jeffrey b. birch, acting director to bid or not to bid: an industry perspective 2014, october 29...
TRANSCRIPT
Jeffrey B. Birch, Acting Directorwww.fai.gov
To Bid or Not To Bid: An Industry Perspective
2014, October 29
Antwanye Ford, Stuart S. Gittelman, Ph.D., Kathryn Klaus, CPCM, CFCM
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Agenda
o The Contractor Perspectiveo The Bid Decisiono Communication Pitfallso Key Takeaways
The Contractor Perspectiveo We represent 3 companies of differing size and
technical expertise• Enlightened, Inc. – a small, Hub Zone, minority owned business• HP Enterprise Services, LLC –a CAS-covered subsidiary of a large
publicly traded IT company• PDRI, a CEB company – a mid-sized human capital consulting
firm, a subsidiary of a large, publicly traded company
o While very different, we’ve discovered that our processes are very similar with the biggest difference being the level of formality of the process and the number of approvals required.
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Industry Goals o Reputation o Growtho Solid balance sheet & Positive cash flow with profito Contribute to Mission Outcome
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The Bid Decision
o Qualify the Dealo Resourceso Win Probabilityo Risk
Qualify the Deal - Pre-RFP Releaseo Are we ahead of the procurement?o Establish(ed) relationship with cliento Likelihood of procuremento Agency mission aligned to capabilitieso Integration with other programso Open communications with industryo RFI’s – Free advice or a small business search?
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Qualify the Deal “No-Bid Red Flags”
o No RFI, draft, or industry dayo Unrealistically short time to respondo Unrealistically short transition
timeframeso Evaluation criteria unduly vagueo Price evaluation not clearly defined
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Qualify the Deal “No-Bid Red Flags”
o High number of past performance requirements
o High number of detailed qualifications for key personnel
o Technical requirements that are too narrowly defined and seem to favor a particular brand, product, or service
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Qualify the Deal
o Templates and “Re-cycled RFPs”
o Questions & Answers
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Qualify the Deal
o Terms & Conditions appropriate to the contract
o Requirements align with Contract Type
o Understanding of the contract vehicle
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Qualify the Deal
o Pricing requirements
o Page limitations
o Oral presentations
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The Bid Decision
o Qualify the Dealo Resourceso Win Probabilityo Risk
Resources to Bid
o Bid & proposal fundso Scheduleo Solutiono Development of Team/Subcontractors
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Resources to Deliver
o Staffing o Location/travel requirementso Transition timingo Standards complianceo Investment
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The Bid Decision
o Qualify the Dealo Resourceso Win Probabilityo Risk
Can We Win This?
o Is the competition fair?o Evaluation criteria (Technical and Price)o Do we have a competitive solution?o Do we have a competitive price?o Competitor Analysiso Do we understand the customer?
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The Bid Decision
o Qualify the Dealo Resourceso Win Probabilityo Risk
Risk
o Company reviews and approvals are necessary to ensure compliance with bid and understanding of any assumed risk to ensure successful delivery
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Risk
o Delivery
o Financial
o Contractual
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Communication Pitfalls
Communication Pitfallso Discussions are not occurring with the vendor
community either in industry forums and/or 1:1
o Draft PWS or SOW issued instead of draft RFPs
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Communication Pitfallso Evaluation criteria is written very generically and
doesn’t contemplate customer objectives
o Awards are often made with no discussions
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Communication Pitfalls
o Assumptions - Do you want them? Don’t you want them?
o Debriefs and “explanations” do not contain sufficient information.
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Communication Pitfalls
o Some contracting officers do not communicate any procurement status.
o Once we submit a bid, without any communications, we have no idea if/how we should prepare for delivery on a contract.
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Key Takeaways
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Bid & Proposal funds are limited. 1.
We bid when we believe we can win. 2.
We bid what we know we can deliver. 3.
Communication improves the proposed solution.4.
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Clearly define requirements and evaluation criteria.
Set realistic timelines and expectations.