Chapter 7
Pre-Proposal Phase Activities
There is no clear demarcation between long-range positioning and the pre-proposal phase of the business acquisition life cycle. In fact, the two phases overlap. Long-range positioning is an ongoing activity. Its focus is more general in nature, but it feeds information into the pre-proposal phase. The pre-proposal phase is specific to a single program. It is entered once enough information exists to make a bid decision and to begin formulating a bid strategy. This should be at least 12 months or more before a formal RFP is released.
More often than not, the seeds of victory or defeat are sown during this phase. This is when the government transforms its need into a formal RFP. It is also during this period that the government decides how to conduct the competition, build a source selection plan, identify source selection members, and interact with prospective bidders to inform them about the forthcoming procurement. Concurrently, potential bidders must evaluate the program to determine whether it merits an investment of their bid and proposal resources. If so, they must develop and implement a bid strategy and begin planning for the proposal itself. This also marks a period of heightened customer contact and a more focused collection of marketing information.
Bidders that start early, and do a good job of planning and strategizing prior to RFP release, gain competitive advantage. Those that start late and squander this time enter the competition at a significant disadvantage. The choice between these two options should be intuitive, but it is not. Nothing in life is free. Effort expended during the pre-proposal phase costs money. In an attempt to conserve B&P resources, some organizations postpone these activities until later, i.e., once an RFP is released.
Unfortunately, such efforts to save money most often yield a double dose of disaster. First, starting late increases the probability of losing. Either key pre-proposal activities do not get done or they are accomplished too late or so hastily that they fail to contribute positively. Second, starting late practically never reduces total bid cost. In fact, just the opposite occurs. Trying to make all the necessary decisions and accomplish all the work in less time leads to the inefficient use of resources. This only increases the cost compared to performing the same effort over a longer time period.
Making good use of B&P resources is a prudent business practice. Yet, spending valuable resources on a losing effort is foolish at best. If starting early does in fact cost more, it should be weighed against the value of increasing win probability. Ultimately, you will find that it makes more sense to follow a path that leads to a higher rate of success. Typically, that means starting early.
MAKING BID DECISIONS
No one can afford to chase every possible business opportunity, nor should anyone want to. B&P resources tend to be scarce. They should be applied only to opportunities with a reasonable probability of success. The decision to pursue a particular contract opportunity, therefore, needs to be a conscious, well-thought-out effort.
A bid decision should be made once enough information is available. This marks the point when an organization decides either to pursue a program or to forgo the opportunity. A positive bid decision also normally means that the organization will allocate and spend B&P funds.
Information about forthcoming procurements tends to be spread over time. Things like specifications, contract terms, competitors, and competing opportunities also change during this period. Therefore, it may be necessary to make multiple bid decisions.
A three-tier bid decision system works for most procurements. The first tier is a preliminary decision to pursue a contract. A “pursue” decision in this case means that the organization will continue to collect information until enough information is available to make another bid decision, or until a set time in the future. It also means that a limited budget will be allocated.
The second tier or gate occurs when sufficient information exists to make a formal bid decision. The type of information necessary to support this decision level is explained below. A third-tier decision occurs once the final RFP is released.
The final decision is primarily to validate an earlier bid decision. It verifies that nothing has changed that would undermine the earlier decision or significantly reduce win probability. This rarely happens. Nonetheless, if something has happened that would seriously undermine your ability to win, it is better to cut your losses than to spend additional funds on a losing effort. Reversing a previous decision to bid is always difficult. Money has already been spent and plans put in place. Yet continuing to pursue an effort that falls below your normal bid criteria is bad management. It is better to take the money you would have spent and apply it to another opportunity with a higher probability of success.
Bid Decision Criteria
If you are going to make a bid decision, it follows logically that you will need a set of criteria on which to base this important decision. The following questions provide some typical criteria. They also highlight the type of information that must be available to make an informed decision.
Does the opportunity fit within your strategic business plan, and is it consistent with your organization’s mission statement and marketing plan? This is a go/no-go criterion. You pursue only opportunities that are consistent with the organization’s overall strategic plan. One of the values of having a mission statement is to screen potential opportunities. If a new program is outside the scope of your mission statement, you do not bid on it. As an extreme example, if your organization’s mission is to be a world leader in software integration, you would not decide to bid on a contract to build bazookas. Actually, having a strategic plan and mission statement normally would allow the screening and elimination of irrelevant opportunities during the long-range planning phase.
