July 30, 2004
The Importance of an Outline
Occasionally I get a client who can't understand why they should take the time to prepare an outline of their proposal response. "The outline is right there in the RFP," they say. Or, "we already know what we are going to write -- it's all right here" (tapping their heads). Or, "we don't have time to do an outline, we've got to write the proposal." While I do my best to convince these clients that they really ought to do an outline or have me do one for them, some of them are just determined to proceed without one. And these are the folks who later find themselves in a heap of trouble. Instead of saving time and money, they end up spending more of it in order to fix the mess they've made.
So why do an outline, anyway?
- It helps you organize your entire proposal, including both your cost and technical proposals.
- It helps you organize your thoughts about what you want to address or include in each section of your proposal.
I. TECHNICAL/MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL - 50 pages
A. Executive Summary - 2 pages
B. Table of Contents
C. List of Figures
D. Introduction - 3 pages
E. Overview of Objectives, Background, and Approach - 2 pages
F. Special Topics - 8 pages
1. Management Aspects
(a) Corporate Organization and Experience: Provide the general background, experience, and qualifications of the organization. Provide a list of previous or ongoing Government or non-Government contracts, subcontracts, or grants, similar or related in scope, magnitude, and complexity. Provide a general description of the work performed and describe how the work is related to the requirements of the RFP - 5 pages
(b) Project Organization: Organization chart and discussion of how project is organized - 2 pages
2. Schedule (Gantt chart) - 1 page
It takes practice to become proficient at outlining, and a good outline -- one that you are satisfied with -- can take some time to prepare. But it is also important to note that your outline may change over the course of the proposal as you see how the various pieces are flowing and fitting together.
Posted by Deborah at 4:31 PM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2004
Fortuitous Meeting
A couple of weeks ago, I met informally with a client to give her some paperwork. We met in a coffeehouse and sat and chatted for a while before she had to go back to work. Over the course of our conversation, she mentioned that her organization had been awarded several important international grants within the past month. As a result, she was overwhelmed with work. She didn't have enough staff to handle all the tasks that needed to be accomplished within the next several months, and wondered if I knew of anyone who might be looking for a job.
After we talked a bit, I realized that some of the work she needed to get done was right up my alley -- specifically, planning and start-up of large international projects. Although she knew that I had done a lot of international work, the specifics never really came up, since her main interest was in my proposal writing skills. She had never looked at my resume to see what I had done besides proposal work. Based on our discussion, she said she would bring my background to the attention of some of the organization's technical staff, and perhaps there would be some consulting opportunities for me during August/September. On Monday of this week, I was asked if I could attend a couple of meetings there today.
So this morning I met with some of the folks responsible for getting these grants up and running. They have two assignments for me -- one will begin right away (tomorrow) and will involve preparing some detailed work plans. The second assignment (not yet definite) may involve a variety of project start-up activities, both here and overseas. I will know more about this second assignment in a couple of weeks, once my contact returns from his overseas planning trip.
This is one of the things I like about consulting -- you never know who might call tomorrow or the next day, or what opportunities might arise. It certainly makes things interesting.
Posted by Deborah at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
July 28, 2004
Government Grant Myths
Have you ever done a google or other search on "government grants" or "free money?" If so, you've probably noticed that all the search results seem to say the same thing. Does it ever occur to anyone to wonder why the same text appears on each site? And why so many of the sites are pretty much exact duplicates of one another? Maybe it's because many of these sites are operated by the same people under different names. Or maybe it's because the people who operate these sites are only interested in making money from suckers who buy their worthless books, CDs and other products. Believe me, these people have no real knowledge of government grants. They are not interested in helping you succeed, and they are definitely not performing a public service.
Here is what you commonly read at these sites:
Posted by Deborah at 6:46 AM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2004
Do Your Homework
A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail from someone who said he needed help in putting a proposal together for an international grant in a specific subject area. He described the project, gave some background information, and asked if I would send him my resume. It all sounded pretty reasonable, so I sent the resume and he sent back another e-mail asking for my phone number so that we could discuss his proposal needs. He called yesterday.
On the phone, he indicated that the grant would would allow him and a university with which he is affiliated to continue their research in a particular country, and that the government of the country was very excited and supportive of the project. Again, it sounded good. At least until we got to this part of the conversation:
Me: So what agency/organization are you submitting this grant to?
Him: What do you mean?
Me: I mean, what organization is interested in funding this project?
Him: Well, I thought you could tell me that.
Me: No, not really.
Him: What I want to do is to have one proposal written and then send it out to some funding organizations that you recommend.
