1. CMAA November 07, 2018 Long Beach California
Best Practices & Deadly Sins of Proposal Writing: Increase your odds of getting shortlisted!
Al Bazzi, MSc, PE, ENV SP
City of Los Angeles, Bureau of Street and Services
Principal Civil Engineer

2. Outline City Organization City of Los Angeles Opportunities
Advertising for proposals
What happens before you submit
How to write a compelling proposal that could beat the competition
The fate of your proposal
Outline

3. Bureau of Street Lighting Bureau of Street Services
Organization
Mayor
Department of
Public Works
Bureau of Sanitation
Bureau of Street Lighting
Bureau of Street Services
Bureau of Contract
Administration
Other Departments:
Personnel
Planning
ITA
General Services
Housing
Aging
Emergency Management
Building and Safety
Transportation
Zoo
LAWA
Harbor
DWP
Library
Rec and Parks
Fire/Police
Others
Bureau of Engineering
Treatment Plants Design/Construction
Sewer Design
Emergency Sewer Repairs
Clean Water Bond
Parks
LA River
Geotechnical Engineering
Metro Transit
Real Estate
Sixth Street Viaduct
Street Improvements
Stormwater (Flood Control)
Structural Engineering
Bridges
BSS Engineering Division:
CIP (Capital Imp Program) – Design
CIP (Capital Imp Program)-Construction
Accelerated Transit Projects
Street Furniture Program
Surface Transportation Program
Bikeway Program

4. City of Los Angeles Opportunities
Proposals:
Prequalifications
Task Order Solicitations (TOS)
Funding and grant applications
Award applications

5. City of Los Angeles Opportunities
Prequalifications:
On-Call list for work segments
Technical
Staff Augmentation
Scientific
Construction:
Design-Bid-Build
Design-Build
Emergency On-Call Contracts
CMGC/CMAR
Progressive Design Build

6. City of Los Angeles Opportunities
Task Order Solicitations (TOS)
Work segments:
Technical
Staff augmentation
Scientific

7. City of Los Angeles Opportunities
Assistance as appropriate:
Funding/Grants Applications
Award Applications

8. Advertising for Proposals
New Opportunities: City utilizes BAVN , Business Assistance Virtual Network
Pre-qualified On-Call Consultants or Contractors Lists
Sole Source
RFP
Top 3

9. What happens before you submit
Pre-proposal Meeting
Deadlines and Delivery address
Questions

10. When to Contact the City?
Is it ok to contact the City before the TOS is on the street?

11. How to write a compelling proposal that could beat competition
Organizing Proposal
Strategy
Proposal writing
Winning

12. Organizing Proposal (15 pages)
Introduction/Executive Summary
Objective
Relevance to the City
Approach and methodology
An evaluation of your company’s strengths and weaknesses
Know your competition’s strong and weak points.
Who will do what.

13. Strategy City proposals are reviewed based on the criteria: 1. Merit
2. Broader Impact to make it more competitive
For an extra edge
New approach
Interdisciplinary teams and Technical Advisory / Expert Team is usually very attractive for us

14. Proposal Writing
Tips for writing a compelling proposal can be found the following link, developed by Stanford University
Stick with the specified format:
Organize the proposal to effortlessly guide reviewers through it
This facilitates an efficient evaluation process and saves reviewers from hunting for critical information (eliminates cranky reviewer syndrome)
Provide a summary for each section of the proposal

15. Proposal Writing Propose what is requested
Don’t propose more work than can be done during the project period
Be careful with your assumptions
Highlight your best reference project
Bring the team to the interview

16. Proposal Writing Keep it simple
Make one point in each paragraph, this is key for readability
Keep sentences to 20 words or less
Use the active, rather than passive voice
Make it attractive
Know who the review panel is

17. Proposal Writing Use concise and clear writing
Provide easy access to references
Make your points as direct as possible
Avoid jargon or excessive details
Spell out all acronyms on first page
Be consistent with terms, references and writing style

18. The Fate of Your Proposal
City establishes panel
Panel members review proposals, prepare written reviews
Panel members interview proposers, prepare more written reviews
Panel members meet, compile written reviews and make recommendations to the selecting officer.
Proposer is notified if selected or not.

19. Thank You