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2009 Presenter Bios and Abstracts
40 Years of Getting in the Winner’s Circle!
We share the secrets of winning proposals based on a 40-year career by one of the greatest proposal gurus on the planet. If knowledge is power, this briefing is a super power! Jay Herther has permission to present Dick Close’s groundbreaking material. Jay will present this material in a highly energetic, fun, and entertaining way. Dick Close gave more than 450 enlightening proposal workshops with an impressive 83 percent win ratio. He is one of the pioneers and founding fathers of Proposal Win Theory, and is one of the true gurus who taught the art and science of proposals. Per Tom Boren: “Dick was one of the ‘Big Four’ that entered the proposal arenas as individuals and made a big impact.” He was a selected Consultant by 38 of the top 50, and by 9 of the top 10, government contractors. Become a Super-Power; learn to Get in the Winner's Circle!
Jay Herther has more than 20 years’ experience leading capture teams to achieve a 75 percent win rate totaling more than $10B in competitive business. Jay is the author of four APMP Journal and three Perspective articles. He received the APMP Insight Award, and in 2008, received the APMP Fellows Award. Jay is a graduate of The University of New Hampshire (UNH) in Electrical Engineering and has a Masters degree in aeronautical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His second Masters degree is from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Jay also attended the Executive General Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Demystifying Capture Strategy Development
Superior knowledge delivers wins: know your opportunity, know your client, know your competition, and know your own organization. At the capture stage, this knowledge positions a firm for a win by informing the decision-maker of which opportunities to pursue and invest limited resources in. At the proposal stage, this knowledge positions a firm for creating the most compelling offer. Yet strategy development is often overlooked, undertaken in an ad hoc fashion, or done late in the business development lifecycle. Strategy development is a discipline, a series of structured activities that drive toward crafting a winning value proposition. This presentation will aim to demystify strategy development by sharing with the audience how to assess the opportunity, client, competition, and organization; how to craft a capture strategy based on the aforementioned assessment; and how to evolve from capture to proposal strategy, once the RFP has been released.
Peggy Steele is a business development professional with 10 years’ experience in capture and proposal management for public and private sector opportunities of all sizes and complexity. Her areas of expertise include: market and competitive intelligence, capture and proposal strategy development, end-to-end capture and proposal management, proposal content development, and business development process improvement. She has client-side procurement experience, having worked for the Government of Canada managing procurement and business planning. Peggy is currently a proposal manager with Deloitte Inc.’s Public Sector Centre of Excellence in Toronto, Canada.
First Things First - Requirements Management
Proposal professionals know the looming dread of facing an 11th hour rescue of a flawed project that has veered down irrelevant paths owing to late or faulty planning. Bona fide preparation empowers the proposal manager to motivate SMEs toward substantive contributions to the technical volume. By kickoff meeting, the proposal manager should adduce management of RFP requirements by disseminating three critical reports—the draft annotated outline, a compliance matrix, and storyboards. Those reports are usually perfunctory, slipshod, or even missing, having been delayed because of labor involved in creating them. Attendees will observe a tool designed expressly for extracting requirements and instructions from murky RFP or SOW prose. With a tool specifically designed to partition DoD-requesting documents, one can now produce these critical reports earlier and with greater precision and efficiency. This presentation will begin and end with cabaret-style interludes intended to deride the well-known vexations of working toward vaguely comprehended goals, under an impossible deadline and supported by reluctant SMEs.
Dr. Wayne Egan earned a humanities PhD at The University of Texas and is currently adjunct professor for college writing and humanities at the University of Phoenix. He managed commercial proposal production at SMS for 13 years, taught effective writing for Shipley Associates in the 1980s, and currently writes DoD proposals at L-3 Communications. He has long forestalled despair by pursuing an alternative life as a pianist/songwriter. The admittedly dry topic of his debut APMP presentation will earn vital digression points as he and a bassist perform two cabaret-style songs that lampoon the confusions and elations of proposal professionals.
Getting Winning Prose from Non-professional Writers
Most proposal professionals struggle with getting quality input from non-professional writers, and many end up rewriting everything themselves. This leads to high stress, sleepless nights, and constantly deteriorating health while companies fail to deliver proposals that encapsulate full brain power and potential of their technical staff. Knowledge is power when proposal professionals learn how to get the non-professional writers to do their assignments well because it improves everyone’s quality of life while getting the company’s win rate way up. This presentation reveals practical ways to change the psychology and beliefs about writing, get technical writers to think creatively, teach the correct writing process, equip writers with effective tools and techniques, help teams with more than 70 ways of overcoming the writer’s block, and automate the editing process. At the end of the presentation, attendees will acquire real tools and techniques they can apply to their next proposal.
Olessia Smotrova-Taylor is President of OST Global Solutions, Inc., a capture and proposal development company that helps companies grow business by winning government and commercial contracts. She won more than $10B in new business with a 94 percent win rate. She serves on the Board of Directors of the APMP NCA chapter as the editor and chair of the Executive Summary newsletter, runs a popular capture and proposal Webinar series, and publishes articles and the Business Development Blog at www.ostglobalsolutions.com/blog. Prior to her current occupation, she won business for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, and wrote for the Financial Times of London.
Global Warming - The Increasing Demand for Global Proposals
In today's business world, the global market is increasing, as is the demand for global proposals. In this presentation and the panel discussion that will follow, proposal professionals currently working in this space and meeting the challenges it presents will discuss and explore key topics, such as:
- What is a global proposal?
- How much business is done via global proposals?
- How do you compete in the global space?
- How do you keep products and pricing consistent in the global space?
- What language should you use? What currency?
- How do you develop global proposals?
- And much more…
Hosted by BJ Lownie, PPF.APMP and Chris Cadman, with a panel of proposal professionals currently working on global proposals, this lively session will help participants understand and prepare for the challenges of the global proposals.
BJ Lownie, PPF.APMP, Director of Strategic Proposals LLC, brings an incredible depth of experience within the proposal arena. He has more than 25 years’ experience, is a founding member of APMP, has achieved Professional-level accreditation, and is an elected Fellow. He has presented at many APMP conferences, and his presentations are always insightful, informative, engaging and entertaining. You are sure to leave with a new perspective on proposals and well prepared to develop high-impact responses.
Chris Cadman has more than 20 years’ experience leading and designing pursuit organizations worldwide within Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and Digital Equipment where the key focus has been the development and deployment of a global pursuit environment. This global environment has supported numerous opportunities and had significant success with many Fortune 500 customers and beyond. In addition, he has extensive hands-on experience in sales operations, consulting, and business management while working in various locations around the world.
How Can You Stay Sane in This Crazy Business!
Join us to find out how staying sane results in better proposals. We will show you how to achieve balance between work and life while enjoying success as a proposal professional, and dramatically increasing your satisfaction and your productivity. The people on the panel will share specific techniques they have used to achieve balance in their own lives. These techniques will be useful for people in all proposal jobs: coordinators, graphics specialists, managers, desktop publishers, and pricers, to name a few. Everyone will participate in this session. At the end, you will see that balance in life creates positive energy. You will realize that an hour digging in the garden, riding on the bike path, or helping someone less fortunate than yourself can multiply the productivity of every other hour in the day, and that a rich life outside work enables communication with proposal team members on many levels.
Vicki Kempf, AM.APMP is senior proposal manager for CSC with more than 17 years’ proposal management experience. She has a record of winning multi-million dollar federal contracts across agencies and has supported CSC since 2000 on high-value strategic opportunities. Vicki is Shipley trained, and she presented at the APMP conference in 2007.
Wendy Frieman, PPM.APMP is a senior proposal manager at CSC who has presented at APMP conferences (2007 and 2008) and at NCA chapter events, including Boot Camp and Professional Day. Wendy has been managing proposals for more than 20 years for large and small companies.
Integrating the Capture and Proposal Processes
Capture management is a defined, repeatable process that needs to be tightly integrated with proposal development to effectively launch the creation of your proposal early in the business development lifecycle, and get your proposal team moving on a clear path to victory. This presentation defines capture management, how it integrates with proposal development, and what information needs to flow from capture to proposal development during each step in the capture process. It discusses how this information can be archived in an integrated capture/proposal knowledge repository. By tightly integrating the capture and proposal processes, you can improve the effectiveness of your proposal development team, reduce proposal development costs, raise your win probability, and build a Knowledge Management System that can be used to support future new business pursuits.