A common mistake is to bid on contracts well outside the scope of the organization’s mission. This often happens when few new business opportunities are available or when the business base of the organization is declining. Succumbing to this temptation is shortsighted. Lean times demand restraint and discipline to preserve scarce B&P resources. This is also the wrong time to try to branch into a new line of business just because an opportunity presents itself. The successful pursuit of new lines of business is the purview of strategic planning, not the happenstance of rash decisions to acquire new business.
If the opportunity being considered meets the go/no-go criterion, address the following areas.
Opportunity background—Is this opportunity funded? Do you understand the problem that needs to be solved by the customer? Do you have a clear grasp of the technical and program requirements? Do these requirements match your organization’s expertise?
Relationship/reputation with the customer—Are you currently performing work for the customer, or have you performed work for the customer in the past? If so, what is your reputation with the customer? Can you overcome any poor past performance efforts? If you do not have any performance experience with the customer, have you ensured that the customer knows you and is aware of your capability to perform the required work?
Technical capability—Does your company possess the necessary technical capability to successfully perform the contract? Do you have more technical experience than competitors, or a technical advantage, in this area? Is your staff better trained or educated? Can you come up with an innovative solution to the customer’s requirements? Note that there is a difference between having the required capability addressed by this criterion and whether the customer is familiar with that capability. The customer must believe that you have the required technical capability.
Subcontractors—Do you need to add subcontractors to your team to overcome a real or perceived weakness? Will a qualified subcontractor enhance the value of your team in terms of customer relationships or technical capability?
Marketing intelligence—Have you done a good job positioning yourself with the customer? Do you know the customer’s needs, fears, and desires? Have you collected up-to-date information on competitors? Does anyone have the “inside track” with the customer, or is the procurement “wired” for a competitor?
Competition—Who are the likely competitors for this procurement? What are their strengths and weaknesses compared to program requirements? What is the reputation of the competitors with this customer? What relevant experience do competitors possess?
Pricing—Can you present a credible, competitive price to the customer? Are your labor rates, overhead, and general and administrative (G&A) costs competitive for this type of procurement and for this customer? Do you have any capability, experience, or insight that will give you a price advantage?
Personnel/proposal resources—Will sufficient personnel and proposal resources be available to prepare a winning proposal? Will other proposal efforts overlap with this one? If so, will you still have the necessary resources available to prepare an excellent proposal? Do you have a stable of contract labor or consultants who can effectively cover any shortfall in proposal resources?
Considering all relevant criteria, what is the realistic probability your organization will win the procurement? Be honest with yourself. Assess the competition realistically. If you cannot impartially assess your ability to win at 50 percent or greater, you are probably better off passing on this opportunity.
Bid Decision Evaluation Form
One way to assess bid criteria is to score each relevant area on a scale from 1 to 10. Figure 7-1 provides a sample rating scale that includes candidate bid criteria. (Bid criteria can be adjusted, if necessary, to meet your organization’s specific requirements.) Procurements that achieve a minimum threshold score, such as an average score of 7.5, are considered legitimate bid opportunities. Two options are available for those that fall below the threshold: (1) abandon the bid opportunity, or (2) try to identify actions that would improve the bid rating enough to meet the threshold. If you choose the latter path, the bid opportunity should be reevaluated after the corrective action has been put in place.
Evaluating bid opportunities by scoring them against a predetermined set of criteria has several advantages. First, the process yields a fairly objective method for making bid decisions. Opportunities either meet or fail to meet the bid threshold. Second, the process of assigning a score to a bid decision area requires each evaluator to seriously consider the factors that contribute to a favorable or unfavorable score. This level of “thinking” is often neglected unless the bid decision process forces it. Third, the bid evaluation exercise highlights the need for information necessary to score bid decision areas credibly. This need in turn serves as a catalyst. It should stimulate the organization to collect, organize, and use information to make informed bid decisions. It will be very difficult, for example, to evaluate the competition on a scale of 1 to 10 if you do not have available information on competitors. Fourth, if you have competing bid opportunities and have funds to pursue only one of them, you can select the one with the highest bid score. Finally, scoring bid opportunities will enable you to compare the overall score with the ultimate outcome of the bid.
