"Love is not an evaluation criterion." That quote from Bob Lohfeld's latest Washington Technology article makes us chuckle each time we read it!
In this February eBrief, we share Bob's suggestions for keeping your "must win" recompetes on a winning path along with our Proposal Doctor's thoughts on whether or not proposal managers need to understand the "subject matter" of their proposals.
Speaking of "understanding" - check out our two new Lohfeld team books for our best insights on business development, capture management, and proposal development. We have a number of classes coming up that will increase your capture and proposal "understanding" - and help you attain and maintain your professional accreditation.
All the best to you and your team!
-The Lohfeld Consulting Group Team
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4 strategies that can kill your recompete
Love is not an evaluation criterion
in federal procurements
 I regularly get calls to review capture strategies for companies competing on "must win" procurements. I have done an equal number of these reviews for companies during the time when they were in their capture phase (before the final request for proposals is released), during their proposal development phase when everyone was working hard to write the winning proposal, and, regrettably, after the company had submitted its proposal and been told that they had lost their "must win" deal.
Often these procurements are for contract recompetes, where the company is the incumbent contractor performing the work. There is a common thread among all of these reviews-incumbent contractors all too often focus on the wrong strategies. I thought I would share some of these losing strategies with you in the hope that you don't take your next "must win" recompete down the same losing path.
Read Bob Lohfeld's article from Washington Technology.
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Educational opportunities
Join Beth Wingate for this 1-day training course. We'll examine the Proposal Management process from pre-proposal through post-submission activities. ...And, we'll share our industry best practices, tips, tricks, and tools for managing every aspect of your proposals. (Eligible for 10 APMP CEUs.)
Proposal Writing - How to write better technical and
managerial proposals that outscore the competition
Join Brooke Crouter for this 1-day training course and improve your win rate when pursuing government contracts. (Eligible for 10 APMP CEUs.)
APMP Foundation Level Accreditation Training
(multiple dates)
This course trains students in 22 competency areas covering the bid and proposal field. The competencies are classified into five groups: sales orientation, information research and management, planning development and management. The course explains best practices for implementing the competencies and provides constructive exercises and practice test questions.
Join Brenda Crist for this 1-day course or 4-day webinar to prepare to take the APMP Foundation exam.
Register now for May 10, 2013, Waterford at Springfield, VA class
Register now for July 8, 15, 22, 29, 2013, 4-part webinar
Register now for Sept. 13, 2013, Courtyard by Marriott Chevy Chase, MD class
Register now for Nov. 8, 2013 Waterford at Springfield, VA class
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Latest Insights
Enjoy our latest capture and
proposal-related blog posts
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 Q&A with Bob Lohfeld and Joyce Bosc
by Joyce Bosc in FedBizBeat
Ask anyone in the federal contracting industry, and they'll tell you Bob Lohfeld is the top consultant when it comes to helping companies with their capture and proposal management needs.
We had a chance to catch up with him recently to talk about his column in Washington Technology, as well as his thoughts on LPTA and what's planned for 2013.
Read more...
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Corporate training
 Capture, proposal management, and proposal writing - delivered on-site
Let us design and provide your corporate on-site capture, proposal management, and proposal writing training programs.
On-site APMP Foundation-level Accreditation training
Train your capture and proposal team and achieve APMP Foundation-level Accreditation for everyone in your organization.
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 Need help with capture and proposal processes and infrastructure?
We provide capture and proposal process benchmark evaluations, and we develop process-improvement roadmaps to increase your government business acquisition win rate. We can tune up your existing processes and build and implement your business development infrastructure enterprise-wide. Contact Bob Lohfeld at 410.336.6264 or RLohfeld@LohfeldConsulting.com to discuss your proposal process and infrastructure support requirements. |
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New Lohfeld capture
and proposal books
Available on Amazon.com
and by special order
Best Informed Wins - Collected Articles of Bob Lohfeld from Washington Technology
2010 - 2012
 Bob Lohfeld shares his capture management and proposal management thoughts and best practices - along with business development advice for the government contracting industry.  Buy Now
Lohfeld Consulting Group Insights -
Capture & Proposal
Insights & Tips
 by Beth Wingate and Lohfeld Consulting Group, Inc. Our experts share their proposal development and capture management-related tips, hints, and tricks - along with thoughts on best practices in proposal development. For bulk orders at a 50% discount (40 or more copies), contact Info@LohfeldConsulting.com.
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Ask Proposal Doctor
 Do I have to understand the proposal contents as the Proposal Manager? Dear Proposal Doctor, Do I have to actually understand what is in the proposal I am managing? Sometimes this is an overwhelming task, and it distracts me from the blocking and tackling of the day-to-day management. Often the material is technical and written for people who are "inside the bubble" and who understand all the jargon and acronyms. This makes it difficult to know if the writing is not persuasive or if it is intrinsically not understandable to a layperson. Yet it is hard to give direction to the writers if I don't know anything about the content. How do others manage this challenge? -Struggling to Keep Up Read more... |
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Schedule capture and proposal support
Make us part of your
winning solution  Our mission is to help our clients win more government contracts.
When you need help with capture management or creating a winning proposal, let our capture and proposal experts support you.
Our team of over 100 consultants average more than 20 years' experience pursuing, managing, and writing competitive proposals for government contractors. We specialize in IT, aerospace and defense, professional services, and other technology-related procurements.
Contact us, visit our web site, or call us today at 703.820.0075.
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Forward to a friend
 We hope you found our Capture & Proposal Tips eBrief interesting and informative! Please feel free to forward this monthly eBrief to your colleagues so they can stay current with the latest capture and proposal management news and tips.
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