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

2. Objective
To enable students to successfully develop the program design for a winning proposal
2/22/2019
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3. 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
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4. 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
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5. Three parts of the program design
Technical section
Management section
Staffing/time/cost section
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6. 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
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7. 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
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8. 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
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9. 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
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10. 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
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11. 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
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12. 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
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13. 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
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14. 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
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15. 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
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16. 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
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17. 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
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18. 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)
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19. 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
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20. 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)
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21. 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
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22. Time/cost section (con’t)
Who read the time/cost section
Accounting or finance group
RFP committee or group
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23. 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
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24. 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
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25. 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
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26. END OF PRESENTATION…
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