Bob Lohfeld is CEO of Lohfeld Consulting Group, a company specializing in capture and proposal support for government contractors. With more than 30 years’ experience in winning government contracts, his company helps government contractors create winning proposals for civilian, defense, intelligence, and state and local government agencies. Prior to founding Lohfeld Consulting in 2004, he served as President of Lockheed Martin Commercial Enterprise Solutions Division and Vice President of Lockheed Martin Information Technology. Bob is a member of the Board of the APMP’s NCA chapter, and has served as Chairperson for Professional Day, Boot Camp, and Roundtable events.
If It’s 9 am in Mumbai…
Management of remote proposal teams is becoming more and more common. Managing team remotely, when the team is composed of people from many countries, adds layers of complexity to work situations. How do you effectively communicate? How do you win trust? How do you engage team members to contribute? As companies increase outsourcing and pursue global business opportunities, we need to understand global diversity to unify people and build productive working relationships. This session will explore how understanding and respecting each team member’s country and culture can not only facilitate a group of people becoming a team, but can make sure the team succeeds. We can use this knowledge to create human connections and motivate colleagues. Knowing something about cultures helps you prevent those avoidable faux pas. We will also explore the practical aspects of global teams, such as scheduling and proposal vocabulary.
Laura Higgins is a senior bid manager for complex outsourcing proposals. In her seven years in that role, she has successfully delivered proposals in Scandinavia, Europe, and India while usually working remotely. Before discovering the joys of proposal work, she spent more than 20 years selling emerging technologies for the former AT&T and for IBM. Throughout her career, she wrote sales proposals and presentations; training workshops; and grant proposals to foundations, state, and federal agencies. A founding member of the APMP NY Metro Chapter, she is serving her second year as the Secretary. Laura with three IBM colleagues presented at the 2008 conference.
It’s OK to Have a Career in Proposals!
As a proposal professional, you have no doubt heard the snickers and sneers of those who cannot possibly fathom a satisfying career in proposals. We are here to tell you it is OK to have a career in proposals! This fun, interactive session will get everyone sharing why they chose this career path, if they like it, how they ended up here, and answer the age-old interview question “where do you see yourself in five years”? We will explore alternative career paths and provide ideas on where you can go from here. There are numerous skills you pick up as a proposal professional no matter what your level in the organization, your proposal role, or how long you have been doing proposals. We will share results from a survey specific to this topic compiled from a group of more than 30 proposal professionals from the country’s largest and oldest healthcare services company, McKesson Corporation. Co-presenting are two proposal veterans from McKesson, with more than 35 years’ combined proposal experience, who will share their own career path choices and experiences as part of this presentation.
Carey Potter is director of new business strategy and support services for McKesson Specialty Care Solutions. She has been actively involved with APMP since 1997 with the Valley of the Sun chapter, including several years on its Board of Directors. Her proposal career began in 1994. It has spanned many roles within organizations such as BCBSNM; PCS Health Systems (now CVS Caremark); Pearson Education; and for the past four years, McKesson in Scottsdale, AZ. Carey has a BS in Communication and an MA in Organizational Management.
M. Tracy Warren has been a senior proposal and marketing manager at McKesson Health Solutions in Newton, MA for the past three years. She brings more than 20 years’ proposal development experience, primarily as a consultant. Her clients have included Digital Equipment Corporation/HP, Lau Technologies, Viisage Technology, BIO-key International, Inc., and numerous startups. Tracy has a BA in English and a Masters in Professional Writing.
Knowledge is Power: Capturing the Proposal
Proposals are won and lost on scraps of information provided by the capture team. Successful companies have undertaken tried and proven processes to support proposals reducing the risk of competition—knowledge is power! Many winning proposals can be directly tied to the amount of quality capture provided. How do we get from here to there? Success starts with a focused senior management providing the foundation for capture activity. This is followed by the formulation of a capture plan that will guide the capture team through the process, focusing on meeting with customers, understanding their problems, and offering solutions. The outcome of these efforts transfers significant knowledge to the proposal team, providing them with a draft executive summary, competitor analysis, customer hot buttons, and a significant understanding of the customer requirement.
Steve Martin is a senior proposal manager for VT Services located in Alpharetta, GA. He has participated in government contracting as the customer and the contractor, and has more than 20 years’ experience in proposal development. He is experienced in requirements development and RFI, RFP, and RFQ development.
Meet the New Boss: Talking 'Bout My Generation!
Tensions abound in the modern workplace because of the increased gaps between generations. Baby boomers do not understand why the iPod generation seems to never be at their desk. Generation Xers feel old because they do not necessarily use modern technology, like text messaging, as much as their younger colleagues. Everyone is looking for a better work/life balance, but no one seems to know where to find it. This presentation will look at how managers can ease these tensions by better understanding what motivates each generation. From the workaholic baby boomers to the demanding Generation Xers to the multitasking Generation Yers, managers need to know what makes their staff happy, what motivates their staff to come to work each day, and what changes they need to make to accommodate all generations in this technology-happy modern world.
David Sotolongo is the Vice President of Business and Proposal Development at RTI International. He co-founded the Carolina Chapter of the APMP and served as Chair for five years, and served on the national Board of Directors for two years. He has chaired the Southern Proposal Accents Conference for many years. He has presented on numerous occasions at the APMP conference, the Southern Proposal Accents Conference, and local APMP programs. David is an avid supporter of APMP, reducing stress and workload on proposal managers, and people from all generations.
Poet’s Guide to Proposal Management
The objective of this presentation is to incorporate techniques from literature, journalism, and creative writing into the world of RFPs, RFIs, and RFQs. By shifting the focus of proposal development from deadlines and boilerplate content to original, stand-alone pieces, you can create proposals that speak directly to individual prospects and clients. We will draw on trends and practices in other genres to give new and seasoned proposal writers and managers a spark to ignite life into stale or over-worked copy. Workshop areas include:
- Conducting research and interviewing to get to the heart of the story and understand the audience
- Developing metaphors and motifs to incorporate value propositions and themes
- Using an inverted pyramid strategy for efficient executive summaries
- Incorporating a novel structure for suspenseful body copy
- Using a bulls-eye methodology for editing
- Workshoping reviews
- Developing an ongoing revision process for existing copy.
Jessica Gaulke believes managing proposals should start like all great works—by doing extensive research to fully understand your audience. She employs this belief by working with sales professionals to develop win strategies focused around individual prospects and clients. With a background in professional writing and finishing a Masters in creative writing, Jessica’s zeal for trends is only surpassed by her passion to win new business.
Rapid Proposals to Meet the Challenges of ID/IQs
The Government is using ID/IQ contracts more today than ever before. Are you prepared to answer these quick turn proposals? Can you successfully unseat the incumbent? Join three ID/IQ experts as they walk you through their experience, and offer you several tools and tips that you can apply immediately to improve your success rate. Listen to all three as they share their vast experience and share their tools and processes that have allowed them to succeed in this highly competitive field. You will have a chance to ask questions and understand how they thrive in this arena!
Panel moderator David Bol is the Corporate Director of Quality Assurance for LSI/Shipley. In this capacity, he performs constant evaluation and improvement of all the services and products that LSI/Shipley delivers to their clients. He has been in the proposal management field for more than 20 years. He has responded to federal and commercial proposals, US and international proposals, sole source and multiple-award, and ID/IQ contracts. In addition to his work for Shipley, he has been a member of the APMP for more than 15 years. In 2009, David serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the APMP Board of Directors.
Panelists: Beth Wingate, AM.APMP; Richard A. Caldwell; and Jenny Stewart, CAPM
Creating a Winning Task Order Proposal Process
To win Government Task Orders (TOs) consistently and achieve TO proposal excellence, you need a proven TO proposal process for competing and winning in the government market. This session takes you through a proven process for developing winning government TO proposals, reviews the nine key factors to winning, and shows you how leading proposal professionals use this process to continually achieve high success rates in this market. Proposal professionals, proposal writers, and business development leaders will go step-by-step through a proven, repeatable TO proposal process, reviewing sample templates that you can use to build and manage your own TO proposal process. You will learn how to tailor each step in the process to fit your own company and how to apply the process to new business and recompete opportunities. We will talk about government TO procurements and the many lessons learned in applying this TO proposal process.
Beth Wingate is President, APMP-NCA Chapter (2008, 2009) and chair/editor/publisher for NCA’s Executive Summary newsletter (2006, 2007). She has more than 21 years’ managing, writing, illustrating, and producing hundreds of winning proposals to US Government, Fortune 500 companies, and multinational corporations. She is the Managing Director, Proposal Development and Corporate Communications for Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc., and formerly was the Proposal Center Director for Management Systems Designers, Inc. (MSD, Inc.)/Lockheed Martin. She presented at APMP’s 2007 Conference and NCA’s 2008 Proposal Basics Boot Camp, and is an APMP Journal contributing author. Beth taught numerous proposal development classes and currently helps companies develop their own proposal development methodologies using industry best practices.
Rapid Proposal Response to ID/IQ Solicitations
More than 10 years ago, the Department of Defense (DoD) started experimenting with rapid acquisition methods in an attempt to shorten acquisition timeframes, save money, and use more COTS solutions. This has forced the Defense industry to offer COTS solutions that can be adapted for use in a wide variety of implementations. The DoD is now employing a series of rapid ID/IQ) vehicles on what were once traditional single large awards. On the acquisition side, the Defense industry has had to retool their proposal and capture efforts to respond to solicitations that are sometimes only days long. Success in the rapid acquisition process hinges on working ahead to encounter the unexpected. Capture activities should be more focused on proposal prep where the capture manager is gathering proposal staples along with working classical capture activities. This presentation will cover how to respond to rapid acquisition with a higher degree of success.
Richard A. Caldwell is a 23-year Air Force Veteran specializing in communications and electronics and command and control. He has had assignments in NORAD, NATO, Special Operations, and the Joint Staff working with a wide variety of systems and programs. His acquisition experience came with piloting spiral development on the Global Command and Control System (GCCS) while on the Joint Staff, and implementing some of the first Clinger-Cohen provisions into this Major Automated Information System (MAIS) acquisition. Upon retirement from the Air Force in 2002, he was hired by Northrop Grumman to lead the architecture and CONOPS team to stand up United States Northern Command. For the past five years, Richard has been the capture manager for the Net-enabled Command Capability (NECC), and worked on a variety of large and small proposals for the company.
Want Fries with That? Responding to Task Orders Like a Short-order Cook
Ever watch the short-order cook at your local diner? Once he hears the order, he begins cooking. Since he is confident about the location of all utensils and ingredients, as well as cooking times, he can prepare multiple items at one time-keeping turnaround times short. By the time he is finished with one order, he is ready for the next. What if you could do the same thing for your TO process by using knowledge management? In this process, you are the cook, your proposal shop is the kitchen, the KM is the cookware, the stored information is the ingredients, and the TO request is the customer’s order. This discussion shows the benefits of using KM and includes lessons learned when responding to TOs. With KM, you have the tools and information at your fingertips to quickly prepare responsive proposals and keep your customer well fed and hungry for more.
Jenny Stewart, CAPM, has nearly seven years’ proposal development experience. Having performed all positions from technical writing and editing, to document design and production, through proposal management, she is familiar with the steps and roles required to produce a winning proposal. While working for an 8(a), a small business, and a large size company, she developed a proven track record managing small ID/IQ TO proposals and large proposals, ranging from $20K to $1B. Jenny is currently a volume lead for SM&A.
The RFP Green Thumb: Planting Proposal Seeds for an Abundant Harvest
Support the environment by going green-learn how to plant and cultivate winning proposals responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP). This presentation will be a potpourri of RFP tips to help you prepare and sell your crop in competitive markets. Described will be the preparing and fertilizing of your field before RFP release, and the planting and nurturing of your proposal seeds after RFP release. Topics will include how to prepare for, administer, analyze, and process RFPs; prepare for and participate in bid conferences; ask questions about the RFP; and consider a request for extending the proposal submittal deadline.
Chuck Keller, owner of Keller Proposal Development & Training and president and co-founder of ProposalCafe.com, has been in the proposal business for 26 years. An APMP Fellow and charter member, he is the APMP Accreditation Program Director, the Chapter Chair of the Florida APMP Chapter, and a former Chapter Chair of the Georgia APMP Chapter. He is the co-author of the book Proposal Writing: The Art of Friendly and Winning Persuasion (www.prenhall.com/proposalwriting) and frequently contributes articles to the APMP Journal and Perspective. He frequently speaks at APMP conferences and chapter meetings. A retired US Naval Reserve Commander, Chuck has a BS (Journalism), an MBA, and an MS (Technical Communication).
Take Your Kick-off Meeting Up a Notch
Have your kick-off meetings lost some steam? Are they stale and often not attended by key members of the project team? Are they strategic, thought provoking, and mandatory? Knowledge is power for any team working on a proposal, and the kick-off meeting is key to the success of the process and proposal. Take your kick-off meeting up a notch by laying out the prospect's needs and the strategy to meet those needs, defining how to win against the competition, defining the three key messages of the proposal, defining the roles and responsibilities of the team members, and communicating the project steps and timelines. This presentation will demonstrate the effectiveness of the meeting style and format, and will provide you with the tools you need to establish a similar process in your organization. Get your sales person and senior leadership re-engaged and re-energized about proposals.
Robin Davis is an APMP-accredited proposal professional with more than eight years’ experience in proposal development and leadership, specializing in process design and implementation, opportunity assessment, capture management, strategy development, and project leadership. She has successfully led more than 700 projects resulting in more than $500M in revenue. Robin earned Pragmatech's Leadership Award for Excellence in Sales Support in 2004 and is a strong advocate of APMP.
The Secret to Winning More - Bidding Less
This presentation will describe how benchmarking studies becoming more selective is the most important factor in improving a company’s win rate. The presentation will discuss the key barriers to being selective and the simple, yet subtle, secrets for overcoming these barriers. The presentation will describe the secrets that include having a formal selection process, a detailed opportunity screening, integration of competitive intelligence, and assessing resource allocation. The presentation will include process milestones and opportunity selection templates.
Michael O'Guin has assisted clients in winning contracts worth more than $280B. He conducts price-to-win analysis, trains capture teams, and helps companies implement business development best practices. He and his partner conducted the price-to-win analysis for Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter, the world’s largest pursuit. Since forming his company, Knowledge Link, in 1993 he has worked on more than 80 major capture efforts. Before that, Michael was with Price Waterhouse where he led a 2-year strategic benchmarking study of 24 aerospace and defense companies to identify best industry practices.
The Art of the Question
RFPs often contain conflicting requirements and confusing instructions that leave us scratching our heads, or they may be missing key information we need to prepare a viable response. While it is important to seek clarification, it is equally important to realize that there is an art to asking good questions that position your company for success. This workshop will provide you with the tools and techniques to know when to ask questions, how to ask questions, and which questions to ask. We will arm you with the tools to become an artist, with the ability to influence customers to answer to your questions with your desired response.
Amy McGeady, PhD, and Michelle Petty, PMP, co-own Propel Consulting, a full-service proposal consulting firm. They most recently presented together at the APMP SPAC Conference in Atlanta.
Amy McGeady, President of Propel Consulting, has been managing, writing, and editing proposals for 15 years. Before becoming a consultant, she served as proposal manager and proposal team director at Lockheed Martin IMS and ACS Government Solutions. She is the Chair of APMP’s Central Texas chapter and the Regional Director for APMP’s Central Region. Before starting her proposal career, Amy earned her doctorate and Master of Arts degrees in political science from Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN and a Bachelor’s degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin.
Michelle Petty, CEO of Propel Consulting, is a 20-year veteran proposal manager with a diverse background supporting federal, state, and local government and commercial opportunities. Before starting her own consulting firm, she served as proposal manager and proposal center manager for a variety of companies, including Lockheed Martin IMS, Cable & Wireless, CGI-AMS, and IT Corporation. An active member of the APMP) for more than 11 years, she currently serves as the Membership Chair for APMP’s Central Texas chapter. Michelle is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB).
Bid Busters Australian Style - Exploding the Tender Transaction Myths
Bid Busters Australian Style explores and explodes a number of common myths and misconceptions that bidders often have about the buyer perspective of the tender process. This is not your usual presentation about the other side. The fun and light-hearted presentation is by two long-term friends and tender professionals: one an experienced procurement specialist and the other a seasoned bid response consultant. Australian real-life case studies, anecdotes, and experiences are used to highlight key points. The outcomes are fundamental to the basics of bid preparation, and have a wide and general application for most proposal professionals. By better understanding the buyer perspective, members can submit more effective bids. Better collaboration of buyer and bidder perspectives can increase knowledge and produce better outcomes for all involved in the tender transaction.
Nigel Dennis and David Lunn, owners of the Australian company Bid Write, bring together tender issue and bid response expertise in one organization. Nigel has been writing bids for 15 years, and has helped companies win hundreds of bids and billions of dollars of contracts. Before starting Bid Write with David in late 2008, Nigel was owner of The Proposal Company for 10 years and presented “Ten Tender Tricks When Time is Tight” at the 2008 conference.
David has been a supply chain professional for 20 years with experience of all aspects of strategic sourcing, contracting, and procurement from the other side of the tender process. This is David’s first APMP presentation. Nigel and David, with a friendship of 25 years, are entertaining presenters. They are known for turning serious tender topics into fun and refreshing discussions with views that can challenge conventional thinking. Various anecdotes and case studies from their many relevant experiences make their presentations a must see.
Bridging the Knowledge Gap
One of the toughest challenges facing proposal writers is getting the information we need from two audiences who may not understand what we need, why we need it, or how to communicate it. The two audiences are technical experts and sales people. Without their cooperation and contribution, writing a winning proposal is nearly impossible. On the one hand, technical experts often struggle to communicate simply and clearly and do not understand how to structure their content to be persuasive or relevant to nontechnical evaluators. On the other hand, sales people sometimes see the proposal as a checkbox item and do not believe it is worthwhile to participate in its creation (or they may not know enough about the opportunity to offer anything of value). This presentation discusses how to bridge the knowledge gap between these groups, offering specific techniques to facilitate collaboration and to get the best from the entire team.
A world-recognized expert in persuasive communications, Tom Sant has consulted with companies around the world to improve their business capture processes. His clients include Microsoft, Dell, Accenture, Kaiser Permanente, General Electric, United Technologies, Cisco, HSBC, and many others. He is the founder of the Sant Corporation, the world’s leading proposal automation firm. Named one of the first-ever Fellows of the APMP, he is the author of the best-selling Persuasive Business Proposals; The Giants of Sales, named one of the three best business books of the year by Bloomberg; and The Language of Success, a funny and perceptive guide to business writing.
Capture Planning Really Does Work!
This presentation will provide practical advice on applying capture planning. How many companies really apply capture planning in a way that adds value to their business? In my experience, many do too little, too late with no follow through. To be really effective, you need to start the process early (well before any RFP shows up), identify gaps in your knowledge, and action individuals to find out the missing information. Where the process often falls down is a lack of follow through; there must be regular re-evaluation of the original strategy. Once the RFP arrives, it is vital that you do not waste this valuable research. Virginia will demonstrate how you can forge and maintain the links between sales and proposition development teams. Real-life examples will be used to show how early application of capture planning can turn an opportunity from an aspiration to a winning proposition.
Virginia Ainscough has more than 15 years’ experience in sales and business development. For the last five years, she has run her own company specializing in sales and marketing-in particular strategic bid and sales advice, capture planning, and bid management to companies wanting to improve their win rate. Her clients include blue chip international companies operating across a wide range of market sectors. Recently, she has managed a number of large public sector outsource bids in a variety of areas-ICT, regeneration, housing, property, construction, highways, and customer service/contact centre. These have ranged in value from $10M to more than $500M.
Enhancing Your Professional Growth Through the International Business Development Council
This session presents information on the new International Business Development Council, which will be relevant to members’ professional and career development strategies. Session content is drawn from the strategic plans and bodies of knowledge from the Association for Strategic Planning, Business Development Institute International, Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, APMP, ASAPM, IACCM, and the National Contract Management Association. It presents an overview and plan for learning, training, and certification through these business development-related associations. Members will learn how gaining an understanding of strategic planning, business development, competitive intelligence, contract management, and project management will enhance their professional growth.
Vicki Griesinger is the Director of Operations of the Business Development Institute International and a certified BD-CMM Appraiser. She was a former APMP Board member and past CEO of APMP. She is a member of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), the National Contract Management Association, the Society for Business Development Professionals (SBDP), and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
Fixing the Broken Red Team: Knowing Ways to Power the Quality of Your Proposal
Of all the best practices recommended by APMP, the Red Team review is the one that achieves almost universal recognition, yet it is almost as universally broken. In this 90-minute workshop, the presenters examine the pitfalls that beset the Red Team process and why it frequently fails to deliver value. They propose and demonstrate, supported by contributions from the audience, an alternative approach that draws on project management best practices and their own practical experiences. Participants will have an opportunity to experience, in a brief simulation, the problems of conducting a Red Team without clear process, guidelines, or objectives. Through group discussion and interactive exercises, participants will create a proposal validation plan that can be implemented throughout the whole proposal generation phase. After the workshop, participants will take away worked examples they can apply to create winning proposals that are right first time, on time, every time.
David Warley, PPM.APMP, is a telecommunications professional and owner of Bid to Win Ltd. Based in London, David is a frequent presenter at APMP conferences and an accredited Professional of the APMP. Educated at Newcastle University, he joined British Telecommunications in 1970 and has had a long and successful career in business development first at ICL Network Systems, where he authored the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to Bid Management, and with other international companies.
Michael Forster, AM.APMP, MBA, is the Head of Bid Management for Nokia Siemens Networks West South Europe region. He has worked in the mobile telecommunication field since 1993, with more than 10 years in the bid management area. Michael joined Nokia Networks in 2001. Previously, he worked for Ericsson as an account manager, and from 1994 to 1999; at T-Mobile Germany, he held various positions in sales and project management and in procurement. A graduate of the University of Cologne, Germany, Michael started his professional career in 1991 within Siemens-Nixdorf in sales and marketing.
Saibal Sen, AM.APMP, MBA, is the founder of ZENESYS, a consultancy and training organization focused on developing professional services talent in India. He previously worked with Arthur D. Little and founded KUBER Consulting, a Boston-area strategy management consulting firm. Saibal’s bid management experience spans more than 15 years, ranging from bid development, response evaluations, and RFP response. Some notable clients include Telfort, BT, Boston Scientific Group, Cascade Communications, Cross Country Group, and Atos Origin. Saibal has an EE from National Institute of Technology, India and an MS in Management Sciences from the London School of Economics.
Getting Under the Skin of the RFP
To achieve the highest scores in your client’s tender evaluation, bid teams must truly understand, and then address, the client’s key requirements and business drivers. Client tender documents are often poorly written and unclear in communicating what are these key requirements and business drivers. How do bid teams cut through the lack of insight and information, or indeed conflicting noise, within the client’s tender documents? This session, which includes a case study exercise, will introduce delegates to insights and techniques drawn from the speaker’s time spent as an international purchasing manager and proposal manager across many different sectors and geographies. The session will help you build a clearer picture of what your client’s hot buttons really are, and how you can structure and develop your tender response to maximize scores in their evaluation.
Richard Jenkins is a director for Strategic Proposals Ltd based in the UK and a highly experienced and respected proposal management professional. He has led and worked with sales and proposal teams across the world, helping them to significantly improve win rates and develop more efficient proposal and pitch processes. He has a strong history of bidding success in the commercial and government sectors. His background includes 10 years’ international purchasing experience with British Airways, and Orange and France Telecom, during which time he managed numerous RFP processes and evaluated hundreds of proposals. He has presented well-received papers at APMP in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008 and at UKAPMP in 2005 and 2008. Richard is the CEO for the UK Chapter of APMP.
The Great Proposal Management Quiz Show
Knowledge is power. Let us see what you really know about proposal management! In this thrilling and entertaining quiz show, several teams will compete against each other. Each team will have to answer questions and perform tasks related to the business of proposal management. We will identify the Proposal Manager of the Year of 2009. He/she will win an XXL 32-inch-159-oz bar of Swiss Toblerone Chocolate (no kidding!).
Christopher S. Kaelin is the founder of CSK Management, a Swiss consulting boutique for proposal management. His track record shows a profound experience with projects in Europe, Asia, and South America. He developed the BidMaster approach to develop winning proposals. He provides proposal training, helps companies to optimize their proposal processes, and supports companies side-by-side to win strategic deals. Christopher is lecturer at the Zürich University of Applied Sciences. Prior to CSK, he worked with IBM, Arthur D. Little, and SONY. He holds a Masters degree in Business Administration and IT. He speaks German, English, and French. Christopher is a founding board member of APMP DACH.
How to Ensure Your Company is Ready at RFP Release
Do you feel like you never have the information you need when an RFP is released, even if it is your own company's recompete? Even if your company knows about a bid months ahead of the RFP release, does it seem like the time somehow slips away without much to show for it? Carl will present an approach that enables you to measure your progress toward having the information you need to be ready for RFP release. If you do not find out about an opportunity until the RFP is already released, you can use this technique to get your pursuit back on track and make up for lost time. Find out how to fix this recurring problem and ensure that you are ready to win at RFP release.
Carl Dickson is the founder of CapturePlanning.com, an extensive resource for learning about proposal writing and business development. Carl has helped companies submit proposals to government and industry clients for 20 years. He is a past President of the APMP National Capital Area Chapter, developer of proposal software, and consultant. His most recent contribution to the industry is the CapturePlanning.com MustWin Process. Carl has spoken at many APMP conferences and events, as well as events sponsored by the Marketing Research Association, AFCEA, FOSE, Fairfax County Community Business Partnership, Government Contracting Institute, and Washington DC Office of Contracting and Procurement.
How to Stand Out From the Crowd
Just as flowers come in all shapes, colors, and sizes, so your company is unique. The failure to differentiate is stated by most evaluators as one of the top three complaints about proposals they receive. In this presentation, we explore tips and techniques based on best practice, and we demonstrate a practical framework to help you work out what makes your company special. We will present a case study drawn from real-life examples and extract some lessons learned. You will have a chance to apply these ideas to your own company and get feedback from your peers on how to sharpen the sketch of your unique flower. In today’s competitive landscape, you need to become a red flower if the field is full of yellow ones so that you can stand out from the crowd.
nFold has pioneered the proposal industry in South Africa since 2001 and co-founded the local APMP community with Deloitte in 2007. As local representatives of Sant and Concurrence, nFold complements proposal software with best practice training and consulting. Sandy Pullinger has been consulting to proposal managers since 2001. She has more than 15 years’ business experience and is a seasoned entrepreneur. She graduated from UCT with a first-class honours degree, and she is educated in business strategy. In 2006, Sandy was a finalist for “Top ICT Businesswoman of Africa.” In 2007, she was a finalist for the TWIB awards.
Interest-based Negotiation
Professionals in the varied disciplines of proposal management continually engage in negotiation, problem solving, and dispute resolution. These negotiating events can be formal or informal, and may be internal or external to the organization. Our knowledge base should include an ethical process providing a tool for problem solving that is applicable to all the durable relationships within our workplace, as well as with customers and teammates. Using the mutual gains approach developed at the Program on Negotiation, a consortium of Harvard, Tufts, and MIT, attendees learn the key elements of the process and improve the skills needed for every type of dispute resolution. The presentation provides immediate value and is applicable to a variety of areas described in the APMP Accreditation Program Syllabus.
Matthew McConville has 30 years’ contracts management and strategic business experience with several major US aerospace and defense firms. He has negotiated complex contracts, teaming, and other agreements, as well as resolved business problems, in diverse international environments. As an SM&A Associate, he provides client leadership in the Competition Management and Program Management business areas. He has taught interest-based negotiation at the corporate and university continuing education levels, has been a speaker at National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and APMP events, and holds a PMP certification.
Lessons Collected Ain't Lessons Learned
Most organizations try to capture lessons learned, but do not socialize them back into the BD process so as to benefit from them. Positive and negative lessons learned, if leveraged, can save time and money; things that are a premium in today’s acquisition world. Theory: Knowledge is power—and knowledge of past things done well and/or poorly can be used to a great advantage. That can only happen if lessons learned are shared and integrated into a BD process. Rationale: I have taught more than 12,500 attendees during more than 500 workshops over the past 14 years. My experience shows that most companies do a poor-to-non-existent job of doing lessons learned correctly. If they do collect them, they are not plowed back into the system to get the benefit from them. Application: Why do we keep reinventing the wheel when we can benefit from the past?
Currently Shipley’s Vice President of Training, Ed Alexander is one of Shipley’s finest senior leaders. A dynamic, seasoned platform professional, he is certified to consult in all of Shipley’s focus areas: training, proposals, and process. As the Vice President of Capture and Proposal Consulting, he provided seasoned capture and proposal managers to help organizations win. He has structured capture plans and decision gate criteria, and has designed, delivered, and supported training programs to roll out new processes. A retired Army Colonel/paratrooper/pilot, Ed served more than 28 years at all levels of command and staff.
Making Continuous Improvement Part of the Process
We talk about lessons learned, but what do we really do with them? Are they just documents we collect at the end of a proposal effort? Can they really be useful to improve your process and your win rate? Who do you ask to provide lessons learned feedback? This session will walk attendees through one company’s initial ad hoc environment, the lessons we learned as we worked through an 18-month complex Federal-civilian procurement effort, and how we moved along the BD-CMM continuum. We will share some of the lessons we learned beginning with competitive intelligence and ending with multiple rounds of government discussions, who we include in lessons learned capture and when, and the metrics we use to measure our improvements.
Karen H. Hyman serves as the Director of Business Development at National Government Services, leading a team in identifying business opportunities, establishing strategies for pending procurements, and crafting winning solutions. Her teams boast multiple national contract wins exceeding $200M each. She earned an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from North Carolina State University and a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Louisville. Karen holds certifications as a Heath Insurance Associate, Managed Healthcare Professional, Call Center Manager, CRM Program Manager, and APMP Practitioner, and is a Charter 100 member of the Society of Business Development Professionals.
Qualifying Opportunities With the 24 Questions
Attendees will learn how to gather information to qualify opportunities using the 24 questions, and active listening techniques. Attendees will work in teams to practice active listening skills, gather opportunity information, and assess and qualify opportunities. The group will discuss activities that should occur in the critical stage of the capture process before receipt of an RFP.
Maria Witkowski, APM.APMP manages strategy and development of winning proposals to support Tetra Tech EC, Inc's annual operating plan and business growth objectives. Her team of skilled proposal experts in proposal centers and offices nationwide have contributed to more than doubling the annual revenue of the firm. Maria provides oversight and direction for developing marketing collaterals, business development databases, and public relations. She holds a BS in Construction Engineering Technology, an MBA in Management , and is an APMP-certified Proposal Practitioner. Maria has been an APMP member since 1992 and conference presenter at national and regional events.
Results of the Big Proposal Management Study 2009
Christopher S. Kälin will present the key findings of the Big Proposal Management Study that was recently conducted by APMP and CSK earlier this year. The study covers the topics: proposal process and organization, tools, education, culture, resources, and trends. The study shows some interesting (and some unexpected) findings about the proposal management community and its latest trends.
Christopher S. Käelin is the founder of CSK Management, a Swiss consulting boutique for proposal management. His track record shows a profound experience with projects in Europe, Asia, and South America. He developed the BidMaster approach to develop winning proposals. He provides proposal training, helps companies to optimize their proposal processes, and supports companies side-by-side to win strategic deals. Christopher is lecturer at the Zürich University of Applied Sciences. Prior to CSK, he worked with IBM, Arthur D. Little, and SONY. He holds a Masters degree in Business Administration and IT. He speaks German, English, and French. Christopher is a founding board member of APMP DACH.
Review Teams: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
This presentation will pass along 25 years of lessons learned from serving on or chairing review teams. It will let you know what to do when you get good and bad advice—and tell you how to maximize your return on your review teams’ budgets. You will leave this session knowing how to:
- Organize your review teams
- Provide review team guidance—so that you get usable feedback
- Eliminate small group dynamics that can cause runaway reviews
- Determine which reviewer is prepared or unprepared
- Get better and more consistent products from process.
This presentation outlines top ten rules for planning, managing, and implementing review teams. The attendees will learn why Bob believes that review teams can be the most beneficial or the most damaging part of the proposal process.
Bob Weissman, cofounder of Clarus & Fidelis Consulting, has helped organizations win federal business for more than 25 years. Following an Army career, he has worked on more than 400 proposals as a capture/proposal manager, writer, reviewer, or business developer. A large procurement specialist, Bob has won more than ten $100 million-plus contracts and numerous GWACs. He has served as vice president of business development/capture management for large businesses and, in this capacity, has built corporate proposal reuse centers and business acquisition strategies. Bob has presented at the last two APMP NCA Professional Days and is a published novelist.
Small Business Proposal Strategies
The presentation focuses on strengthening small business strategies in going after government contracts. Topics covered are large corporation contacts and other small business contacts. It covers the lack of resources a small business has and specific areas that can be addressed, resume preparation, past performance development, management templates, technical methodologies, pipeline development, creating and developing model documentation, and tips/lessons learned.
Betty Neal is President and CEO of IDentifying Executive Automated Solutions, LLC (IDEAS). She has more than 25 years’ experience writing and developing proposals, bids, and ROMs. She has instantiated proposal departments and created proposal repositories; her expertise is in IT competencies. Betty provides a focus on quality-assured model documentation, shown at www.ideasproposals.com. She focuses on small business firms. She developed an automated proposal writing software that incorporates experience, resumes, and model documentation that is quality assured. Betty has won several contracts for every small business she has worked with.
Successful Capture Strategy: The Art of Winning
This panel will encompass an overview of capture management with a focus on win strategy, and will be covered in detail in two key segments: 1) technical, management, and schedule strategy and 2) pricing strategy. The pricing strategy overview will include all aspects of pricing, such as price-to-win, independent cost estimate/should-cost, pricing strategy, selection and/or creation of appropriate cost centers, enforcing consistent level of assumed risk across estimating elements, and several other key considerations. The presentation will address the keys to achieving a high probability of win using real-life examples to demonstrate various aspects. The discussion will highlight and review typical problems and issues; summarize the discrete elements needed to achieve success; and encompass an organized approach to successful capture development, capture strategy, and capture management. The discussion will address new competitions and recompetes, and encompass the perspectives of large, medium, and small-sized businesses.
Bruce Morton is the Senior Manager, Capture Excellence at Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services. He is an adjunct professor at George Washington University. Prior positions include principal consultant, Lohfeld Consulting; Vice President, Capture Management, CACI; Director, Corporate Capture Management, Titan; various business development and strategic planning positions at Lockheed Martin; and spacecraft system design engineer, GE Aerospace. At prior APMP Conferences, he chaired the panel “Pricing to Win-The Art of Pricing” in 2008, participated on two panels in 2008, presented “Keys to Successful Capture Management” in 2007, and chaired a capture management panel in 2004.
Bill Brigadier is the President, Brigadier Consulting, Inc., a full-service firm providing capture, proposal, price-to-win and BOE support. Prior positions include vice president of Southeast Region for a capture/proposal consulting firm; vice president of business development at Titan; director of the Missile Defense Line of Business at TRW; Lieutenant Colonel (Retired), US Army Missile Logistics & US Army Acquisition Corps. He is a graduate of the DoD Defense Procurement School. At prior APMP Conferences, Bill participated on the panel “Pricing to Win The Art of Pricing” in 2008.
This Old Proposal: A DIY Guide to Proposal Graphics
We all know pictures communicate faster and easier than loads and loads of text alone, but who has the time, resources, and wherewithal to actually put them in a proposal? In the spirit of DIY, we will take an old proposal, and show you how to update the graphics—in real time, in front of a live audience! Learn tips and tricks to turn your old proposal graphics into modern marvels that will help you win more new business. We will cover some of the basics of information design, look at case studies of other old proposals that have been successfully renovated, and take on any of your graphics that you would like to see remodeled. To have your graphics included in the presentation, email them to colleen@24hrco.com by May 1st. Get empowered to create your own professional proposal graphics!
Mike Parkinson and Colleen Jolly, owners of 24 Hour Company, the premier proposal graphics company in the US and UK, are frequent speakers at APMP conferences around the world. They have presented at every annual conference since 2004 and at most chapter conferences, and are frequent contributors to the APMP Journal on proposal graphic and general management topics. Combined they have more than 18 years’ proposal experience, and have helped their clients win more than $25B in business. They have extensive knowledge in art/graphic design and their translation into proposals. Mike has published the book on conceptualizing graphics, www.billiondollargraphics.com; Colleen is active in leadership roles in many arts non-profit organizations.
What Makes a Good Proposal Team?
Ever wondered why sometimes pulling a proposal together goes like clockwork, and sometimes it can be really challenging? Often this is down to a combination of the individuals within the proposal team and how effectively the team is led and managed. This presentation looks at what makes a great team by comparing the proposal effort to other environments, such as sport, politics, and business, where teamwork and strong leadership has created success. In reviewing just what makes some teams successful and why some fail, the presentation captures key learnings, all of which can be applied to the proposal team. As a result, attendees will be able to apply the useful hints and techniques, whilst avoiding the common pitfall in their next proposal.
Graham Ablett’s passion is creating winning proposals. He is a consulting director of Strategic Proposals Limited in the UK. He has more than 13 years’ bid and proposal management experience within IT, outsourcing, utilities, finance, logistics, travel, and building/construction industries. His extensive experience has included managing small-, medium-, and large-scale proposal teams; training people; and benchmarking and developing an organisation's proposal capability.
Over this time, he has gained vital experience in the management and operation of successful bid teams. Graham has presented to the UK chapter of the APMP and regularly attends the UK and US conferences.
What Were We Thinking? How and Why We Act and React the Way We Do?
From Both Sides Industry-Government Business Development/Source Selection Integrated Process Task Force
This panel of industry and government representatives on the Acquisition Task Force will show how every action causes a reaction in the world of federal procurements. Based on their real-life experience, the panelists will provide a glimpse behind the scenes on how and why decisions are made and the consequences of every action. Through a moderator, the panel will respond off-the-cuff to various scenarios that cover topics from due diligence through evaluation. You will see industry and government perspectives on how an opportunity evolves throughout the lifecycle. This will be an informative, lively, and interactive session. Industry wants to hear more from our government counterparts, and this is an excellent opportunity to ask questions!
Kristin Dufrene has served as Chair of the APMP Government-Industry Acquisition Task Force for two years, and she has previously presented at five APMP conferences and NCA’s Professional Day. Kristin is a senior proposal development manager at CACI with more than 20 years’ experience in all aspects of federal procurements.
Government Participants:
Dan Fulmer has 28 years’ government acquisition experience working for the Defense Logistics Agency and the Air Force. In 2007, he participated on a small team chartered to rewrite the Air Force source selection regulations, the result of which was the new procedures that went into effect last year. In his current position, he is the contracting member on a multidisciplined team that assists in the development of acquisition strategies and solicitations for programs within the portfolio of the Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Aircraft. After RFP release, he provides training and advice to the evaluation teams as they execute the source selection process. An APMP Fellow, this is Dan’s ninth consecutive year participating as either a presenter or panel member at the conference.
Alan Goldberg is the Source Selection Office Director of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). He has been in the engineering and acquisition fields with NAVAIR since January 1977. He joined the Source Selection Office in 1990 to lead competitive source selections, becoming the Director in May 2000. Alan has been an APMP member since September 2000, and has been the Government Liaison, representing NAVAIR, since April 2003.
Ann Marie Telepak is a procurement analyst in the Contract Policy Division at Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, with 28 years’ government contracting experience. She is the source selection policy action officer for the Command, has participated in or led multiple teams that have developed revisions to Air Force source selection policy, and provided training materials for those revisions. One of Ann Marie’s primary duties is to advise and support government source selection teams for services acquisitions on strategy and execution issues.
Industry Participants:
Alyssa Simpson Feliho, AM.APMP, the DHS Proposal Manager for Acquisition Solutions, Inc., brings 14 years’ experience and background in proposal management, business development, and marketing. She has spent the past eight years managing proposals for professional services and consulting firms with a mix of corporate, state, and federal government clients. She has successfully passed the Foundation level of the APMP professional accreditation.
Wendy Frieman, PPM.APMP is a senior proposal manager at CSC who has presented at APMP conferences (2007 and 2008) and at NCA chapter events, including Boot Camp and Professional Day. Wendy has been managing proposals for more than 20 years for large and small companies.
Lee Hendrickson started his career as an electronics engineer back in the 1960s, but moved into proposal writing in the early 1970s. His background includes proposal work as an in-house employee and as a consultant. Currently, he works in the Government Systems Division of FLIR Systems in Oregon, where he prepares infrared imaging proposals to government entities and airframe manufacturers.
Heather Johnson, AM.APMP, a proposal manager for ITT Space Systems Division, has 10 years’ experience working in private industry as a human resource specialist; recruiting manager; parts, material, and process engineering specialist; and technical writer. In addition to her current role as proposal manager, she manages technical presentations and white papers, and coaches presenters. Heather holds her Foundation Level APMP accreditation.
Jessica Morgenstern, a senior manager of business development with General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, has more than 25 years’ experience working for government and private industry as a senior business developer, capture manager, proposal manager, and previously as a software engineer. An APMP member for more than eight years, Jessica has actively served on the APMP Board of Directors for five years. She is currently the APMP Director of Strategic Initiatives. She was inducted into the APMP Fellows Class of 2007. Jessica received the 2004 APMP Compatriots Award for her work on the Early Industry Involvement Survey.
Bruce Morton is the Senior Manager, Capture Excellence at Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services. He is an adjunct professor at George Washington University. Prior positions include principal consultant, Lohfeld Consulting; Vice President, Capture Management, CACI; Director, Corporate Capture Management, Titan; various business development and strategic planning positions at Lockheed Martin; and spacecraft system design engineer, GE Aerospace. At prior APMP Conferences, he chaired the panel “Pricing to Win-The Art of Pricing” in 2008, participated on two panels in 2008, presented “Keys to Successful Capture Management” in 2007, and chaired a capture management panel in 2004.
Mike Weinberger is a senior proposal manager at Verizon Federal Network Systems with more than eight years leading DoD, Intelligence Community, and Federal civilian proposal efforts. He began his career as a computer systems analyst at NASA, later moving to information technology positions with the Food and Drug Administration and the Government Accountability Office. He joined the staff of the House Appropriations Committee, implementing the first-ever computer system for the Committee and later managing its implementation of PC-based networks. A four-year member of APMP, he has served on the Task Force assisting in development of the documents and presentations.
7 Skills for a Winning Oral Presentation
Too many presenters seem beyond help. They view themselves as seasoned sources of understanding, not subjects for skill development, and/or they believe their supreme smarts will dominate any shortcoming in delivery. This workshop is a defense against the overconfidence that precludes proper preparation. It is a rigorous examination of learnable skills that are essential to a winning interview. It uses the following checklist of seven items that all warrant clear understanding and study to sharpen the competitive edge and maximize product differentiation in the marketplace:
1. Leading out loud
2. Energizing a clear message
3. Stressing customer focus
4. Exhibiting wise planning
5. Elevating production values
6. Synergizing message and media
7. Motivating conclusions and actions
The workshop gives attendees an opportunity to sharpen all seven skills. The use of practical examples, exercises, and short case studies brings the seven-item checklist to life for effective application in all future presentations.
Dave Draper is an expert in preparing, coaching, and delivering oral presentations. He has been a key presenter for numerous winning proposals in the US and Europe; he has taught public speaking and oral presentation courses at college and corporate levels. Dave is nationally recognized for highly successful promotion strategies. He has coached scores of individuals for successful speaking engagements and has directed team preparations for the interview sessions that are so important to successful proposals. Dave is a certified Advanced Communicator Gold (TMI) and was national champion of the NIRA Promotions Award Contest.
Results of the 2008 Salary Survey
The 2008 Salary Survey continues the 1996 and 2004 surveys to educate APMP members on industry standards for skill and salary levels by illustrating the correlation of job skills to salaries. This recent survey included a significant international response, updated the information from two previous surveys, and graded company maturity within the BD-CMM levels. By knowing what skills are important to employers, a proposal professional can grow within those skills, become a valuable asset for developing proposals, and increase stature and salary within their company. These skills can be used to develop the company’s proposal capability as measured by the BD-CMM.
Don Stewart is currently employed by Honeywell International, Inc. as a proposal manager for complex defense and space proposals. He has been active in APMP since 1995 and is currently the Valley of the Sun Chapter CEO. Don helped develop the 1996 Salary Survey and co-presented it at the National Conference that year. This year he will present results of the 2008 Survey at the 2009 conference; he was a major author of the report. Previous presentations at APMP conferences have included information on surviving mergers, tools to reduce cycle time, responsive letter proposals, and persuasive executive summaries.
Benchmarks in World-class Proposal Writing
This presentation shares practical results from the BD-Institute’s research project on proposal writing capability. The study provides a practical guide to industry best practices for 1) how to optimize proposal development steps, 2) what automation tools and strategies work best, 3) how best to organize teams and use consultants, 4) what training approaches offer maximum impact, and 5) how to enable winning performance in your organization. The study identifies 182 benchmark practices in these 5 areas from 23 leading proposal-writing organizations. BAE Systems Electronics and Integrated Solutions in Nashua, NH underwrote the study.
Charlie Divine works with the BD-Institute as the Director of Research and Knowledge Management. The BD-Institute has established a business development community of practice involving BD professionals, professional societies, and academia. Charlie was the Principal Investigator for the Proposal Writing Benchmark research study. He led the development of the BD-KnowledgeBase™ for APMP and the BD-Institute. He is a certified BD-CMM Appraiser and an APMP Fellow. He volunteers as the Director of Education for APMP, and recently led the 2008 Salary Survey for APMP. Charlie retired from ATT in 2000, where he directed all their pursuit and proposal centers.
Getting Team Cohesion in Proposal Orals (or) Does Your Orals Team Come Across as Stumblebums or Winners?
Customers use oral proposals to size up teams for many qualities, with one of the most important being the bidder’s ability to work together well as a cohesive, compliant, and competent team. Several orals’ aspects clearly display whether that exists or not: presentation content, operations, transitions, cross-team execution (now during presentation and likely ahead during program execution), and responding to questions. One standard requirement, the on-the-spot sample task or scenario, provides a vivid real-time demonstration of teamwork, yea or nay.
Tom Leech is the author of How To Prepare, Stage & Deliver Winning Presentations 3rd Edition (AMACOM 2004), named to Presentations Magazine’s “Top of the Class” list. He has headed his own consulting firm for more than two decades with nationwide client base. He has coached more than 250 corporate speaker teams pursuing major governmental contracts and trained many program managers, professionals, and senior executives in winning presentations techniques. His previous GD career was in business development and engineering. Tom has presented at many national conferences, including APMP.
How to Win Before Writing the Proposal
A winning proposal starts before proposal preparation begins. Proper marketing and positioning can provide a proposal a stronger chance of successful outcome. We present a series of concepts showing how marketing and proposal teams can work together. Backed by several real-world examples in the government sector, it will demonstrate the effectiveness of matching the government bid lifecycle with marketing and other pre-proposal activities toward closing a deal. Practical concepts and process diagrams help proposal planners look upstream of their proposal efforts. The ideas, tools, and systems discussed will allow a proposal team to work more closely with marketing for an integrated activity that leads to a winning approach. Qualifying and marketing to a customer’s hot buttons will set up the win before the proposal. The proposal then merely becomes a mechanism to allow the customer to score and select the ideas that have been presented.
Rob Kempinski is Director of Solutions for CSC Applied Technology Division. He has been working to implement the unified and effective marketing and sales system described in this paper for CSC. While he has no previous APMP presentation experience, he regularly gives briefings on this topic and the services that CSC markets. He has a varied background in engineering and business and holds Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and Business Administration from George Washington University.
Stacey League is a proposal manager with CSC Applied Technology Division. She has managed teams winning multi-million dollar contracts from across the spectrum of Department of Defense programs with written proposals and oral presentations. Her background is communications with a Master’s degree from Texas Christian University. She is a certified Instructor with SpeakersTrainingCamp®. Stacey is a first-time presenter at APMP.
Killer Win Themes - The Workshop
Bring in some of your favorite win themes for a win theme makeover! This workshop will help you craft the strongest possible win theme statements tailored to the instant solicitation, and then leverage them throughout the proposal. Emphasis is on effective application of the established body of knowledge. Through hands-on exercises with real-world win themes, you will internalize processes you can use immediately to mature your win themes and coax the best themes out of all your proposal team members. Learn strategies for overcoming win theme complacency and for prevailing to a high level of excellence that enhances and reinforces BOK and best practices proposal-wide. We win—again!
Bill Russo, senior proposal manager for global defense and aerospace contractor BAE Systems, has been managing, writing, reviewing, and editing proposals since 1981. His career experience includes engineering and program management for large and small aerospace products and services firms, as well as teaching courses in engineering and program management. He became a Certified Professional Manager in 1988. Bill delivered presentations/workshops at the 2005 and 2007 APMP annual conferences.
Power of Price
Knowledge of effective pricing strategies and methods are the most often overlooked areas of capture and proposal management. Developing pricing strategy starts early in the process and sets the tone for positioning the offer. Clear solution cost/price targets, rational bounds for trade studies, and confidence in meeting the competitive criteria are some of the benefits of having a fully developed pricing strategy. We will discuss these tools and how they impact the offer. Through case studies, we show what happens without a well-executed pricing strategy and the benefits from having such. The audience will be able to apply the gained knowledge to their own organizations. We will discuss developing the knowledge for recognizing an impending proposal disaster and how to launch a successful campaign supported by a powerful pricing strategy. Discussion will concentrate on developing best practices for using adaptive knowledge of pricing strategies to create winning proposals.
Michael Tresko has more than 20 years’ experience in management and new business within the defense, aerospace, IT, telecom and services industries. Currently, he is a consultant for SM&A providing price-to-win and cost volume leadership. At HP/Compaq, he was the Operations Manager for $450M Global Services territory, providing profitability, due diligence, and negotiations activities. As the New Business Financial Manager at LM Commercial Space, he was responsible for deal structuring, due diligence, venture analysis, and business proposals. At LM Missiles and Space, Mike was a controller on major space programs, also, spinning off space imaging.
Gary Knight has more than 25 years’ experience in a progressive career with extensive domestic and international experience in pricing strategy, cost/price analysis, price-to-win, financial analysis, sales and program support, deal modeling, negotiation, estimating and forecasting. His experience includes direct or pursuit experience in such industries as US military base operations, construction, defense systems engineering and manufacturing, information technology outsourcing, executive recruiting, airlines, healthcare, and banking. Gary was an invited presenter at the EDS Innovation Forum in 2001 and is currently a consultant for SM&A.
Pursue Or Don’t Pursue: It’s All in the Opportunity Assessment
Are your opportunity choices lowering your win rate? Every organization needs validation and direction in what to pursue. Opportunity assessments, if done properly, will challenge whether we apply resources and funding in formally capturing winnable opportunities. The result is making smart choices based on realities, not just luck. Practical experience shows that when organizations do proper upfront planning, they win more. As capture and proposal professionals, we need to help our organization’s decision-makers say “no” before it turns into another losing proposal. Participants will understand what actions need to be taken before a formal pursuit decision is made, including how to perform an opportunity assessment. This presentation will reinforce upfront planning beginning before making a decision to pursue is a best practice and component of the APMP Body of Knowledge.
Mary Ann Anelli, PPM.APMP is an innovative professional with 24 years’ Federal Government and private industry experience. Her extensive experience helps organizations succeed in capturing new and existing federal opportunities. Her areas of expertise are in creating and delivering business development training curriculums, coaching senior executives unfamiliar with capturing federal business, and facilitating capture strategy development for strategic opportunities. She currently works for Shipley Associates, providing world-class capture consulting and training. She has a BSBA from West Virginia University. Mary Ann is a member of APMP, holds a Professional-level certification, and is a frequent APMP conference speaker.
Stop Wasting Precious Proposal Time!
It is no coincidence that when asked about the most significant challenges proposal professionals face, the responses most often mentioned are related to time. “Not enough time to respond”…. “No respect for proposal schedule deadlines”…. “Working too much.” In many cases, the challenge of creating a compliant and compelling proposal becomes a daunting task even before it begins— largely because there is not enough time. With so much time wasted and such little time to respond, proposal teams have to sacrifice their nights and weekends to get a competitive product out the door on time. What is a proposal professional to do? Understanding and applying time management tools and techniques is one of the most powerful ways to become better professionals and better people too. This presentation includes recommendations and action-oriented tips to empower the audience with the knowledge they need to be more efficient and effective at work and at home.
Chris Simmons is the APMP National Capital Area Chapter Membership Committee Chairman and regular contributor to a number of proposal industry journals, newsletters, and blogs. He has 24 years’ experience as a business development consultant for CGI-AMS, Deloitte Consulting, and is the principal member of Rainmakerz Consulting-a business development services company specializing in proposal management, writing, review, and training. Chris is the ultimate rainmaker. His company has completed more than 160 projects generating new business contracts valued at more than $57B for more than 50 companies. He earned his MBA in Information Technology from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst).
The Backend
So your proposal is finally written, but what about production? That should only take an hour …right? More often than not, the final production is left behind, does not enter into the plan at all, or is an afterthought. This often leads to late nights, extra cost, and, on occasion, total chaos. Over the course of 1.5 hours, we will take a humorous trip through the backend of the proposal management process-the actual production process-based on case studies and lessons learned. We will discuss when and where in the overall schedule final production should be integrated into the management process, what final production means, and how to break down the individual final proposal document components into a planned backend schedule. The knowledge and power of a well thought out final production schedule can reduce proposal schedule, reduce costs, and save minds.
Lyn Buckley-Mogan has more than 23 years’ experience in business, proposal, and marketing development. As the Proposal Center Manager for Tetra Tech EC Inc.’s Boston office, she manages the proposal process from capture to delivery.
Renee Roman has more than 20 years’ experience managing and overseeing all phases of production from creating conceptual design to detailing final document production. She establishes work priorities, coordinates work flow, and ensures quality assurance/quality control of all documents produced. Together, they have coordinated the production process on proposals ranging in value from $100K to 1B and single to multi-volume sets.
The Proposal Resource Center: Tips and Techniques
Are you currently using SharePoint for proposal management processes or knowledge bases? Do you want to or have plans to use SharePoint to support your proposal processes? Join Octant’s Lynda Jewell, as she reviews the concept of a Proposal Resource Center. Gain insight into the features and concepts that can make your PRC a POWERHOUSE of knowledge management allowing your people to work effectively and efficiently. Attendees will learn practical tips and techniques, such as:
- How to get started building your PRC on SharePoint
- How to capture data about your documents to make them easier to find again
- How to look at data and make it informational and meaningful
- How to measure important key metrics, such as Win/Loss, Effort versus Value
- A future vision of where your PRC can go
Attendees will walk away with step-by-step instructions for three scenarios that can be applied to their SharePoint systems.
Lynda L. Jewell, Vice President of Marketing and Product at Octant, brings more than 25 years’ software development and project management experience to the product development and management of Octant’s Enterprise Management Suite™. She delivers industry-focused software that promotes information sharing, productivity, and enduring relationships between application users and businesses. Lynda most recently spoke at the Microsoft Government Contractor Summit Conference on Win Rates, Sales Pipelines, KPI’s? How Managing Performance Increases Your Win Rate, and presented at the 2008 APMP National Conference.
Using CMMI, ITIL, and PMBoK to Improve Operations
Every day I describe how our team is going to implement industry best practices to increase the client’s productivity, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. I typically take these best practices from the Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK), the Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI), and the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) frameworks. But how can we apply these best practices to proposal operations? This presentation describes how proposal managers can use schedule, cost, configuration, knowledge, risk, and communications management practices and customer service techniques to improve proposal operations. Consider using PMBoK cost management techniques to bring your proposal in on budget or ITIL service desk best practices to manage your internal customers. Consider adding to your own body of knowledge by using these proven best practices and techniques.
Brenda Crist has 25 years’ experience providing capture, proposal, and program management support for information technology companies serving the federal market. She is currently the Managing Director, Strategic Solutions at the Lohfeld Consulting Group. Before becoming a full-time proposal professional, Brenda served as a group manager for OAO Corporation and project manager for Harris Corporation. She provided system and network management solutions for civilian and military clients. She is a Board Member of the APMP National Capital Area Chapter. Brenda holds a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree in Public Administration from American University and is ITIL certified.