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Foundations of Proposal Management
The Foundations of Proposal Management training course offers must-have skills in managing federal proposals. This course begins with the proposal process, which is based on current best practices (although it resonates with some of the elements of the Shipley process, it is mostly focused on agile principles and what it takes to win in the current environment of smaller geographically dispersed proposals teams, shorter deadlines, and limited proposal resources). It covers the proposal development process flow, starting with the government RFP analysis. It then proceeds to federal proposal writing planning (including using an alternative to storyboarding), and teaches how to develop an annotated outline for your proposal and a proposal schedule. It also covers preparing for and conducting a proposal kickoff meeting to organize your team, and managing proposal writing effectively to develop winning proposal section content. This course delves into running proposal reviews, such as Pink Team, Red Team, Gold Team, White Glove, and others), and discusses proposal production and post-proposal activities such as participating in the government proposal debrief. This course is for you if you are looking to acquire skills in writing and managing federal proposals. 

Our Bid & Proposal Academy classes are the best in government proposal training, going beyond just process and teaching you the detailed "how-to", showing you how to win government proposals.

It is an interactive 2-day workshop that is 50 percent lecture, 40 percent exercises, and 10 percent discussion.  

The people who will benefit from this proposal training are:
  •  Proposal managers that are new to government proposals. Those who transition from the commercial proposal world, and those who are just starting to get their arms around government proposal management as a profession. 
  • ​Proposal writers and proposal coordinators who have written many proposals and have gotten the glorified “OJT” (on-the-job training) but need formal training. 
  • ​Capture managers who would like to become well-rounded in winning government proposals. 
  • ​Those proposal managers and proposal coordinators who wonder if there is a better way to do their work better, faster, and more efficiently, as well as how to win government proposals more. 
  • ​Those who got training years ago and want to refresh their skills and become proficient in the latest best practices. 
  • ​Those who are interested in a repeatable proposal process to enable them to avoid starting each proposal from scratch. 
Foundations of Proposal Management
Professional Certification: This is a Core Curriculum class that provides 2 units (2 days) towards Bid & Proposal Academy Certification. By attending this class, you will receive 3 CEUs towards your APMP certification, or PDUs towards your PMP (check with the PMI on what they will honor). At the end of this course, you will get a Certificate of Completion.

Who Should Attend This Course: Proposal managers, proposal coordinators, capture managers, proposal writers, proposal department directors, company executives and senior managers, federal business developers, government contractor company owners, project personnel that participates in the proposal writing process.

Course Materials: Course workbook, handouts, templates, forms, and proposal process checklists.

