STOP USING COMPETITORS TO REVIEW YOUR PROPOSALS
Teaming is an essential part of Government contracting and almost every company considers at some point or another. The traditional proposal process recommends various color team reviews to ensure proposals are compliant, articulate, and responsive. ProposalHelper agrees with this process and implements it in our operations. Scheduled reviews keep the entire proposal team focused and accountable. No proposal should go out the door without going through at least one, if not more, independent reviews. But who should be on your review team and who should have access to what information? These are very important questions we always encourage our clients to fully consider. Weigh the value of the input against the information being shared with a possibly competitor in your future.
Many times, you need Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to review proposals however, billable experts can be challenging to pull in for proposal reviews. It only makes sense – if you have technical SMEs who are able to join the reviews, you should share the technical section with them. Now, what about all of the other sections? who should you involve in the reviews of the non-technical sections? Your company’s processes are your differentiators – these are not just differentiators for a particular proposal, they are your business discriminators.
The countless hours and thousands of dollars you spend on developing your differentiating business processes should not be easily handed over to teaming partners. It surprises us when our clients still insist on having all team members review the entire proposal. There are sections in the proposal that could amount to giving away future business. ProposalHelper suggests against having team members review non-technical sections of proposals. Do not give away your processes to a possible competitor.
As you decide on who should be on your review team, ProposalHelper suggests keeping the following questions in mind:
• Do teaming partners add value to your business processes?
• Do you need a teaming partner to rate your business processes?
• Do you think your teaming partner can give you better advice on how you should manage the project than the experts within your own company?
ProposalHelper has found the answer to these questions are most commonly, no. As the Prime, you should have confidence in your process to manage the project.
At the end of the day, you want to protect your brand. Protect what your company has worked so hard to create and what makes you, YOU. Although unconventional, take our advice, stop using your teaming partners to review your proposals – now!
Author: Brandi Shaw, Proposal Coordinator, ProposalHelper | 20 March 2020