Me: That really isn't a good approach. You have to identify organizations that might be interested in your project, you have to contact them and talk to them about it, and your proposal has to be written and organized in accordance with their specific requirements.
Him: So I can't just send the same proposal to each organization?
Me: No.
Him (shifting gears): Well, then maybe you could tell me where I could get a loan for the project.
Me: I don't know, you could maybe look at EximBank.
Me (becoming suspicious): Why do you need some help with this grant proposal? The University does a lot of grants, they know how to put a grant proposal together, they know about funding sources.
Him: Well, they are busy people -- they teach, they do research, etc., so they may not have the time to help.
Me (finally realizes she is talking to a flake): Well, I think you really need to get more information before you proceed further.
Him: OK, I will talk to my colleague at the University.
The End. All I can say is -- why me?
Posted by Deborah at 5:14 AM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2004
Sick Days
Yesterday (Sunday), I was just too sick to do anything except lie around, nap, and feel sorry for myself. So no Sunday Scoreboard or Sunday anything. This virus is very persistent -- it just doesn't want to go away. However, when I woke up this morning, I felt quite a bit better.
I had planned to finish the remaining pieces of work on the Army proposal yesterday, but couldn't bring myself to work through my misery. So I finished it off this morning and e-mailed everything to the client. I am hoping that I won't have to do any more work on it today; the client will Fedex it to the Army tonight.
There are a lot of advantages to being a consultant, but one disadvantage is that there are no paid sick days. So if I'm sick and can't work, there's no money coming in. Fortunately, I don't get sick too often and when I do, it is usually minor. This past week, however, was really difficult. Because I had commitments to two clients, I had to work even though I was really too sick to do so. But my clients depend on me and I feel obligated to keep my commitments, no matter what.
So for the next few days, I am just going to take it easy and try to get well and get my strength back. Although I have a few things in the hopper, I haven't wanted to make any firm work commitments. Will just have to see how things go.
Posted by Deborah at 8:05 AM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2004
Saturday's Work - BAFO
I didn't get a chance to post anything yesterday (Saturday). What happened was, on Friday afternoon, my BAFO client had sent me a bunch of stuff to work on, but by around 8 PM Friday night they decided that there was no way they were going to be able to get the proposal out that night. So we all stopped work and began again on Saturday morning.
I had two pieces left to do on Saturday, and got up early to work on them. I thought I was finished. But no -- more pieces kept arriving and there were several phone calls to discuss various responses and strategies. Then they sent along an organization chart that they had done and asked me to fix it up. It was quite a mess. I'm not sure how this chart had been done, but I could not get the lines and boxes ungrouped. Every time I tried to delete a line or move a box, stuff would disappear. I finally gave up and created a totally new chart, but that took a couple of extra hours. Fortunately, this client doesn't really care how much time I use to get work done for them. They always give me many more hours or days than I actually use.
So instead of having a Saturday free from work, I ended up working most of the day. Not what I had expected, but this is what you get when you work with proposals.
Posted by Deborah at 6:40 AM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2004
Worrying for Nothing
It turns out that I didn't have to worry about the colliding projects. I pretty much finished up the Army proposal this morning and sent it off to the client to review over the weekend. I have some minor things to do on it before Monday (table of contents, cover letter, personnel bios), but that is it. They will send it off to the Army on Monday evening.
The BAFO client got behind, so they have not sent me more stuff to look at and fix. They wanted to be finished by close-of-business today, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. They are having a meeting this morning and will let me know what is going on. I had a lengthy phone conversation with them yesterday to discuss the problem section, and made some recommendations about how to address it. One of their staff thought it best to rewrite the whole section instead of trying to revise it, and he began work on it yesterday afternoon. Then he called me at about 5 PM yesterday to say that he forgot to save his work and lost it all, and what should he do now? Geez.
I'm glad the weekend is coming. I'm still tired from this cold and still stuffed up. Hopefully I will be able to get some rest.
A follow-up to the plagarism issue: after being contacted by her hosting company and Yahoo, the owner of the site finally e-mailed me and apologized. She asked if she could put up a link to my site on the page that previously contained the content she copied from me. I accepted her apology, agreed to the link, and I think things were left on good terms.
Posted by Deborah at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2004
Colliding Projects
The past couple of days have not gone so well because of this damn cold. I've had an on-and-off fever, and just generally feel crummy. I've also gotten my days mixed up. I thought today was Friday, but it's only Thursday. Actually, that's a good thing because...
last night I got an e-mail and phone call from one of my regular clients that had called me about a week ago to ask if I could help them with some Best and Final Offer (BAFO) questions. When they called initially, they weren't ready to send me anything, but said they would send the material in a few days. But it didn't come and I forgot about it because I became engrossed in the Army proposal. Lo and behold, last night and this morning, the pieces began arriving in my inbox. I am still up to my ears with the Army job, and now I have to figure out how to get both of these assignments done.
