How to Build a Proposal Schedule

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How to Build a Proposal Schedule

Building a proposal management schedule immediately after you figure out the RFP deadlines and available resources is critical. Your schedule is your proposal plan that serves as a roadmap for the next (however many) days or weeks the Government has given you to respond. It helps you visualize whether you are at an advantage or disadvantage for time, and communicate the plans visually to your team on the proposal. You can also measure yourn progress over time against the milestones you’ve set up to see whether you are on track to completion, and what needs to happen to catch up.

To build a robust proposal management schedule, you must treat the proposal like a project with key milestones and typical proposal tasks to complete by the interim deadlines you set. With the project manager’s hat on, visualize walking through the entire proposal process, noting any tough spots you may run into due to short deadlines, shortages of writers, lack of availability of subject matter experts, key people’s vacations or medical procedures happening in the middle of the proposal, reviewers’ unavailability, and any other problems you may encounter. Jot down risks and potential pitfalls you could run into, such as major holidays coming up, with people wanting to spend time away with their families. How will you handle weekends? What will you do if one of your major proposal contributors has a life emergency and can’t continue to work on the team?