Figure 7-1. Bid Decision Evaluation Form
Theoretically, higher bid scores should correlate positively with bid success. Some simple recordkeeping will allow you to correlate the two. This information could be used to adjust your bid process to improve future bid capture efforts.
Bid Committee
A key consideration in making a bid decision is who will perform the evaluation and who will make the bid decision. Ultimately, a senior decision-maker will have to approve the bid decision, especially if B&P resources will be spent on its pursuit. I favor using a bid committee with a fixed core membership supplemented with additional members based on specific program requirements.
The composition of the bid committee needs to be tailored to the unique requirements of each organization. Typical committee membership might include representation from marketing, proposal management, contracts, pricing, program management, and relevant technical disciplines. Ideally, the committee chairperson would be the person responsible for approving the bid decision. Otherwise, a senior manager from marketing or proposals should chair the committee.
Each committee member individually completes the bid decision evaluation form. The committee then meets to discuss the individual ratings and determine consensus. A composite rating that exceeds the threshold score indicates a favorable decision to bid the program in question. If the bid committee is not empowered to make the bid decision, the outcome of the committee process can be used as the source of a presentation made to decision-makers.
Practical Exercise
What follows is a practical exercise in making a bid decision using a fictitious scenario.
As a capture manager for Com-R-Us, you convene a bid committee to make an initial decision whether to pursue the Joint Tactical Widget (JTW) bid opportunity. You also need to determine what additional information is required to support both this initial decision and subsequent bid decisions. Here is what you know so far:
Com-R-Us’s primary business is performing aircraft maintenance and modifications, especially for wide-body aircraft. The JTW program therefore falls into your core business, and you have been tracking this program for nearly two years. The customer expects to release a draft RFP in about six months with a final RFP to follow two months later. Marketing has met with the Air Force JTW program manager several times, but thus far you have had no interaction with the Air Force lead engineer or his logistics manager. No one from senior management has ever visited this customer. About 18 months ago marketing presented a company capabilities briefing to this overall customer, but no one from the current JTW program office attended.
Com-R-Us has several ongoing programs with this Air Force acquisition agency, but not specifically with the E-XB program office. Current and past performance on these programs has been satisfactory; however, you have experienced some minor problems with meeting schedule and with subcontractor management. In particular, you had a recent situation in which your subcontractor failed to perform and you were required to terminate it and find a second source. Fortunately, you were able to accomplish this switch without a major impact on program cost or schedule. Nonetheless, the customer remains a little concerned about your ability to manage subcontractors and your ability to meet demanding modification schedules. Therefore, the customer might perceive your company as one that will require more management attention than the customer prefers or is staffed to handle.
Technically, you have excellent engineering talent and capability to perform this program, although you have no prior experience working on the E-XB aircraft. Consequently, you also have no experience with the legacy systems recently installed on the E-XB aircraft. You have a satisfactory logistics support capability, but this area has never been a strength. Schedule-wise, you may have a problem. You have only one hangar capable of housing the E-XB aircraft, and there is moderate probability you will need that hangar for six to nine months during the system design phase.
The competitors for this program are reasonably well known. They include Hi-Tech Systems, A-Mod, and Services Inc.
Hi-Tech is your archrival and is always competitive for these types of programs. It has good overall engineering capability and excellent logistics support expertise. Hi-Tech generally has good past performance but recently experienced some reliability problems on one of its aircraft modification programs. Like your company, Hi-Tech has experience with the Air Force acquisition agency but not with the JTW program office. Hi-Tech has a reputation for good program management and tends to require less government oversight than your company.
A-Mod is your other principal competitor. It typically bids a compliant technical solution at a very affordable price but rarely exceeds specification requirements. It has good overall engineering capability, but it is very weak in software and its logistics support capability is marginal at best. A-Mod has good past performance and has worked with the JTW program office, although its last JTW program was completed more than three years ago. Like Hi-Tech, A-Mod has good program management capability and tends to require little oversight from the customer.
Another likely bidder is Service Inc. Service Inc. tends to win on price alone by bidding marginally compliant technical solutions at a great price. Everyone refers to Service Inc. as a “bottom feeder,” but it should not be taken for granted.
Thus far it does not appear that anyone has a decided advantage; however, A-Mod does have prior experience working with the JTW customer. The customer is currently finalizing specifications and statement of work requirements, and without benefit of a draft RFP, it is still difficult to see if anyone has an obvious technical advantage.
