Government Contracting - The Smart Way Of Doing Capture - Win Federal Contracts

FED GOV CON
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Wednesdays
2020 Series
JSchaus & Associates
Washington DC
+ 1 – 2 0 2 – 3 6 5 – 0 5 9 8

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The National Veteran Small Coalition
(NVSBC)
is the largest non-profit trade association
in the country representing veteran and
service-disabled veteran-owned small
business in the federal marketplace as
prime and subcontractors. NVSBC
provides networking, match-making,
coaching, and training opportunities for
members.
Please visit: www.nvsbc.org

About Us:
Professional Services for
Federal Contractors
- GSA Sched;
- SBA 8(a);
- Proposal Writing;
- Pricing;
- Contract Administration;
- Business Development

Advertise In Our Newsletter:
Reach 19,700+ Subscribers!
Includes Government &
Government Contractors
Hello@JenniferSchaus.com

About Our Speaker:
Olessia Smotrova
OST Global Solutions, Inc.
https://ostglobalsolutions.com/

The Smart Way Of Doing
Capture
Wednesday,
June 24, 2020

2020 – Fed Gov Con Webinar Series - Washington DC
WE'VE WON OUR CLIENTS OVER $22 BILLION IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS SINCE 2005
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, CAPTURE, AND PROPOSAL CONSULTING
Build Portfolio of
Indefinite Delivery
Vehicles
Develop
Opportunity
Pipelines
Win ProposalsCapture
Opportunities
Optimize Your
Processes
18 COURSES IN ALL ASPECTS OF FEDERAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT; FULL BD LIFECYCLE
TRAINING ALONG FIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRACKS
Certified
Business
Developer
Certified
Capture
Manager
Certified
Proposal
Manager
Certified
Proposal
Coordinator
Certified
Proposal
Writer
VIRTUAL AND COWORKING
INCUBATOR FOR SMALL
GOVERNMENT
CONTRACTORS

Business Development Lifecycle
Begin Business
Development
Process
Build Capacity to Do
Business with the
Government
1.0
Conduct Strategic
Business Development
Planning
Perform Market
Research
Enough
Info to Make
Decisions?
No
Build and Manage an
Opportunities Pipeline
Yes
Market to the Feds &
Partners
Yes
Check for Strategic Fit
Qualify Each Individual
Opportunity
Conduct CapturePrepare Proposal
Develop Business During
Project Execution
2.0 3.0
4.0
5.0
6.07.08.0
9.0

What is Capture?
Capture is pre-proposal preparation that
takes place from deciding to pursue an
opportunity to the Draft or Final RFP
issuance
Capture to proposal
is what attending the course is to
passing the final exam
(If you miss the course, you will have
trouble acing the exam)
OST Capture
Process

Overlapping Goals of Business Development and Capture
1. Identify opportunities and customers
2. Avoid competition altogether by adding scope to an existing vehicle, or
getting a sole source award
3. Reduce competitor pool by changing the type of competition (ex: Instead
of bidding in a full & open competition as a large business competing
against a strong large business prime, drive the procurement to a small
business set-aside where you have higher chances of winning with a
highly experienced small business prime partner.)
4. Get the customer looking forward to receive your proposal and award the
contract to you
5. Make EVERY preparation step serve the purpose of writing a highly
compelling proposal
BD
Capture

Customer Engagement is the Obvious Component
 Identify the right decision-
makers
 Build the relationship
 Collect and document
intelligence
 Influence the requirements
 Vet your solution
1. Customer

Potential Source Selection Board Members
Customer
Name,
Title, Org
Possible
Role in
Selection
Profile (Be Tactful!) Attitude towards us:
Positive, Negative,
Neutral
Top three hot buttons
Glenn
Smith (GS-
15, COR)
USSOCOM
PCO No-nonsense; knows both the program and the
acquisition sides; creative
Neutral Efficiencies, no saying “no”, constant
improvement
Example

Intelligence Gathering – Getting More Sophisticated
 Perform ethical research to gain the
right intelligence necessary to win
 Know your sources
 Pass the information to the proposal
team in a useful form

Site Visits, Industry Days, Bidder’s Conferences Intel Gathering
Keep these points in mind:
1. Bring the right people 7. Listen closely
2. Come prepared 8. Size the competition
3. Carefully craft questions 9. Bring site checklist
4. Request documents 10. Make helpful suggestions
5. Shape requirements 11. Introduce yourself and
socialize the PM
6. Size the customer 12. Document everything immediately

Often Missed by Small Businesses – Win Strategy
 Win Themes & Messages
 Strategic action plan
 Effective capture planning

Building Blocks of Effective Win Themes
Feature
Benefit to
Customer
Proof
Mandatory in any win
theme statement
Can appear outside of
the win theme, in
proposal text
Measurable
Feature—What
do we offer?
Has to be:
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
Benefit to the
Customer—
Answers the
questions:
• What’s in it for
the customer?
• How so?
• So what?
Proof shows we’ve done it
before. A theme without proof
is an unsubstantiated bold
assertion. Proof:
• Builds confidence and
credibility
• Makes your feature
believable

From Win Themes to Win Strategies
Customer
Engagement,
Intelligence
Gathering,
requirements, &
solution vetting
Customer Hot
Buttons
(Hopes, Fears,
Biases)
Benefits
portion of the
Win Themes
(feature +
benefit + proof)
Gap Analysis –
Do we have
the capability
to provide the
desired
benefit?
Win Strategy: How
will we obtain (or
strengthen,
quantify, better
showcase) the
capability?
Priority Action Responsible Due Status
1 Find feature or proof for the benefit Smith 7/21
 Focus win themes on the customer by developing the benefit first
 If there is no feature or proof for the benefit, make it an action item to
find them

Competitive Analysis – Wondering How Does it Serve You?
 Identify likely competitors and their
teams
 Identify competitors’ strengths &
weaknesses
 Determine competitors’ win
strategies
 Neutralize their strengths and
exploit their weaknesses
 Adjust your win strategy, approach,
and price

Relationship Between Black Hat and Price to Win
Competitive
Intelligence
(Non-
Opportunity-
specific)
OST Capture
Process
Competitive Intelligence (Analysis) –
Opportunity-specific
Identify Competitors
Black Hat: Gather competitive
information; impersonate competitors to
determine competitor’s solutions and win
strategies, and develop action items to
counteract them
Decide whether you should bid, what
teaming partners and strategy to use
PTW: Determine customer’s competitive
range, price competitors’ solutions
discovered during Black Hat, and
counteract their win strategies from the
pricing perspective; determine your
winning price

SWOT Analysis
 Strengths: characteristics of the bidder that give it an
advantage over others
 Weaknesses (or Limitations): characteristics that place
the bidder at a disadvantage relative to others
 Opportunities: external chances to improve win
probability in the environment
 Threats: external elements in the environment that
could cause trouble for the pursuit and the likelihood of
winning
Helpful
to Winning
Harmful
to Winning
InternalOrigin
Attributesofthebidder
ExternalOrigin
Attributesoftheenvironment
S
O
W
T
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats

Teaming – Use a Systematic Method Instead of Hasty Emotional
Decisions
 Pick the right teaming
strategy
 Select the best teammates
to cover every
requirement
 Vet your teammates
 Negotiate for success to
sign binding teaming
agreements

Technical Capabilities Analysis by Work Statement Area
Use this matrix when choosing teammates based on your research; and ask teammates to fill out a detailed
version once they join in; use detailed version of the work statement; cover for any gaps
0 1 2 3 4
No past performance or ca
pability
Capability but limited
or no past
performance
Capability and
past performance in
a different agency
Capability and
past performance in the sa
me or similar agency
Capability and
past performance on
the incumbent contract
Company
RelevantPastPerformance
Statement of Work Areas
PrimeorSubPastPerformance?
Size and Socioeconomic Status CPARS/
PPIRS Rating
Info or
Anticipated
Reference’s
Rating if Rating
Info is
Unavailable
3.1ITServices
3.2BPR
3.2.1Workflow
3.2.2SupplyChain
3.nTraining
Large
Small
8(a)
WOSB,EDOWSB
SDVOSB,VOSB
HubZone
Prime Project 1 4 3 3 0 1 P ● ● ● Exceptional
Prime Project n 1 2 3 1 0 S ● ● ● Very good
Teammate 1 Project 1 3 1 1 3 3 P ● Exceptional
Teammate 2 Project 1 2 0 1 4 3 S ● ● Exceptional
This is a key chart that doubles as a
teaming selection chart, past
performance selection,
brainstorming plan, subcontracting
to small businesses, etc.
Tailor this chart with example data
to fit your opportunity
If the chart is really large, add a link
to the separate document.

Solution Development – Start Early
 Postulate the requirements
 Brainstorm on winning approaches
in technical, management, and
other key areas
 Select past performance
references and key personnel
 Determine proposal price
 Stage materials for the proposal

Postulate the Requirements
 Old RFP
 Draft RFP
 Your own RFP
 Get old agency's RFPs for
other pursuits
 Use other agencies' SOW for
similar work
 Modify based on your intel

Interview SMEs Individually
 Less preferred approach, but beats
boilerplate reuse option
 Requires the proposal writer to have a
solution architect's mind to tie everything
together
 Requires solid interviewing techniques

Use Facilitated Group Brainstorming with Post-its or Mind Maps
1
Warm up
2
Generate
massive
quantity of
ideas without
judgement
3
Use silent idea
generation or
with discussion
4
Allow everyone
to write down,
reorder ideas
while others
generate theirs
5
Order, sort,
prioritize, weed

Start with a Flowchart
 Where many steps are involved, flowchart
is appropriate
 Discover process efficiencies and
shortcuts
 Pinpoint spots where you could bring
innovations and efficiencies

Start with a Graphic
 CONOPS, OV1, overview graphic
 All the key pieces of the program,
stakeholders
 Customer's challenges, your solution, what
constitutes mission success

Start with a Schedule
Plan out the project in detailPlan
Sequence correctly to include predecessors and successorsSequence
Discover parallel activities and time savingsDiscover
Develop critical pathDevelop
Resource-load your scheduleResource
Describe your schedule in your narrativeDescribe

Start with a Checklist
 Checklists enable disciplined
decision-making
 Reduce tangents
 Enable reuse of past successful
solutions without the pitfalls of
boilerplate

Arriving at the RFP Release Date in Style
Your Solution Pre-Staged Materials
• Proposal template
• Proposal cover
• Executive summary
• Past performance
• Staffing
plan/resumes
• Plans
• Cost proposal
draft
Proposal
Plan
Winning Proposal
• Team able to go straight to draft
• Less rework
• Solutions are more mature
• More polished final product
• Less stress
RFP Release

Contact Information
Your Solution
www.ostglobalsolutions.com
7361 Calhoun Place, Suite 560
Rockville, MD 20855
Phone: 301-384-3350
service@ostglobalsolutions.com

THANK YOU!
Washington DC
hello@JenniferSchaus.com
www.JenniferSchaus.com
+ 1 – 2 0 2 – 3 6 5 – 0 5 9 8
Olessia Smotrova
otaylor@ostglobalsolutions.com
240-246-5305

Government Contracting - The Smart Way Of Doing Capture - Win Federal Contracts

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