are: Recommend you run an RFP Score on this opportunity and see just how unlikely you are to win RFP Score Be skeptical of your sales guy who just found it 22

Why Should Government Care? Don’t assume the contractors know this stuff Don’t perpetuate these myths You want good companies? Help them write good proposals 23

Why Should Industry Care? Proposals are expensive Submitting losing proposals is more expensive 24

Summary Are you playing to these myths? Are you perpetuating these myths? Government Team: How can you make sure these myths remain so? Industry Team: Know myth vs. fact 25

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