From a resource perspective, it appears you will have a good proposal team available, as well as the basic resources you need to prepare the JTW proposal.
Com-R-Us typically bids to win on best value by exceeding technical requirements. Therefore, you are often the highest-priced bidder. In addition, you have a recent history of having very expensive production costs.
Exercise:
Based on the current information, use the bid decision evaluation form to individually score the JTW bid opportunity. In addition, identify what actions you plan to take to:
Further clarify the bid opportunity
Obtain additional information
Contact/brief the customer.
For each action determine what specific information you want to collect or present to the customer, the person (e.g., program manager, project engineer) within your organization who will be responsible, and the customer representatives you plan to contact.
Set milestones for these actions, based on the JTW procurement schedule, and assign responsibility within your organization for their tracking and completion.
You do not have unlimited resources, so be practical about how much activity you plan to accomplish.
Working through this exercise will give you a feel for how the bid decision evaluation form works and how to use it as a tool. For example, it appears that Com-R-Us has some work ahead to put itself in a competitive bid position.
PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCES
Customers frequently hold pre-proposal conferences. The purpose is to provide an overview of the upcoming contract, get input from potential bidders, and answer any questions in an open forum so that all interested parties can hear the answers. The style and format of such conferences run the gamut. Most often they are held before the final RFP is released. In some cases, the customer releases a draft RFP before the conference and uses the conference as a means to solicit comments about the draft and to answer questions concerning the procurement.
There are some general rules of thumb concerning conduct at pre-proposal conferences. Every interaction with your customer contributes to customer bias. How the customer perceives you and your organization is important. Its impression can bias, positively or negatively, how it will respond subsequently to your proposal. So be on your best behavior. Avoid any hint of arrogance. Be friendly. Act interested. Do not ask a question to which any qualified bidder should know the answer. In fact, I generally recommend that you refrain from asking questions at a public conference. Your role at a proposal conference is to listen and to learn, not to talk or give away information.
Observe who attends. They are potential competitors. Listen carefully and take good notes. The conference might provide you with some useful information beyond what you can find in the RFP. Pay attention to the type of questions asked and who is asking them. Judging by the questions being asked, how many of those present are serious competitors? How many are from competitor organizations? Likewise, listen carefully to the customer’s answers. Try to discern any customer concerns about the cost, schedule, quality, or feasibility of satisfying its need. Chat with other bidders. Listen for clues about their reactions to the solicitation or potential team relationships between attendees. Be noncommittal about your own intentions or ideas. If possible, get a list of attendees. Customers often distribute them or post them on their websites.
Sometimes, customers schedule a one-on-one session where they meet individually with each bidder. Always take advantage of these opportunities. Typically, the information exchanged in a one-on-one session is confidential and will not be shared with other bidders. If in doubt, ask.
These sessions offer an excellent chance to interact with the customer and probably members of the source selection team. Prepare questions in advance and review them before the meeting. Never be confrontational with your customer, disagree strongly with what he or she has to say, or show your frustration or anger with aspects of the impending procurement. Also, do not use this opportunity to give a marketing pitch. Focus on collecting the information you need to build a bid strategy or to clarify a point about the contract.
To the extent practical, express your understanding of the customer’s needs and the capability of your team to meet those needs. Try to demonstrate that you will be easy to work with and are competent to perform the contract.
Again, take good notes and pay attention to the body language of customer attendees. Sometimes there is more information in a facial expression than in the verbal answer. At a minimum, two people from your organization should attend—normally more, so you have one person free to take notes. Ideally, the people attending the meeting should be the same people who will be responsible for performing the contract if you are the winning bidder. The person responsible for capturing the bid, or the program manager, should lead the meeting for your company.
Refrain from taking your contracts manager or someone from senior management to these meetings. Bringing your contracts manager could send the wrong message. Moreover, contract discussions could become contentious, which is something you want to avoid displaying in front of likely source selection team members. Bringing a representative from senior management seems like a good idea—to demonstrate company commitment and interest—but is rarely well received. One-on-one meetings are intended as a constructive dialogue between the government and prospective bidders. They are intended to clarify and finalize final RFP requirements. These discussions typically are detailed and specific to the bid opportunity. Seldom will anyone from senior management be capable of meaningful participation.
PROPOSAL PLANNING
Preliminary proposal planning should be accomplished before the final RFP is released. Start early so you can forecast needed resources. If the customer releases a draft RFP, it should include enough information to build a good initial plan. Proposal planning covers three major elements: schedule, resources, and budget.
Build a preliminary proposal schedule (see Chapter 11). Identify key milestones for the completion of draft proposal sections, reviews, and final products for the technical and cost proposals. Include ample time to produce the final product, subject it to a quality control check, and deliver it to the customer.
Resources cover people, facilities, systems, and whatever else you will need to prepare your proposal. The earlier you can forecast personnel requirements, the better. Proposals compete for resources just like every other function. Work with functional managers to identify personnel with the requisite skills and preferably people who have some proposal savvy. Make sure managers understand the timeframe during which people will be required and the scope of the assignment. If possible, get a commitment that once personnel are assigned, they will not be pulled off the proposal for another purpose. Swapping out personnel during proposal preparation can be disastrous. At best, it causes a break in continuity with a corresponding loss of time—a most precious commodity for proposals.
Build a matrix showing the required labor categories or skills and the period during which they will be required. The matrix can serve as a good checklist, and it will prove valuable in estimating the proposal budget.
In addition to personnel, you should identify any required facilities and systems necessary to prepare the proposal. Use your organization’s proposal center or area, if you have one. Otherwise, locate the proposal team in a common area. This greatly enhances team communication. Leaving people in their regular offices is usually a bad idea. There are too many distractions and interruptions. Eventually you will have to seclude the proposal team if you hope to prepare a winning proposal.
If a separate group in your company is responsible for proposal publication, coordinate future needs with the department manager. Again, this will enable adequate planning and prevent any unwanted surprises.
Also identify any special systems or processes necessary to prepare your proposal. These might include unique application software tools not normally available to employees, access to pricing systems, or special packaging. Someone in your organization will probably want to know how much preparing the proposal will cost. Use information about resources and schedule to prepare a proposal budget. You may already have a preliminary budget established as part of your annual planning process. If so, update it with the specific information you used to identify resources. Include contingency funds in the budget to accommodate slips in schedule or extensions to the proposal. Also add a little money for things you have forgotten. There is always something that slips through the cracks or an unforeseen problem that requires money to fix. Include costs for outside services, including consultants.
If you have people who normally charge their time directly to a contract, they will need a charge number to work on the proposal. Set up a charge number and make a list of everyone authorized to charge his or her time against that number. This information will be necessary to track charges to the proposal budget. It is essential if you plan to monitor and manage the proposal budget.
Update your proposal plan once you receive the final RFP.
COMMENTING ON DRAFT RFPS
Some procuring agencies release a draft RFP and ask bidders to comment on the draft and ask questions about the procurement. The customer uses these comments and questions as input to amend the final RFP. Normally, comments/questions and the customer’s answers are provided to all potential bidders. Be careful about what you ask because this information might be shared with your competitors.
Have the proposal team read the draft RFP and make notes. Make sure at least two people read the entire RFP. Note inconsistencies, missing information, and apparent ambiguities, and write candidate questions/comments. For each, identify the RFP reference—section number, title, and page number. Compile all the questions and then assemble the proposal team. Go through each question in detail to determine which questions you will submit to the customer.
As for pre-proposal conferences, there are some general rules that should be followed in responding to a draft RFP. Again, you want to use this opportunity to positively impress the customer. Here are some recommended guidelines:
Do not ask questions that display your ignorance, give competitors insight about your approach, reveal information you do not want everyone else to have, or address an issue that could produce an unwanted answer. If an RFP ambiguity can be used to your advantage, do not ask for clarification. (See Chapter 9 for an example of how to use an ambiguity to your advantage.)
Do not ask a question that any qualified bidder should be able to answer.
Do not ask a question in a manner that allows the customer to answer “yes” or “no” unless that level of answer is sufficient. If you want the customer to answer a question in a particular way, phrase the question in a way that leads the customer to the desired answer; for example, “We believe the correct standard for this requirement is XXX; please comment” versus “What is the correct standard for this requirement?”
If you make a recommendation, then explain its benefit to the customer. Be careful not to give the appearance of making a recommendation that is beneficial solely to your company. That will appear to be self-serving. You should make recommendations that give you an advantage; just frame them so they do not appear that way.
