developing a win strategy - nordp › assets › rdconf2016 › ...developing a win strategy...
TRANSCRIPT
Objectives
• Know and understand the significance of pre-RFP activities
• Identify and use tools for researching sponsors, funding opportunities, competitors, and our organization
• Apply capture planning methods to craft a “win strategy”
2
Agenda
• Introduction and Overview; Survey Feedback
• What is Capture Planning?
• Tools for Conducting a Knowledge Audit
• Demonstration and Practice
• Breaks
• Case Study and Application of Key Concepts
• Questions and Answers
3
Proposal Development: Positioning for Success
Lo
ng
-term
Po
sit
ion
ing
(M
ultip
le L
eads
)
Phase 1Capture Planning
Phase 2
Phase 3
De
tail
ed
As
se
ss
me
nts
(Sel
ecte
d O
ppor
tuni
ty)
Pro
po
sa
l D
eve
lop
me
nt
Po
st-
Su
bm
itta
l
Ac
tivit
ies
Phase 4
AW
AR
D
Evaluation
Phase 5
So
licit
ati
on
Rele
ase
6-12 months
Draft Solicitation
Released (sometimes)
2-5 monthsFinal Solicitation
Released
Acquisition
Plan
Sources Sought
Announced
Areas of Support Provided by OSU Proposal Development OfficeAreas of Focus for Business Development/ Relationship Managers Areas of Focus for Opportunity-specific
Capture ManagersP
rod
uc
tio
n
Proposal Preparation(typical university proposal
center covers this space)
Op
po
rtu
nit
y A
sse
ssm
en
t(O
ne
Pro
cure
men
t)
Ca
ptu
re
Pla
nn
ing
(Sel
ecte
dO
ppor
tuni
ty)
12-24 months
Positioning
Capture Planning
• Overall Goal: To develop a documented action-oriented plan towards winning a specific opportunity
• Planning process is flexible, dynamic, iterative, and proactive
• Strikes a balance between planning and action
• Overall effort depends on the specificopportunity, your organization, and the strategic importance of the win
5
Capture Planning Process
• External Analysis
• Opportunity Summary
• Funding Agency(ies) Profile(s)
• Competitor Identification and Assessment
6
Opportunity Summary
• Funding Agency
• Scope of Work
• Key Requirements
• Procurement Schedule
• Award/Contract Type
• Budget / FY Funding
Funding Agency(ies) Profile(s)
• Reason for solicitation (e.g., legislation, technology, environment, economics, sociocultural)
• Evaluation process
• “Hot button” Issues or Key Priorities
Competitor Identificationand Assessment• Is someone performing this work now? Is there
an incumbent organization?
• Does the sponsor have a particular favorite they like to work with?
• Who has been successful performing this type of work? Why are they successful?
• Who are the key competitors? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
Capture Planning Process
• Internal Analysis
• Relationship with Sponsor
• Proposed Solution/Approach
• Potential Risks & Proposed Mitigation
• Action-oriented Strategy
10
Relationship with Sponsor• How well do we know this sponsor, i.e., past
success rates, peer reviewers, in-house fellows, etc.
• Are there lessons learned from previous experience?
• What are the greatest obstacles the sponsor has to overcome to be successful?
• What are the sponsor’s hot buttons (i.e., technical concerns, political pressures, specific biases?)
Proposed Solution/Approach• Why are we leading the proposal effort?
• How are we perceived by competitors?
• Does our institution have the personnel, facilities, systems, and other resources to conduct the work?
• What unique or special advantages do we offer? What are the strengths?
• What weaknesses do we have? Have we identified teaming partners to offset weaknesses?
Proposed Solution/ApproachRequirement Solution Discriminator Gap
Potential Risks and Proposed Mitigation
• Technical Risks
• Management Risks
• Staffing Risks
• Facility/Equipment Risks
Gap Assessment• What do we still need to know to develop
a win strategy?
• How will we gather the information?
Action-Oriented Strategy
Gap/Issue Action Assigned to Due by
Win Strategy
• Describes our unique/specific:• technical and management approach• project director/lead • team organization• partners
• What are the unique features (discriminators) of our approach to the program requirements?
• How do these features translate to benefits for the sponsor?
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Win Strategy Proposal Themes
To play up our STRENGTH in…
To counter our WEAKNESS in…
To NEUTRALIZE our competitor’s strength…
To “GHOST” our competitor’s weakness in…
Using Research Tools for Capture Planning
Meris Mandernach
Learning outcomes
How to research a sponsor, funding opportunity, past awardees, etc.
How to ask good questions when looking for data
Tips and tricks for working with the libraries
We start with a data dump…
What do you already know?
• Solicitation
• Which directorate?
• Past winners
• Details of the RFP
• What is important for your proposal?
• Key terms
• Partners that you have/ partners that you need
• Who is going to be the lead?
Data dump exercise…
Quick Scan: Take the next 5 minutes and gather as much as you can.
We start with a data dump…
What do you already know?
• Solicitation
• Which directorate?
• Past winners
• Details of the RFP
• What is important for your proposal?
• Key terms
• Partners that you have/ partners that you need
• Who is going to be the lead?
Knowledge Gathering
Who is the solicitation from?
• What does that tell you about their priorities?
• What would be the differences if it was Dept of Ed instead of Nat’l Inst. of Justice?
• Who is the director of the initiative?
• Name
• