Felix Sanchez

1. Designing the Program During the Proposal Phase Great Marketing and a Quality Proposal Process Wins Programs Felix Sanchez Project Management WebEx 29 October 2009 Project Management for ARA Engineers and Scientists

2. Successful Programs:Conceived, Marketed and Designed Before the RFP • As PM, you will dream it, conceive it, structure it and then execute it. • The larger the contract, the more the customer expects in: • Proven management processes • Detailed plans and schedules • Past performance • Relevant experience ARA PM Course provides you with the tools to convince customers of a superb management approach

3. ARA Growth from 1,400-2,800+ in Less than 5 Years? • Must win larger size contracts • Must win longer-term contracts with new clients • Currently 70 percent of our revenue comes from 10 percent of our contracts • Need to “expand the pie” – Need New Customers • The competition is fierce new It’s a “Horse Race” with Our Competitors

4. $80m $70M $60M $50M $40M $30M $20M $10M $0m Revenue by Contract 900 800 700 600 500 Total Number of FY03 Contracts Revenue 400 300 200 100 0 $0-$20K $20-$50K $50-$100K $100-$500K $500K-$2M > $2M FY03 Contract Revenue Bin

5. Detailed Annotated Outline Proposal Outline Development Proposal Life Cycle “No Photo Finish” START FINISH RFP Received Updated Strategy & Discriminators/ Themes Updated Pre-RFP Proposal Draft Final Bid/NoBid Decision Approved Detailed Outlines Pre-RFP Proposal Draft Pink Team Review Detailed RFP Analysis Capture Plan Update Detailed Proposal Planning Kick-off Materials Red Team Annotated Outline Kick-off Meeting Revised Detailed Outline Red Team Talk Though Initial Program Price Pricing Analysis Updated Proposal Draft Pre-RFP Phase Actual Proposal Development Critical Pre-RFP Activities Mock RFP Red Team Review Final Proposal Draft Win Strategy Implementation Capture Plan Program Pricing Final Program Price Competitive Analysis Editing, Polishing and Publishing RFI Review/ Response Response to Customer Questions/ Clarification Long-range Business Planning Winning Proposal Update Strategic Selling Winning Proposal Contract Award Win Strategy and Major Themes Proposal Submission Convince 4 Buying Influences Best and Final Offer Strategic Choices Answers and/or Orals Legend Pre-Solicitation Phase Activity Output

6. Pre-Solicitation PhaseAchieve a Highly Competitive Position Pre- or Draft RFP Phase Develop a Cohesive Proposal Framework RFP Phase Build Winning Proposal Post Proposal PhaseStrengthen the Win Probability Winning Proposal Preparation Process “The Quality of the Product is Governed by the Quality of the Process.” Award

7. ? What is the Customer Looking For?

8. Our Value-Added

9. A Winning Proposal Answers Six Questions • Whatare we offering? (Technical Proposal) • Howare we going to do it? (Management Proposal) • How is it better than the other guy’s? (Expertise) • Whyis that better than the other team? (It Ghosts the Competition) • How much will we charge? (Cost Proposal) Why is our pricemore believable than the other guy’s? (Pricing should contain actual bids from vendors, bottoms-up approach by task and WBS using previous work as baseline, etc.)

10. Review and Analysis of RFP Read and Re-read the entire solicitation • Study the SOW • Understand what the customer wants • Multiple people should review and agree what is required • If you marketed this customer, your knowledge of expectations will be superior to others • Study the Evaluation Criteria • Write to the criteria! • Make it easy for evaluator to give your proposal a high score on each criteria. • Organize the Proposal • From a Customer’s Instructions for Preparing Proposals* • From a Customer’s Evaluation Criteria* • From the Scope Of Work* *See “Proposals: On Target On Time” for examples and tutorial, pages 25-31 Link is on ARA Intranet

11. Provide a clear, efficient project organization Clear delegation of authority, resources and responsibility Robust approach to communication Propose the right qualified people Team information access/exchange Client interaction/review Clearly identify significant tasks, milestones, and deliverables on project schedule Identify critical dependencies Identify/mitigate schedule risks Demonstrate success of management approach on prior projects of similar complexity Scope within customer’s budget SOW WBS IMP IMS Winning Proposal Developing the Management Approach • Demonstrate you know: • What is required • When it is required • What significant risks exist • How to confidently mitigate • the risks

12. Outcome? Will Win • Lowest Price Best Technically • Second Lowest Price Best Technically • Lowest Price, #2 Technically • Second Lowest Price, #2 Technically Can Win Can Win Almost Always Lose

13. Proposal Preparation Resources • Good, Concise Resources Available on ARA Intranet • “Proposals: On Target, On Time” by Dan Safford, PS Associates • “ARA Proposal Handbook” • Great Commercial Resources • “Proposal Guide for Business Development & Sales Professionals” by Shipley Associates • “Proposal Writing for the 21st Century” by H. Silver & Associates • Day 1 of PM Course provides overview of the ARA Proposal Handbook (Read before Course) Successful Programs Conceived, Marketed and Designed before the RFP

14. Relentless Marketing and A Quality Proposal Process Wins