Course Curriculum
Day 1 Highlights
Module 1: Introduction
  • Introductions and learning objectives.
  • ​Introduction: What is proposal management? Overview of the business development process to provide a big-picture perspective. 
Module 2: Proposal Process
  • Why most proposals don’t win and what to do to win government proposals.
  • ​OST’s six-phase proposal process that aligns with other industry practices such as Shipley proposal process but dives into agile approaches to streamline and organize federal proposal writing. 
  • Discussion: Proposal process observations
Module 3: Requirements Analysis
  • How federal RFPs are organized. The most important government RFP sections for a proposal manager. How to read government RFPs correctly to understand exactly what government evaluators are looking for in your proposal.
  • ​How to develop an RFP compliance matrix, and compliance checklist to ensure that you don't miss any RFP requirements. 
  • Exercise: Analyze and parse the RFP to create a compliance checklist.
Module 4: Outlining and Story boards
  • How to create a compliant proposal outline that helps get the highest score.
  • ​How to create an annotated outline for a proposal that provides detailed instructions to proposal writers. 
  • ​When to use annotated outlines as opposed to storyboards. 
  • ​How to develop storyboards or proposal writers’ work packages that help transition easily from brainstorming to the first proposal draft. 
  • Exercise: Walk through a filled out proposal storyboard and understand how its different elements help you plan a persuasive proposal section.
Day 2 Highlights
Module 5: Developing a Proposal Plan
  • How to create a proposal schedule that will result in an error-free set of proposal documents.
  • ​How to develop a realistic proposal development plan. 
  • ​How to develop a proposal organization structure with roles and responsibilities. 
  • ​Assigning proposal sections to authors. 
  • Exercise: Plan your proposal to develop a realistic proposal schedule.
Module 6: Conducting a Productive Proposal Kickoff Session
  • How to jump-start your proposal the right way by preparing for and reaching nine all-important proposal kickoff goals.
  • ​Preparing proposal kickoff materials. 
  • ​Planning for the kickoff. 
  • Exercise: Go through the requirements for the draft Kickoff Brief for the practice proposal.
Module 7: Managing the Proposal Day-to-Day
  • How to manage a proposal team effectively on a daily basis.
  • ​Issuing data calls to proposal team members. 
  • ​Tracking proposal section status. 
  • ​Managing proposal document workflow and configuration control. 
  • ​Tackling challenges of managing a virtual proposal team. 
  • ​Resources for getting non-professional writers to produce better proposal sections and graphics. 
  • Discussion: Day-to-day proposal management techniques.
Module 8: Conducting Effective Proposal Reviews
  • How to run effective proposal reviews.
  • ​Types of proposal reviews (Annotated Outline Review, Peer Review, Pink Team, Red Team, Read-Aloud Review, Gold Team, White Glove). 
  • ​Planning for and conducting a Pink Team review. 
  • ​Planning for and facilitating a Red Team review. 
  • ​Gold Team review standards. 
  • ​Other types of proposal reviews that may be helpful to your team. 
  • ​Proposal review templates, inputs, and outputs. 
  • ​Review recovery effort. 
  • Exercise: Review a government proposal section for compliance and content; score the section and prepare recommendations.
Module 9: Producing and Delivering the Proposal
  • What you need to complete prior to proposal delivery to the government.
  • ​How to determine production requirements. 
  • ​How to estimate the binder size. 
  • ​Proposal tabs, cover, spine, and back requirements. 
  • ​Communicating and collaborating with the proposal production team. 
  • ​How to polish, print, check, and deliver your proposal on time. 
  • ​Confirming delivery. 
  • Exercise: Develop a proposal production and delivery plan.
Module 10: Summary and Recap.
Learning Objectives
Upon course completion, the participants will have learned and be able to put into practice:
  • Understanding where bid proposal management fits in the federal business development lifecycle.
  • ​Understanding what it takes to win government proposals. 
  • ​Understanding process-based approach to proposal management. 
  • ​Analyzing RFP requirements. 
  • ​Parsing the RFP to create compliance matrix and compliance checklist. 
  • ​Creating better storyboards and an annotated proposal outline. 
  • ​Developing a proposal schedule. 
  • ​Creating a realistic proposal process and proposal development plan. 
  • ​Issuing assignments to proposal writers and subject matter experts. 
  • ​Integrating cost proposal activities with the technical proposal development. 
  • ​Preparing for and conducting a productive proposal kickoff meeting. 
  • ​Managing proposal process day-to-day. 
  • ​Conducting effective Pink Team, Red Team, and other types of proposal reviews. 
  • ​Producing and delivering a compliant proposal before the deadline.
Testimonials
“This course gave an excellent overview of how the proposal process should work. I believe I'll be able to facilitate improvement to our current processes. Additionally, I'll be able to better manage both team and personal expectations. "
Sarah Sheehan
Publications Production Manager
WMC GLobal
“This class was very helpful to me in giving greater depth and explanation to processes as well as delineating specific roles and responsibilities for multiple positions supporting the proposal process. "
Stephanie Dawson
Capture Manager 
KT Consulting
"A wealth of information delivered in a very short time in a very engaging fashion. After 3 years in a company that focuses on federal contracting, I became proposal manager. I have a wonderful team, but none of us have had much formal proposal training. I'm definitely recommending these courses for a number of people within our company."
Christopher John Sparks
Proposal Manager
Skyline Ultd Inc
Foundations of Proposal Management
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