Risk Management in DoD Proposal Development

I have been studying and managing risk for the better part of my career. I am by no means an ‘expert’ but based on my experience I often see where companies miss the mark describing how they will manage project or contract risk in proposals, or don’t truly understand how risk will be evaluated by […]

Source Selection Training Seminar a Big Success!

Last week Agility Development Group and Hogan Government Solutions delivered a Training Seminar titled, “Understanding DoD Source Selection: Linking the DoD Source Selection Process to Your Proposal Development,” in Tysons Corner. The event gave attendees a ‘peek behind the curtain’ of the mechanics of Source Selection and how award decisions are made. The agenda for […]

Does your DoD Proposal Review Process Work?

On its best days, the proposal review process is typically ugly, difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating for everyone on the team. This is especially true for the writers who struggle to make sense of the Government’s solicitation instructions and incorporate guidance from multiple reviewers, corporate leadership, and external consultants. In the end, this ‘sausage making’ process […]

How the Government Evaluates Proposals

Upon retirement from the U.S. Army, I spent 15 years with a large Systems Integrator in the Defense market. It wasn’t long after I started with them I found myself working on my first proposal for a very large effort. I was a SME and my contribution was writing towards the technical approach. I survived […]

Take Time to Learn

How often do you find yourself saying, “If only there were more hours in the day”? Are you constantly adding to your to-do list, but rarely crossing items off the list? Are you spending all your time head-down in delivery mode? It can be quite frustrating being a hamster on a wheel—you’re strenuously working, but […]

Value in Networking

Communication and collaboration with professionals outside your organization is both productive and advantageous. As a former elementary school teacher I benefited greatly from networking with other educators state & county-wide. My school-centered team provided a great deal of support on a daily basis. However, we were sometimes prisoners to our routines, procedures, and habits causing […]

Maximize Your Chance of Success in DoD Contracting by Understanding the Evaluation Process

It is no secret the landscape for Department of Defense contracts is becoming more competitive every day due to increasing pressure on the DoD Budget, delays in the contracting processes, changes in contracting laws, and an inexperienced procurement workforce. To succeed in this environment, companies must maximize capture and proposal efforts with efficiency, focus, and […]

Thoughts on Use of Executive Summaries

As we go about our business of working with clients on Government Proposal preparation and reviews, we are often faced with the question, “What really matters in our Executive Summary?” For me, this is an excellent question. I have personally been involved with many proposals from an Industry point-of-view and my Agility co-workers from a […]

Negotiation

Have you ever noticed how skilled children are at negotiation? Some of my hardest and most draining negotiation experiences were when one of my kids really wanted something. They were never in a position of strength in any of our negotiations but yet their persistence, creativity, and logical approach almost always paid off in the […]

Why Transition Plans Matter

If your team has developed and submitted proposals for more than three service contracts then chances are likely you had to develop a transition plan as part of one or more of these efforts. In the course of our support to companies pursing Government contracts, particularly in the Army, we frequently see transition plans are […]