Deborah's Proposal Writing Blog

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Having advance knowledge of a procurement opportunity is a real advantage, because you can begin planning and gathering information for a bid or proposal before the solicitation hits the street. Once a solicitation is released and you haven't known about it beforehand, you may have to do a lot of scurrying around to catch up with other bidders who have already begun their preparations.

Many new contractors, including small businesses, aren't aware that major federal government agencies are required by law to release information to the public about their upcoming procurement opportunities for the fiscal year. These are called "Procurement Forecasts," and you can usually find them on agency websites. Or, you can go directly to the Procurement Forecast dropdown box at the Acquisition Net website and select the agency(ies) that interest you.

John Doe, our proposed Senior Systems Analyst, has 15 years of experience in systems analysis and design, programming, equipment installation, and training. He is proficient in several computer languages, as well as in the use of various software packages. Mr. Doe has been Certified as a Systems Professional by the Institute for the Certification of Computer Professionals, and his professional affiliations include membership in the Association of Systems Management and the International Association for Statistical Computing. Mr. Doe was awarded his B.S. degree in Data Processing and Information Systems from Nowhere University in 1998, and has received additional training in computer data systems, project management, and information systems.

Mr. Doe is currently a Senior Systems Analyst with NoSuch Data Services, Inc., a small business based in Washington, D.C., which has carried out work for numerous U.S. government agencies. From 1997-2003, Mr. Doe was a Data Processing Consultant at the Center for Information and Coordination in Laurel, Maryland, with responsibility for information systems development, information flow, and design of presentation packages. During 1993-1999, he served as the Data Processing Project Manager for the State of Ohio, where he was involved in identifying new technologies and in establishing administrative procedures for processing various applications. As a Systems Analyst with the California Institute of Statistics from 1990-1992, Mr. Doe was responsible for planning and organizing the processing of censuses and surveys, establishing hardware requirements for census processing, and supervising programming and computer operations staff.

So what's a blurb? In a proposal, a blurb is a short summary of the experience and qualifications of the key (and sometimes other) personnel that you are proposing for your project. Blurbs don't usually take the place of resumes -- rather, they summarize and possibly elaborate on them, highlighting the important information that you want to convey about your proposed candidates. When you are writing up your blurbs, it's critical that you look at the personnel evaluation criteria that are set forth in the RFP/RFA. These criteria often indicate the desired levels and types of education, training, background, and experience that each of your key personnel should have. So you will want to incorporate some of this info in your write-ups.

There is no set length for a blurb, although the blurb for the Project Director is often a bit longer than the others because he/she is the leader of the project team. The blurbs that I have worked on range from a quarter of a page to a page and a half, but are frequently about 1/3 to 1/2 of a page. The total number of pages and the amount of space you allocate for each blurb are often a function of proposal page limits and the number of evaluation points given to the personnel section of your proposal.

First. I was contacted late last week by someone who used to work for one of my international clients. I didn't know him personally, but we exchanged e-mails a few times. Turns out that he has left that organization and now works for another, very prestigious organization in Europe. He contacted me to find out if I would be interested in helping them prepare a major report. The work would begin this month and carry over into next month. It would be a wonderful opportunity for me because I would love to get my foot in the door with this organization. When I told my contact that I was available, he said that he would get back to me this week with more details. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this doesn't fall through.

One of the reasons I detest production is that something always goes wrong. And usually it's more than one thing. In addition to creating frustration and stress, production tasks eat up vast amounts of time because you have to correct or redo all of the things that go wrong. That's what happened to me yesterday, and I should have known better.

I had planned to take the proposal to Kinko's for copying at 8 AM yesterday. I had gotten up at 4 AM to get everything finished -- editing, filling in some forms, reviewing and checking, etc. Naturally, all of this took longer than I had anticipated. When I got done, I printed out the proposal and found that some of the page numbers were wrong because I had miscounted the number of pages that had to be inserted by hand. So I had to go back into several files, re-number pages, and print out the document again. It was 10 AM before I got to Kinko's. Luckily they weren't busy and said they could have my 10 copies ready in a hour. That was the only thing that went well.

I picked up the copies an hour later and began the assembly process. It was then that I realized that there were 7 pages that looked awful because the shading on some of the tables didn't copy well. Back to the computer to take out the shading and re-print 10 copies of each of the bad pages. Of course, I ran out of 3-hole punch paper for the printer, so I had to use the manual hole puncher to make holes in the pages I had just printed. Then I had to go through all 10 documents, take out the bad copies, and insert the new pages. More wasted time.

Finally, I get all 10 copies assembled and packed into the box for shipment to the state agency. Time to go to the Post Office. I send the box via certified mail with what I thought was a return receipt request. The Post Office lady stamps my certified receipt with the date and I stick the receipt in my purse without looking at it because I still have to send a copy of the proposal via Fedex to my client. I wasn't prepared for this because he had only told me that morning that he wanted me to Fedex him a hard copy. Well OK, how hard could that be? The Post Office has a Fedex box out right out front. Except... there is only one envelope that is the right size and no mailing labels. That's just great. I take the envelope and drive over to Staples, where there is another Fedex box. This one has no labels either. Get back in the car and drive over to Kinko's, which is now owned by Fedex. They have plenty of mailing labels but no mailing envelopes. Huh? This is a Fedex store, for God's sake. Have they ever heard of inventory? Good thing I had taken the one remaining mailing envelope from the Post Office Fedex box. I go back to my car, get the envelope and go back into the Fedex-Kinko's store to fill out the label and send the overnight package.

