To win new Federal Contracts, the Business Development team must have excellent capture management and proposal management skills. But how to do you transition from the Capture Management phase of the BD lifecycle to the proposal management phase? This presentation answers this question by describing the oft-forgotten "pre-proposal phase."
Talent Management research intelligence_13 paradigm shifts_20 March 2024.pdf
Integrating The Capture And Proposal Management Processes in Business Development
1. Integrating the Capture and Proposal Processes Presenter: Bob Lohfeld Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc.
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5. Capture management pursuit process 10. Hold capture reviews (monthly) 4. Position solution with customer 1. Form capture team 2. Understand customer requirements and objectives 3. Develop preliminary solution linked to customer objectives 9. Assess risk 5. Assess competition 8. Set price to win 7. Build team and sign teaming agreement 6. Develop win strategy
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7. Assessment of capture management progress *Win probability considerations determined subjectively, but final win probability is objective evaluation Blue = excellent Green = good Yellow = limited accomplishment Red = unable to accomplish Capture Management Assessment Matrix Win Considerations Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month x 1. Form capture team 2. Understand customer requirements and objectives 3. Develop prelim solution linked to customer objectives 4. Position solution with customer 5. Assess competition 6. Develop win strategy 7. Build team and sign teaming agreement 8. Set price to win 9. Assess risk 10. Capture review overall assessment*
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16. Assessing pre-proposal phase Blue = excellent, Green = good, Yellow = limited accomplishment, Red = unable to accomplish Readiness Assessment Considerations Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month x 1. Assign proposal manager and proposal resources 2. Establish capture/pre-proposal repository 3. Develop strawman RFP 4. Review solution against RFP 5. Review/approve storyboards 6. Identify and develop early-stage proposal products 7. Draft oral presentation 8. Finalize proposal development plan 9. Plan kickoff meeting 10. Conduct pre-proposal gate review
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Hinweis der Redaktion
Five phases of the BD process: Opportunity ID / Assessment = BD team is finding prospects and bringing to the CM for scrutiny Pursuit = CM begins to position us to win and ID necessary information Pre-proposal Preparation = integration between CM and PM to transition knowledge from CM to PM; begin developing response and resources; Proposal Development Post-submittal = knowledge management; debriefing; Final Proposal Revisions (FPR); orals; Q&A; etc. * Pre-proposal prep is the critical phase to integrate CM and PM
Business Development owns responsibility for lead generation and initial opportunity ID/qualification. They bring that back to Capture team to convince company they should invest in pursuit. When a company makes a decision to invest in pursuing a program, in becomes part of the Capture phase. The Capture team OWNS the pursuit all the way to closeout. The Proposal Manager SUPPORTS the capture activity and ultimately report up to the CM. It is critical that each company defines the leadership/ownership structure for each pursuit early so that there is no ambiguity and everyone is one the same page (you don’t want to spend the entire capture process fighting for power internally). Second row of chart shows each of the five phases of BD process with the necessary steps (in sequence) under each phase.
Pre-proposal phase is the most critical of the phases, and yet it is often skipped. It is the phase that allows capture and proposal products to integrate. Doing this phase can save significant time and money during proposal development.
Capture begins with decision to pursue an opportunity and then forming a capture team. Then you must understand the customer requirements before developing a preliminary solution. Begin positioning the solution with the customer and assess the competition. Develop win strategy and build teaming agreements. Reassess your decision. Set Price to Win and assess risks. Reassess again when the RFP is released.
Capture management is a continuous process. You must determine if you are making progress at regular intervals (gate reviews). Select a review team that will challenge you and ensure that the capture process is met. At review meetings, determine if action items have been accomplished (if not, why), set new action items for the next month, and brief the review team on the overall progress of the opportunity.
Capture Manager completes and maintains matrix Matrix is updated throughout capture period Rating is subjective Proposal executive uses rating in making final bid/no bid decision 10 steps in capture process; at the gate reviews, you should assess how well the CM is doing relative to each step. The chart should demonstrate progress over time. If no progress is being made, it is okay to re-assess your pursuit decision and/or change the action plan. It is critical that the review team holds the CM accountable for progress in each of these ten areas. (Let the team do their own assessment, and then critique them on the assessment and make them defend their self-evaluations)
* Elongate the proposal process so that many deliverables are written and polished before the RFP hits; it reduces stress and allows for more time to review proposal. Contention is it allows for better proposal writing and increased win rates. Proposal needs to be spun up before the RFP is released (in pre-proposal phase). Develop a “contract” between CM and PM to say--- all the things they need from each other to do their jobs. PM can help CM identify the information they should look for, and the items the PM can build for the CM to help them in their pursuit.
“ Beginning of pre-proposal phase” Set up hierarchical framework for use by proposal team Name of program 3. Capture bucket 4. At end of pursuit, buckets should be full
The proposal manager can develop these products for the capture manager, IF the CM’s documents are sufficient and in the repository.
Proposal manager requires input from the entire Capture Team to complete these products.
Complete an assessment of the pre-proposal phase the same way you do for the pursuit phase. Determine if adequate progress is being made and set action items for the Proposal Manager to complete.
Build a sample repository that capture managers and proposal managers (and team members) can look at for examples of “good” work products, e.g., an example of a phase 2 capture briefing/milestone review,…