You ARE an Expert!

At this year’s Bid and Proposal Conference, APMP hosted a workshop for chapter leaders for collectively solving issues that run across our local organizations. I took part in a discussion concerning how we can increase the number of people interested in speaking at our events, including conferences. As we discussed some great ideas to cast a wider net, in my mind I kept coming back to a central issue I’ve heard from many people. Often, potential contributors keep quiet and don’t submit ideas because they don’t feel they have the knowledge, experience, or gravitas to speak. They feel that, since they aren’t an expert, they don’t have anything to contribute that others would find valuable.

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standardJune 22kevin@kevinswitaj.comUncategorized

Shattering Proposal Myths: Myth 4 – We Need to Ask Lots of Questions!

Facts Myths Sign

After a solicitation has been released, the opportunity team reviews the documents and focuses on everything that is wrong. The solution lead develops a massive list of questions that includes every last piece of information they feel is needed to execute the contract properly. The capture lead tries to make up for a lack of client intimacy and opportunity information by asking a long list of probing questions. Everyone has at the top of their list to ask for an extension. What is the overwhelmed proposal manager going to do?

The ability to ask questions is a great resource for both industry and Government. When used properly, it can resolve ambiguities and misconceptions, thereby improving the solicitation and the resulting responses. However, when used incorrectly, questions can lead to contradictions and annoyance on both sides.

So what is a good question? In this post I address some of the misconceptions about solicitation questions and how we, as industry, can help the Government through our process.

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standardJune 20kevin@kevinswitaj.comUncategorized2 Comment

Building from a Solid Foundation – Additional Information

First, I want to thank everyone who attended my webinar, presented by APMP-NCA, on 9 May. I really enjoyed the experience, and hope the attendees got relevant, actionable guidance out of it.

I am putting together this post to be “show notes” for the webinar, and to answer the questions from the attendees that we did not have time to address.

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standardMay 23kevin@kevinswitaj.comBlogAdam Grant

SPAC 2017 a success!

I really enjoyed attending SPAC 2017. The entire conference was a great success. There were a number of engaging, informative speakers, and I know I came away with a lot of “a ha” ideas that I cannot wait to implement on my upcoming bids.

It was a lot of fun speaking at the conference as well. I really thank all of you who stayed through the afternoon to see me as one of the two final speakers. It was a fun group to speak in front of, and I hope you got something out of the talk.

Thanks to those of you who came up to me afterwards as well and complemented me on the talk. It can be difficult to know if these talks have value to those who attend – by coming up to me afterwards, you made me feel the time preparing was well spent!

Hope to see you at SPAC 21!

-K

standardMarch 25kevin@kevinswitaj.comBlog2017

Shattering Proposal Myths: Number Three – “I Know What the Client Wants!”

Facts Myths Sign

Overcoming proposal myths, one at a time!

Proposal development continues to suffer from several key misperceptions from people both inside and outside Government contracting. This post is the third in a series that will seek to dispel these myths and, in the end, shed light on what we do and how we do it most successfully. Continue Reading →

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