But wait! I want to make copies of a few receipts to include in the Fedex package. No problem, there are plenty of copiers at Fedex-Kinko's. I head over to the copiers only to find that I can't put actual money in them -- they only take credit cards. So I have to use my card to make 34 cents' worth of copies. Give me a break.

One of the things that I copied was the certified mail receipt from the Post Office that I hadn't looked at when I sent the package. Uh oh -- the receipt doesn't show that I had requested a return receipt for the proposal package. So now I have to go back to the Post Office and wait in line to see the same lady that had originally helped me with the package. Fortunately, she's very nice and doesn't give me a nasty look when I explain the situation. She goes in the back to retrieve the package, and we start all over again filling out a new certified mail form and return receipt request form. I am finished! Hooray!

And all of this took only 7 hours out of my day. It was exhausting, frustrating and stressful. That's why I'm venting here. Production? BAH!

When my current client first started working on his proposal, he didn't bother to read some of the important information contained in the RFP. As a result, he wasted valuable time in writing some sections that did not conform to what was asked for in the RFP. Additionally, he began preparing his project budget without looking at the specific forms and formats that the RFP required. Had I not called these problems to his attention, he would have run the risk that his proposal would be thrown out because it was non-responsive. As it is, he has had to spend a lot of time redoing these things -- time that he really needed to spend on other parts of the proposal.

You may think that re-reading an RFA/RFA a thousand times is a waste. But it's not. It's an absolute imperative if you want to win a contract or grant. After all, if the reviewers see that you can't follow the instructions contained in an RFP, they may also have good reason to believe that you can't perform the project you are bidding on.

While I was gone, my client sent several more written sections for the proposal. Also, he has made the decision not to submit three separate proposals -- he just wants to go forward with the one we are currently working on. I'm relieved about that, since I had always thought it would be next to impossible to get three of them done. So today I'll work on reviewing and inserting the new pieces. In addition, I have to go to Staples to buy some binders, tabs, and whatever else is needed to assemble the eight copies that are needed for submission. My client doesn't want to physically assemble the copies himself; he wants me to do it and to mail the entire package to the state procurement office. Assembly is a pain. I hate doing it. He could get an admin person to do it for a lot less money, but he wants me to handle it.

Before I left for Williamsburg last week, I spoke with a new potential client who wants to submit a proposal to USAID. Like so many others who contact me, he is way behind. Basically, he has two weeks to put the proposal together, and he has never done a USAID bid. It's going to be difficult if he decides to move ahead on it. I'm going to give him a call later today to discuss.

It's pretty much a ghost town here. There are hardly any tourists. Very different from the spring, summer and fall when this place is mobbed. But the good thing is that there are no lines and no waiting. We were even able to get into a very popular restaurant last night with no reservations. Still, it is a bit chilly. When we got here on Thursday, the weather was great -- we had lunch at an outdoor cafe. But it was cold yesterday and it looks like it's going to be cold today.

It was bound to happen. Some "clever" person has set up a "Free Money Blog." He apparently sent out a mass mailing about it, and one of the people on his e-mail list was me. So of course I went to take a look at it. It's the same old stuff -- free money for everything, just buy the book. The blog hasn't shown up in Google yet, at least on the first five or so search results pages, but I'm sure it will hit the search engines eventually. No, I'm not going to give out the URL.

I'm leaving tomorrow for a long weekend in Williamsburg, VA, meeting up with some family members who are coming from in Florida. It will be nice to get away for a few days.

Got a couple of serious inquiries yesterday. One in particular interests me, since it's a USAID proposal. But the timing isn't good, what with my Williamsburg trip and my current project. I'll be e-mailing them back today to get more info on their needs and schedule. Perhaps something will work out.

And finally. As of yesterday, there were 300 subscribers to this blog. That doesn't seem too bad for the six months I've been blogging, and it doesn't include quite a few people who are subscribing through their rss readers. Actually, it's kind of surprising since I would have never thought that 300 people would be interested in reading about proposal development. Thanks, everyone.

A proposal schedule should be developed before you begin work on your proposal. The schedule can be in the form of a gantt chart, as was suggested in the comment, or you can use a monthly calendar, your proposal outline, or a simple listing of items and activities/due dates. Use the format that works best for you and your team members. Personally, I use all of these schedule types, depending on the complexity and length of the proposal effort.

At a minimum, your proposal schedules should contain:

• Due dates of each section, including the due dates of all drafts and the final product, along with the name of the person or persons responsible for the section.
• Dates of status review and other meetings related to the development of the proposal.
• Dates during which each section -- as well as the final proposal -- will be reviewed, and the name(s) of the reviewer.
• Holidays or other days during which no one will be working (haha).
• Dates reserved for proposal production (printing, copying, assembly, etc).
• Date on which the proposal must be shipped out or delvered.