The Army proposal client was very pleased with the draft I sent them yesterday. But there is still a lot more to be done. I have to write some things, they have to write some things, and then it all has to be reviewed by several people at their end. I had a lengthy phone conversation with them this morning, and then they called me several times after that. Somehow, I also managed to get some time to read the material that the BAFO client sent. Once piece in particular had some problems, so I sent them back an e-mail with my comments and suggestions on how to improve it. Now I am waiting for them to call to discuss my comments and how we can deal with them. I would rather that they deal with them, but I know from past experience that they will want me to do it. And all of their material has to be finalized by tomorrow night, meaning that I will have to work tonight as well.
The Army proposal is due on Tuesday, meaning that it must be sent out by Fedex on Monday night. So I think that I can work on it early tomorrow morning, send them a revised draft, and still have time to work on the BAFO tomorrow. Then I will have Saturday and Sunday to clean up the loose ends on the Army thing. This should work, unless the BAFO people come up with a lot more for me to do. Hopefully, they won't and everything will work out.
Posted by Deborah at 1:29 PM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2004
Sick and Tired
Yes, literally. Yesterday morning, I picked up some kind of cold virus right out of the blue -- no warning symptoms or anything. The tiredness was overwhelming: I couldn't keep my eyes open. As a result, I spent a good part of the day napping and didn't get much work done. Went to bed early, hoping that it would be gone by today.
Well, it is not gone, but it seems a little better. I'm taking cold pills every four hours. I got up early so that I could make up the time that I spent sleeping yesterday. Somehow managed to do that and to get a first draft of the Army proposal off to the client late this afternoon. Now it's time to lie back down again. No more work today. I really need to recover from this quickly because I have a lot of work to do.
Posted by Deborah at 4:18 PM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2004
Today's Work - Army Proposal
I'm continuing to work on the Army proposal for my new client. I've made some headway with the Capabilities Statement -- putting together pieces and paragraphs culled from various sources, including the client's web site, past proposals, and new materials developed by the client for their media kit. I will also extract certain paragraphs from the Capabilities Statement for use in the Technical Approach in order to highlight the client's qualifications and experience in carrying out specific tasks.
Yesterday, the client e-mailed me several pieces for the technical sections. These were apparently prepared by different staff in the company. They all have different styles of writing and are formatted differently. Some pieces contain a lot of detail; others do not. Some of them directly address specific RFP requirements, while others sort of talk around them. This morning I will begin work on one of these sections. This will involve rearranging material, editing and re-writing, preparing some new material, setting the proposal's tone and style, and developing a new format that will be used consistently throughout the proposal. Once this initial piece is done, I can use it as a basis for work on the other sections.
Some people may wonder why I don't provide the names of clients or the titles and subjects of the proposals that I am working on. The answer is simple: I believe in keeping that information confidential while a proposal is in process. Once a proposal is submitted, I may incorporate the client's name and the nature of the assignment into my resume. Confidentiality is a very important aspect of proposal writing. I'll address the why's and wherefore's of confidentiality in an upcoming post.
But for now, it's time to get to work.
Posted by Deborah at 6:48 AM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2004
Those Last-Minute Desperation Calls
Proposal consultants are often contacted at the last minute by organizations that suddenly realize that their proposals are in trouble and they need help. Unfortunately, a consultant can't always come to their aid due to other commitments. In other cases, the proposal problems may be so extensive that they can't all be addressed and fixed before the proposal due date.
These last-minute realizations often come about because: (1) organizations don't want to spend the money for a proposal consultant, and (2) individuals in charge of proposal efforts sincerely believe that they or their staffs can do the whole proposal themselves. Then, with only a few days to go before the proposal must be submitted, they recognize that they're in trouble and send out a frantic call for assistance. By that time, it may be too late. They have spent a lot of time (and time = money) preparing a proposal that doesn't stand a chance of winning. And winning the bid is the whole point of preparing a proposal, unless it is being done just as a practical exercise.
One of the ways that last-minute desperation can be avoided is to hire a consultant at the outset to provide direction and guidance -- not to actually develop or help develop the proposal itself. This is an inexpensive and cost-effective way to get expert assistance as you move through the proposal process. Some of the things that a consultant can do for you are:
Posted by Deborah at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2004
Sunday Scoreboard - July 18, 2004
I've developed the Sunday Scoreboard as a way of keeping track of my weekly or monthly activities. Here's my report for the past week:
I also completed the Proposal Critique that I wrote about in an earlier post. The client sent me one section that they had revised per my comments. It was considerably improved, but still missing some important information. I never did see the other revised sections. The client had only 1-1/2 days to make all the changes, so I'm not even sure they got around to incorporating all my suggested revisions. I'll give them a call this week to see how things went.
