In the 1980s I worked on an RFP for a DoD (Department of Defense) contract for a state-of-the-art technical support center for the B-1 Bomber worth millions of dollars. I worked for a very large defense contractor and the different departments pursued their own contracts. We did the research, wrote an internal proposal for funds to pursue the RFP/contract, including labor to work on the RFP. It was customary to use corporate computers for your RFP and then buy all new government equipment when you won the award. Corporate computers were those little all-in-one Macintosh units. This was when the latest and greatest PC was the 80286 (cost, approx $10,000).

We won the contact with our huge set of 12, four-inch binders full of engineering reports, diagram, graphics, and beautiful page layouts using Frame Maker and Adobe Illustrator. When we won they requested we deliver all of our material in WordPerfect and AutoCAD formats. At that time there was no compatibility between Apple and PC formats. Of course our VP handed it to me and said “just do it.”

It was the most horrible experience of my life. They cleared out a conference room, filled it full of equipment, books, and a couch I could sleep on. I had eight weeks to figure out how to convert material from the Macintosh to the PC, make sure it was editable, and looked the same. For eight weeks I lived in that room with meals delivered from the cafeteria. I showered in the company gym and the drycleaner delivered my laundry.

Years later when the contract came up for re-bid one of our competitors promised a system using a brand new Microsoft Windows interface. We did not have any Windows programmers (no one did). We did not have Windows. While our programmers scrambled to learn Windows programming and figure out how the heck to move a huge Unix based system to Windows, I learned how to make a pretty Windows GUI with all the associated military logos and buttons that didn’t do anything but look pretty. We won the re-bid. I still have a framed B1B Technical Support Center logo as a reminder.

The following story proves one of the following depending upon your level of cynicism:

a) price is not the be-all and end-all
b) the odds are stacked against you if you don’t have a strong client relationship or
c) it isn’t always a level-playing field.

In 2006 the company I worked for at the time discovered that a division of one of its largest European clients had issued an RFP for an HR solution in the UK.

Unfortunately my company hadn’t been invited to bid as no-one was aware we were an incumbent supplier. In short, we had no relationship in the UK.

Strings were pulled at group level and we were allowed to tender even though we only had 2 of the 4 weeks response time remaining. The string-pulling didn’t win us any allies!

However, our response showed that we had a good functional fit, a good existing European relationship and a significant cost advantage (estimated at 50% less than the other bidders). Indeed the RFP made a big play of the importance of cost, and the price was the highest weighted scoring element. To further emphasise this point the short-listed vendors would have to ‘duke it out’ in a reverse on-line auction.

We were short-listed and when the reverse auction started, we were in 1st place across the board on costs (i.e. lowest bidder). When the auction completed, we remained in 1st place without having had to bid once. High-fives around the office!

A few days later we found out we had not been selected. In the debrief we were told that “If you took out the cost-weighting factor, you came second in functional fit and your refusal to bid a lower price during the auction was seen as a lack of good will”.

Some deals just can’t be won!

Favorite war story? Do I have to pick just one? Actually, I’m finding it challenging to recall as I often suppress such horrifying events – how else could I move forward with such a positive attitude and still come to work everyday? If forced to choose just one, this is my favorite… only because we WON.

–

“I thought tomorrow we would…..”

This story falls into the “There is no such thing as a perfect proposal” category. I was working with a new sales person on a big proposal (potential of $40 mil in annual revenue) for a major health plan that we had been courting for several years. We had 30 days to respond! Normally this is a good thing. However, what it meant was non-stop work on the project for all 30 days – including weekends.

We had a good strategy that only changed 3 times throughout the process; a very dedicated sales person; we were selling programs that we actually already have built; and we were competitively priced. My challenges, however, were educating the sales person on the process, earning his trust and getting him to adhere to the established timelines. Despite these challenges, he is a great person to work with because of his dedication, attention to detail and appreciation. So, I carved out the 30 days, put my head down and worked full steam ahead, counting down the days until I could resume normal life.

The proposal was due on a Monday. The sales person decided he was going to hand deliver it and would fly out on Sunday afternoon with the precious package. According to plan, we would complete the final touches and production on Saturday. Therefore, I planned to unwind with a bottle of wine on Saturday night and do NOTHING on Sunday but watch football and eat chicken wings.

