Happy New Year! The Staff and Associates at MTSC are eager and ready to support your Capture and Proposal efforts in 2014. If we can be of any service to you in 2014, please check out the MTSC website at www.masontechnical.com and call us early to discuss your business support requirements. MTSC's detailed Capability Statement and 2014 labor rates are available upon request.

Help! SOS! Mayday!

5 Reasons You May Need Professional Capture/Proposal Support

1. Inexperience. Many companies, large and small, do not have trained, experienced capture and proposal experts. Bringing in a contractor may provide the experience needed as well as provide over-the-shoulder training for your full time personnel.

2. Resources. Most proposal teams are understaffed. If your proposal team is working late nights, weekends, and weeks without a day off, the quality of your proposal is most likely suffering and the odds of winning decreasing.

3. Subject Matter Expertise. If your corporate leadership and business development staff does not have recent expertise in the program you are pursuing and/or do not have good personal contacts with the customer, you may not have the insight of your competitors.

4. Late Start. If you wait until the Final RFP is released to begin writing the proposal, you should probably reevaluate your Pwin because you will probably be well behind the serious competitors. A rush job is not conducive to preparing a quality, winning proposal. But if you are still committed to the capture effort consider calling in the "cavalry."

5. It's a "Must Win." If the program is truly a "must win," pull out all the stops to ensure they have put together a winning team for the capture effort. If this can be accomplished with all internal resources...great. If not, augment your team with the contractor expertise needed.

Vetting Your Contractor Support

Key Questions to Ask to Ensure You Get the Right People

We often get calls in search of the "perfect" proposal writer. A company seeing contract proposal support will want the individual to have recent experience writing proposals for their specific customer, be subject matter experts in their specific service or product, and of course always be on the winning side of the proposals they have supported. This

"trifecta" of background experience is not impossible to find but can be challenging. The following are some key questions to ask when vetting a contractor to ensure you will get quality support.

1. What experience does the individual have with the program client, service and/or product your supply? As a SME or proposal writer?

2. Is the SME's experience recent and/or are they "current" with industry developments and have relevant personal contacts

3. Is the proposal writer well trained or highly experienced with formal training or extensive career experience?

4. Is the individual experienced or familiar with your company's proposal processes, software, etc. and/or can they be quickly trained?

5. Is the graphic artist experienced with your company's software suite to including the current version being used?

Once you vet and hire your contract support for your project, provide them with specific instructions and expectations. Many contractors may possess more experience than your staff and can provide valuable insight as a SME or process expert. Discuss the ground rules early and decide if suggested improvements are welcome or if you only want the contractor focus on the job they were specifically hired to accomplish.

MTSC Associate Experience

MTSC's Associates have Subject Matter Expertise and/or experience in Capture Planning and Proposal preparation the following areas. Call or email MTSC to discuss your support requirements.

Aircraft and Helicopter Procurement
Airfield Systems and Operations
Aviation Safety
Base/Installation Operations Support
Capture and Proposal Training
Combat Search and Rescue
Command & Control
Contractor/Integrated Logistics Support
Crisis/Emergency Operations
Cyber Operations
Depot Maintenance
Education & Training
Engineering
Flight Operations (Civil & Military)
Flight Training (Civil & Military)
Foreign Military Sales
Homeland Security
Information Technology
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance
International Security Assistance
Logistics Management/Operations
Manufacturing
Maintenance (Aircraft & Vehicle)
Military and Civilian Medical Administration and Care
Military Medical Evacuation and Civil Air Ambulance Services
Military Support Equipment
Military Vehicle Procurement and Sustainment
NATO Operations and Training
Nuclear Operations & Safety
Performance Based Logistics
Rapid Technology Development
Research & Development
Shipbuilding
Space & Missile Operations/Support
Supply Chain Management
Test and Evaluation
Training & Simulation (Civil & Military)
Transportation
UAS/UAV/RPA Operations

For more information on MTSC, contact:

Dennis Kaan, President - (970) 222-1516

dennis.k aan@comcast.net