Posted by Deborah at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2004
Plagiarism Update
Good news! The plagarist has taken my Proposal Tips off her site. Wonder what she's going to put there now -- maybe someone else's tips.
This has all happened pretty quickly. In my cease and desist e-mail of July 9, I gave her 5 days to remove the material. When she didn't respond or comply, I sent official notices of copyright infringement to her website hosting company and to Google and Yahoo! These notices were sent out on July 14. The next day, Yahoo! e-mailed me back, asking for some additional info. After providing it, I received another e-mail from them saying that "appropriate action will be taken." This means that they have (or will) give her a limited time in which to dispute my claim.
Then yesterday, July 16, I received e-mails from her website hosting company and Google. The hosting company informed me that she has been notified and has 3 days to respond. In its e-mail, Google asked me to re-fax my letter since some of it was illegible. I sent Google another fax and also e-mailed them a copy. When I checked the plagarist's website last night (July 16), my material had been removed.
Yippee! -- I don't have to resort to The Lawyer. What I really would like to do now is to send the plagarist another e-mail. But I'm not going to. So, Ms. X, here's what I have to say to you: I will be checking your website periodically. If I find that you have infringed my copyright again, you won't get any warnings from me, your hosting company, Google or Yahoo. Instead, you'll get a lawsuit.
Posted by Deborah at 6:08 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2004
Balancing Act
I've just begun work for a new client who is bidding on an Army contract. When we spoke on the phone the other day, the client expressed a lot of frustration because staff members have not handed in their writing assignments on time. She indicated that this has been a problem with past proposals, with the result being a great deal of last-minute work and late nights in order to meet proposal submission deadlines.
She seemed relieved and surprised when I assured her that this is a VERY common problem for both experienced and inexperienced bidders. In fact, most prospective clients are relieved and surprised when they hear me say this -- they think that they are the only ones faced with the problem, and that everyone else is well-organized, efficient and timely. But more likely than not, the same problem occurs within organizations that have good systems in place for proposal development and staff who are accustomed to writing proposals.
In my experience, proposal writing assignments are rarely completed on time. Sometimes the writers just don't know where to start or what to say. However, in the majority of cases, the problem is created by the Balancing Act: how to balance ongoing work with proposal work. Staff of an organization always have ongoing work and projects to complete, deadlines to meet, meetings to attend, vacation schedules, travel commitments, and so forth. Then a proposal comes along, and these same staff are given additional work on top of their already full workloads combined with a proposal submission deadline that absolutely cannot slip. Given this set of circumstances, it's often a miracle that a proposal gets done at all.
So what's the solution to the problem? One solution, of course, is for staff to revise their schedules and priorities, work additional hours, and/or somehow become more efficient. Easier said than done. Another solution is to create a dedicated proposal development unit within the organization. While many large companies do have proposal departments, most small- and mid-size companies can't afford to set them up. A third way to go is to use the services of a proposal consultant. In many instances, it is because of The Balancing Act that clients call on me for assistance.
So now you know -- you're not the only one.
Posted by Deborah at 8:19 AM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2004
Proposalese
When I'm working on a proposal and just can't think of anything to write or how to put something down the way I want it to read, I sometimes ask myself "who came up with this proposal stuff anyway and why do they have to be written like this?" Proposals seem to be a special breed of writing. All the proposals I have ever worked on or seen have a certain style, a certain tone, a certain way of wording things. It's called Proposalese. If you don't know what proposalese is, think about some of the government, technical and legal documents you've had to plow through -- you'll get the idea. Proposals don't really reflect the way that most normal people write or talk (except maybe some lawyers -- and don't get me wrong, I like lawyers). Here's an example of proposalese:
Ajaxx Corporation will make the necessary arrangements for all contract personnel, including subcontractors, to obtain GRTM personnel badges and clearances. We understand that all project staff will be required to have and display a GRTM identification badge in their possession at all times while on the Center or its off-site facilities. Requests for employee badges will be submitted to the COTR via GRTM Form 2324, "Contractor Badge/Decal Application." Ajaxx will also establish procedures to ensure that each badged employee is properly cleared in accordance with GRTM Form 383-1, "Contractor Employee Clearance Document," prior to finalization of employment termination.
Huh? See what I mean? This sounds suspiciously like an insurance policy that I had to read last week
Out of desperation and frustration, many proposal people have come up with innovative ideas for preparing and submitting proposals: