Chapter 5: Step 6: Developing Your Program Design Proposal Writing 402 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou Lectured by: OR Vitou

Objective To enable students to successfully develop the program design for a winning proposal 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Content Program Design—the heart of the proposal Three parts of the program design Technical Section Management Section Time/cost Section About Appendices Summary of a winning program design 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Program Design—the heart of the proposal Program design that represents your products or services contribute to your unique selling point It has several features Identify real problem or need in the RFP and discuss it from the client point of view Tell the client what your company will do to address the problems Describe in more details to address the client’s needs Describe the staffing, time, and cost requirements needed to complete the job in order to make the client see the rationale and practicality of the project 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Three parts of the program design Technical section Management section Staffing/time/cost section 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Technical section Technical section has three goals Show the client your product or service can meet the RFP requirements Demonstrate your understanding of the client’s requirements and your firm’s capacity to solve problems Show the client your can perform the work required 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Technical section (con’t) Technical strategy should convince the client that you have a superior grasp of the problems stated in the RFP and have devised a superior solution Avoid the temptation to develop more than one main technical strategy in a proposal, but you can have more minor strategies to support the main one 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Technical section (con’t) Who reads it? The one who develops the RFP and in charge of reading and evaluating your proposal Although the reader of your proposal might be competent in their individual field, they might not experts in every strategy and detail that you include. Thus, don’t assume their ability Explain terminologies and concepts that are unique to your company You might need some research to get the background information about the evaluator of your proposal 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Technical section (con’t) How should it look? Might vary yet some common format like Section review: content of the technical section and act as a roadmap for reader Introduction: present your understanding and interpretation of the client’s problems Solution: explain your approach to the problem Product or service description: provide detail of your product or service to solve client’s problem Installation and implementation plan: Outline how your will implement the product or services and how you will measure its effectiveness Project organization and key project staff information: Describe how the project will be organized and introduce the key personnel from your firm that will work with the client Sustainability (my experience only) Demonstrate how the technical strategy contribute to the sustainable impacts Explain the phase-out strategy after the project implementation 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Non-disclosure statement Statement/letter to request the client not to disclose your proposal or technical section to others esp. your competitors By not disclosing your proposal to others, you can keep your unique selling point, save your time and resource in case your want to use the same proposal to bid for other RFPs You might probably ask the client to sign on the non-disclosure statement if necessary 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Management section Management section has two goals Show the client that your firm has the experience, personnel, and resources needed to the work Demonstrate your firm’s understanding of the details of the project, installing equipment or processes, training client personnel, devising test procedures, and monitoring results 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Management Section (con’t) Management strategy is important for two reasons: Help sell the firm and differentiate yourself from the competition Show the client how you intend to get the job done, corresponding the technical strategy 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Management Section (con’t) Some typical management strategies Stressing superior management experience in producing similar products or services Emphasizing that top management will have direct control of the project Demonstrating that your have exceptionally qualified personnel who will work on the client’s project Convincing the client your can provide superior quality assurance during each phase of the project Stressing your manager’s expertise in implementation and follow-through 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Management Section (con’t) Risk assumption and mitigation strategy Since not every strategy is perfect, there are usually gaps, and it’s good to mention them in the management section Help you to foresee the possible risks that might occur during the implementation of the project and mitigation strategy to divert the risks Make the client feel confident that you contingency plan to solve any possible errors in case it happens so it will build the sense of trust toward to the client 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Management Section (con’t) Who reads the management section? The same evaluator of the technical section It not only convince client what you can do but also how to do it It must be consistent with technical section 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Management Section (con’t) How should it look? Can vary Introduction: an overview of the entire section Project management approach: a description of the approach that you feel will best direct the project successfully, whether team or project management, co-management with client personnel, or some other approach Project organization and responsibilities: how the project stages and tasks will be organized and who will be responsible for accomplishing each stage or task 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Management Section (con’t) How should it look? (con’t) Management of subcontractors: not all cases and no need to be mentioned in the proposal Project schedules/action plan: a critical management task to keep the project on track Implementation, training, testing, and monitoring: six months or annually Staff resumes, references from other clients, and a history or other positive story about your firm 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Time/cost section Time/cost section has three objectives Demonstrate that your have an understanding of the client’s financial situation Cover the actual costs of the project Earn a profit for your firm (not applicable for non profit NGOs) 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Time/cost section (con’t) Will it help you to win the bid by submitting the too low cost estimation to win the bid? No Client may have allocated fund to spend before a stated deadline so please figure it out Too low cost reflects the low quality of the product or service 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Time/cost section (con’t) Cost categories Direct cost: employee compensation, materials and supplies, travel, telephone expenses and printing (different for NGO) Overhead costs: associated with costs for running your business. It cannot be charged from only one project but all the projects General and administrative costs: marketing, legal fees, research and development, and general corporate expenses (different for NGO) Your firm profit/fee: certain percentage over the project costs (not applicable to NGO) 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Time/cost section (con’t) Cost strategies Bottom up Top down Your previous experience in cost estimation Time strategies Your prior experience in time estimation Research in case you are new to the project 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Time/cost section (con’t) Who read the time/cost section Accounting or finance group RFP committee or group 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Time/cost section (con’t) What should it look like? Schedule of the work Cost summary Cost totals Shipping and payment schedules Standard terms and conditions: to pay 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

About the appendices Industry surveys, reports, and statistics Company brochures and other data Sample contracts and letters of agreement Sample training class syllabi and schedule Policies and guidelines Reprints of relevant articles or technical data sheets Annual reports and financial data 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

Summary of winning proposal Convince the client that you understand the problems that the client does with your unique selling point Present a concise, detailed plan for solving those problems within the requirement of RFP Provide technical, management, and time/cost strategies that tell the client what will be done, how it will be done, who will do it, how long it will take, and how much it will cost Convince the client that you will absolutely be able to implement the program design Your program design should sell the client on your firm NOT on your product or services 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou

END OF PRESENTATION… 2/22/2019 Lectured by: OR Vitou