At 2 pm on Saturday, as the sales person lay across my desk and we were combing through the document making final edits, he had the audacity to say, “I thought that tomorrow we would……blah blah blah” – I totally lost him when he said those first 6 words. I felt my face get red and tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at him in total shock and shouted in a panicky voice:

“TOMORROW? TOMORROW? I AM NOT COMING IN HERE TOMORROW! I’VE BEEN WORKING WITH YOU FOR 30 DAYS STRAIGHT AND THIS MARRIAGE COMES TO AN END TODAY. IF YOU WANT TO WORK ON THIS TOMORROW, YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN. YOU COULDN’T BUY ME ENOUGH FOOD OR STARBUCKS FOR ME TO COME IN HERE TOMORROW. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT PROPOSAL – REMEMBER?? THIS IS IT, BUDDY!”

As the tears rolled down my face and my entire body shuddered from my emotional breakdown, the fear in his eyes was unmistakable. He wasn’t sure what to do next. Being the wise man that he is, he back away slowly and said, “You’re right, we’re just about done here. No need to come in tomorrow.”

​That is the first and hopefully the last project that will bring me to tears. The work we did for those 30 days resulted in a HUGE win for the company. When the sales person received his first commission check almost a year later, he gave me a generous portion of it in ten dollar bills rolled up inside two Tiffany wine glasses. This was the first time a sales person had EVER given me a portion of his commissions.

​Having spent my formative years in an organisation struggling with the value of Bid Management as a function, I struggled to decide upon a war story – not one that would make good reading, but one that I could bring myself to revisit.

I eventually decided that I would be brave – and relive the story that will haunt me, perhaps, to the end of my career.

It begins with two large bids for two separate sectors being run with submission dates four days apart. (Friday and Tuesday – for posterity). We shall call them Bid A and Bid B. Bid A was being run solely by myself in Location 1. Bid B was being run in Location 2 (without my consultation) by someone who knew a bit about Bid Management, but tended to ‘talk the talk’ more than ‘walk the walk’. Let’s call them Person X. Everyone with me so far?

Bid A went swimmingly – but due to its nature and complexity I was committed to it until the Friday – when the client changed the delivery requirements somewhat. No matter, it was handled; pats on the back all round, and off I trundled to Location 2.

Location 2 was my official base location, although I worked from home a lot (anyone who knows me knows it is a long commute), and having had several conversations with Person X, it was decided during the week that, having completed my contributions two weeks previously, I would come for the last four days ‘just in case I was needed’. Having made several phone calls on the train journey, I began to get an uneasy feeling that all was not exactly as it seemed. I arranged to meet the team the next morning (Saturday) in the office.

Having established that Person X would ‘not be working the weekend due to family commitments’, and had left no handover, just the understanding that I would be taking over, I quickly realized that the buck had been well and truly passed. Emergency discussions ensued, establishing that little was finalised, nothing was reviewed – and it had to be with the client in 72 hours.

How we got through that weekend is not important, but suffice to say it was long, arduous, and frankly, painful, but between us when it came to Monday morning (4 a.m.-ish) we had a draft fit for review. And off it went.

Person X came in at 1030am, wanting ‘to know what he could do’. I bit my tongue. At this point I should introduce person Y, who sits above Person X in the organisational hierarchy, and well, that’s about the sum total of their contribution, really. Person Y was present along with highbrow Management Consultants Z1 and Z2, brought in from Location 1 to help review. In case you haven’t worked it out already, this was a huge bid worth many million pounds. Z1 and Z2 were charm personified, very focused and obliging. X and Y did a lot of ‘networking’ that day, whilst I silently calculated the minutes until it was all over.

At 6pm the first reviews were completed and I began the task of updating the master document whilst the second reviews went on. X retired to the conference room on the phone whilst Y disappeared. Home, presumably. Z1 and Z2 were still present, as Person X had decided that since Location 1 was were they were to return to, and the client was within a fifty mile radius, that they, yes, oh yes, they – would deliver it, in order that we would not be working to the courier’s deadline. I expressed abject horror but was swiftly overruled.

By 11pm I had closed the document for further contributions and all that was left was a final read-through for continuity, spelling, grammar, and readability. Any bid manager knows that this is no small task – the document was, incidentally, pushing 300 pages (plus appendices). Half an hour later, there was a commotion at the front door as Person Y entered, heartily back-slapping and pumping the hand of Person X, congratulating them for completion of the document.

