Reflections on the preparation of project/bid proposals

1. Dr David Luigi FUSCHI

2. Table of contents
 The context
 The targeted outcomes
 The process
 Conclusions

3. Section 1

4. Why writing a proposal
 Research & innovation capacity building
 To gain access to resources needed to
support on-going work
 To further develop and exploit previous
results
 To contribute to address/solve open
issues

5. When writing a proposal
 Responsive to a call for proposal from a
national or international body
 Responsive to a call for tender from a
national or international body/industry
 Responsive to an invitation for
contributions from a standardisation or
professional body

6. Section 2

7. Fulfilling an objective
 The proposed work needs to be:
 Part of a strategy (better if mid/longer-term)
 In line with present and past experience
 Based on robust assumptions
 The proposed work is targeted to open:
 New horizons
 New lines of activities

8. Securing funding
 To support and boost current activities in
their evolution and consolidation
 To ensure reputation building via establishing
a success track record
 To secure possibilities for protecting and
developing a sound Intellectual Property
basis
 To develop your human capital
 To develop your professional network capital

9. Section 3

10. Planning
 Carefully select the ideas to be
developed
 Identify the needed partners/resources
 Identify the target funding
institution/programme
 Brainstorm with core partners
 Carefully assess achieved results and
their possible impact

11. Design
 Carefully select the partnership
 Assign clear roles and responsibilities in
the process
 Study carefully the call/tender
 Analyse the pros and cons
 Make a “go”/“no-go” decision so as to
invest in the preparation

12. Development
 Access the call/tender templates/tools
and familiarise staff with them
 Survey the State-of-the-Art (SoA)
 Prepare a coherent Work Break Down
Structure (WBS)
 Evaluate the budget based on prior
experience and sound advice re costing
 Plan the deployment in detail
 Make simple control-checklists

13. Deployment
 Fill in the required forms
 Clearly present objectives and outcomes
 Set out the SoA and the progress
planned in the proposal
 Describe carefully the activities to be
performed and related resources
 Provide clear indication on how
outcomes will then be exploited

14. Follow-up
 Be ready to negotiate and accommodate
(when possible) requests coming from
partners
 Ask for clear explanations and
convincing rationale for each major
change requested
 Keep track of changes

15. Finalisation
 Close the writing early enough to have
time to revise the text
 Check carefully the spelling,
punctuations and formatting
 Save frequently and keep track of the
versioning
 Submit on time (better early than late)

16. Section 4

17. What to do
 Carefully read the text of the call/tender
 Ensure clarity and concision
 Show knowledge and competence
 Keep focused, clearly targeting the deltas
 Provide a clear, credible work plan/ budget
 Provide clear, self explanatory use-cases

18. What to do
 Complete all writing well before the deadline
 Save time to revise and improve
 Show that users shall be involved from the
beginning and certainly for evaluation
 Build a balanced multi-disciplinary team
 Strive for excellence as competition is
extremely high

19. Dr David Luigi FUSCHI
david.fuschi@ieee.org