Be sure the clarity and quality of submitted questions match the standards you use for final proposal material. Confusing questions are likely to lead to irrelevant or confusing answers. Typographical and grammatical errors suggest a lack of attention to detail and connote inattentiveness.
Do not use inflammatory language or cast questions in a way that appears to question the intelligence, decision-making ability, or integrity of the customer. Customers do dumb things all the time; let one of your competitors point out their shortcomings.
Use a casual writing style that communicates respect; for example, “RFP Section L states the transition period is 60 days, whereas Section B indicates the period is 90 days. Please clarify the correct transition period.” That is preferable to “Why are the transition periods different for Sections A and B? Only one can be correct.” It is okay to point out inconsistencies in the RFP or even disagree with an RFP requirement. Just do it gracefully and in a manner that does not appear to be argumentative.
Organize your questions/comments by RFP section. Separate administrative comments concerning RFP typos, numbers out of sequence, missing information, etc. This will facilitate review by the customer.
Submit the minimum number of questions required to clarify the RFP. You will make no friends on the source selection team by submitting ten pages of questions. If there is a question every bidder will likely ask, then let someone else ask it.
WRITING PROPOSAL SECTIONS AGAINST THE DRAFT RFP
Starting early is prudent. Preparing an initial cut at your proposal using the draft RFP is a common practice and one I recommend. However, some caveats are in order.
You must have a good sense of how much the final RFP will change. Otherwise, a wholesale change in proposal requirements between the draft and final will frustrate your proposal team and waste a lot of money. A good knowledge of your customer and its typical practices in preparing draft and final RFPs is your best weapon. Beware of schedule slips in the release of the final RFP—they often forecast major RFP changes. When in doubt, focus on the RFP requirements that are least likely to change. These include the past performance volume, management sections, topics that address processes such as systems engineering, and narrative required for the cost volume. You can also set up the structure for cost estimates, prepare preliminary subcontractor statements of work and terms and conditions, locate key personnel résumés, or collect any required information that is not likely to change.
Starting early is one of the single most important contributors to proposal success. This advantage, however, needs to be balanced against the downside: the risk of changing RFP requirements and the need to conserve B&P resources.
PROPOSAL TEAM TRAINING
An easy way to gain competitive advantage is to equip the proposal team with the skills and knowledge they will need to accomplish their proposal tasks successfully. Training the proposal team in some of the basics will significantly reduce their frustration level. It also will produce a windfall of increased productivity.
You have at least three options available for proposal training. First, you can send people to a professional proposal-training seminar. Several companies offer excellent proposal seminars. The downside of this approach is cost and timing. Second, you can bring in a consultant to train the proposal team. This approach enables you to control the training schedule. Finally, you can build and conduct your own proposal training, perhaps using the services of a proposal consultant to construct the course.
You might also consider having everyone read this book. As much as I like that idea, I must admit that interactive training will prove to be more effective.
The most effective proposal training is delivered during the pre-proposal phase, once you have a draft RFP. Using the draft as a training tool makes training relevant. It also enables training exercises to be structured so that they contribute to actual proposal development. Plan to spend two or three days training the proposal team.
If you build your own training, you can organize it to correspond with each step of the proposal development process. Here are my candidates for proposal-training topics:
RFP organization—what is contained in each section (Chapter 2)
Basic government source selection—what proposal teams need to know (Chapter 3)
RFP analysis (Chapter 9)
Building proposal storyboards, proposal outlines, and a proposal requirements matrix (Chapter 10)
Basics of proposal themes, discriminators, features, and benefits (Chapter 10)
Basics of effective proposal management (Chapter 11)
Basics of preparing the cost volume (Chapter 14)
How to conduct proposal reviews (Chapter 15)
Responding to post-proposal customer inquiries (Chapter 17).
Even if you do not have a draft RFP available, the pre-proposal phase is still the best time to conduct proposal training. Having a draft RFP is a bonus that facilitates the relevance and carryover value of training.
Each topic described in this chapter affords an opportunity to gain or yield competitive advantage. The pre-proposal phase marks a time of increased customer contact. Make the most of this contact to favorably impress your customer and collect information to support proposal planning. Use this information to make informed bid decisions. Avoid chasing opportunities with a low win probability. Plan and implement activities to position your organization effectively for the forthcoming procurement. Develop a preliminary proposal plan, train the proposal team, and write a first draft of your proposal. Get a head start on the competition—and keep it.