Y then produced several bags, which he announced were the ‘team’s reward for their hard work’. Fine, you think, thoughtful, you think. Except that the document wasn’t finished. So there I was, sat at my desk blazing through this document, while the rest of the office put their feet on the desks and cracked into kebabs and beer. Yes, you read that right.

I can honestly say that that was the lowest moment of my entire career to date. Part of me wondered if I was hallucinating. It was so surreal. There I was, tired, frustrated, and working against the clock, at my desk, trying to pull this bid together whilst there was a party going on around me. An actual party. I put my earphones in and silently begged for strength.

That’s about the end of the story, really. The party continued whilst I worked, then when they had eaten and drunk their fill Person X stood over me, chiding me for taking so long and telling me I was being too ‘picky’. If I was a less stubborn person, I’d have cried.

Z1 (who was driving) went to their car to sleep. Everyone else refused to go home, simply sat and waited whilst I worked, asking me at fifteen minute intervals if I was finished yet. At 2am we went to print, (credit to the team it was all hands on deck) and by 4.30am there were five boxes (the client wanted an obscene number of copies) packed and waved off. Person X announced loudly that they were ‘exhausted with all the effort ‘, and Y concurred, saying no-one should expect to see X for a few days.

We won the deal, incidentally. And when we got the news, full credit (and much more back slapping and man hugging) was given to X for doing such a fantastic job managing the bid.

I resigned not long after.

What impact does the quality of the customer’s RFP have on the quality of the proposal? And what advice would you offer to customers to improve their RFPs?

​My mother often says ‘You reap what you sow’. And in this case, she is completely right. Any customer who issues a poorly constructed RFP is setting a poor tone from the outset. It will immediately sway the mood of the bid team who have to spend hours extricating requirements and compliances from a web of confusion.

First impressions count. That’s right, isn’t it? Everyone knows that. It’s why people practice their handshakes, polish their shoes before an interview, and so on…. So why, why, do potential clients think that it is acceptable to send a tangled mess of formatting, hidden text, and obscure questions?

If this is the issue, then the client should be likened to the small child learning to speak. The child knows what it wants, but the communication skills it possesses are not developed enough to clearly define it. The vendors are the adults trying to understand what the child is saying, trying to offer suggestions as to what it may be that is required…

Poor syntax would have the most effect, as we might not understand the question. Poor formatting, etc., doesn’t affect our response as we always remove the questionnaire and put it into our (beautifully formatted) response template.

​1. Ensure the questions are clearly written and applicable to the project.

2. Eliminate redundant or duplicate questions. Nobody likes to answer the same question twice! (buyers don’t want to read the answer twice, either)

3. Apply consistent formatting to the questionnaire. A proposal manager should not have to correct formatting and numbering in the original RFP document.

4. Allow the vendor to respond in Microsoft Word (or PDF). Excel and web-based RFPs do not typically allow the vendor to incorporate formatting and graphics in their response.

​If the second meeting goes well and you think this is a company you want to work with, have them write up their findings into a formal document, factoring in some of the specific questions you have identified, so you can may make whatever decision is in the best interest of your company. You save yourselves potentially hundreds of hours by not issuing formal RFPs, which typically don’t speak to your needs in the first place.

We see so many poorly written/constructed/formatted RFPs, with the nerve to require adherence to their crazy formats! For example, why ask “Provide a detailed description of ______” then restrict the response to 40 characters?!?!? Another frequent faux pas is the obvious combining of content from several RFPs into one (in)coherent document…

My advice? Many companies that issue RFPs also have proposal departments (or individuals) that respond to them…tap into that expertise and have them review the RFP for consistency / respond-ability! My department regularly offers our consultative expertise not only to divisions within our own company, but also to consultants/clients with whom we do business…

1) Know what you are buying
2) Understand what is important to you in your buying decision
3) Ask direct, complete and relevant questions
4) DON’T USE EXCEL FOR A RFP
5) Explain your goals and objectives
6) Provide your budget
7) Provide your scoring criteria
8) Describe what the products/services will be used for
9) Clearly define what is negotiable and what is not
10) Be open and transparent – let everybody ask questions throughout the process if they need to – after all, the goal is to get the information you need
11) Provide questions and answers to those questions to all the bidders or hold a pre-bidders conference
12) Provide a sufficient timeframe – give the responder enough time to really do their best work (don’t make them jump through hoops or work holidays….its just not nice)
13) Clearly define the assumptions we should use for pricing our products/services so that you can have an apples-to-apples comparison

An impact of a poor quality document is a feeling on the part of those responding, myself included, that the requestor doesn’t really take their own RFP seriously. I think this has a subliminal affect on those developing the response and the resulting proposal is poorer for it.

1st
Organised

=2nd
Collaborative / co-operative
Creative
Flexible

​=3rd
Accurate
Adaptable
Client-centric
Competitive
Dedicated
Detail-oriented
Diligent
Knowledgeable
Passionate
Professional
Strategic

…adequately-staffed, adrenalin-junkies, amazing, analytical, appreciated, appropriately-utilized, capable, cohesive, commercial, committed, communicative, compassionate, competent, content-sensitive, continually improving, curious, determined, direct, disciplined, effective, efficient, efficient, empowered, energetic, energising, even-keeled, experienced, facilitative, first-class, focused, forward-thinking, hierarchical, innovative, inquisitive, insightful, inspired, level-headed, linguistically-aware, meticulous, motivated, motivating, optimistic, original, patient, perceptive, perfectionist, persistent, personable, persuasive, planned, proactive, questioning, quick, reliable, resilient, responsive, sales-oriented, sceptical, self-starter, skillful, structured, structured, team-oriented, team-oriented, thick-skinned, thorough, tireless, trustworthy, well-read, and winning!

fun-loving, humorous, incompetence-tolerating, insane, landfill-filling, masochistic, overly-optimistic, tree-killing, pizza-loving, underappreciated, weird.

A couple years ago I got my senior leaders to agree to bonuses on RFPs that turned into contracts. This is great extra incentive to the writers. I am also empowered by my organization to give individual awards at whim and even grant up to 10% of an employees’ salary in company stock. There’s also comp time, flex time and work from home options that are very rewarding.
​
The culture of the organization is also key to employee satisfaction. The company is full of people that want to do their best work and the company tends to hire qualified people that fit the culture. This helps to minimize the frustration of getting subject matter expert cooperation or co-worker support.

We are also encouraged and compensated for continuing education and advancing our skills (i.e. APMP membership, conferences, courses). And we have fun! We work hard and we play hard. People ask me all the time if I have any openings in my department because we know how to have fun.I have to remind them that they also have to work their butts off, but they’ll have fun doing it. It all goes hand-in-hand with work/life balance.I want people to be passionate
​about their work and happy to be here.

…knowing how much we contribute to the company’s bottom line is very rewarding from a team perspective. In 2006, RFP wins represented $100 million in new or retained revenue for our company (total annual revenue for our company is about $2 billion).
​
From a manager’s perspective, I find it very rewarding to watch the growth and development of the proposal specialists on my team as they move from being tactical to strategic (e.g., go from writing “compliant” proposals to crafting “compelling” proposals that really get the big picture and hone in on each client’s specific needs).

“Every proposal we get is like solving a mystery or a puzzle: Who is this company; how is our relationship with them; what are their real issues; how can we win the work; where can we get the information that needs to go into it? Solving the mystery, along with working with teams of lawyers and marketers to solve real client issues, are the most rewarding parts of proposals in my organization.”

be part of an organization that is paying close attention to the proposal process these days, which includes paying attention to the people who create proposals and the people we work with. Many improvements have been put in place lately that enable us to better perform our jobs, and the improvements keep piling up.
Our manager is very keen to the idea of the critical interrelationships between our team and the sales team, as well as others throughout our area of the business, and recent initiatives have included a push for higher quality information from salespeople before a proposal is written, as well as a more formal definition of the bid/no-bid process.

In the early hours of the morning, as you stand there in your crumpled suit, hair standing on end like some form of deviant, nothing looks as pretty as a glossy document, bound, packed, and glistening with the excellence bursting from within. Or perhaps it’s a mirage, a hallucination. After all, you’ve been there for the last twenty hours. Or maybe it’s thirty. You lost count after breaking into the cold pizza.

But when it’s reverently handed to the courier, with admonishments of ‘Be careful with it now, its very important’ and you sign that little slip, there is a deep sense of satisfaction and pride as you watch it begin its journey to the client, like watching your first born head off for their first day at school. And it feels good. You did it – you negotiated, you yelled, and sometimes you begged, but you made it!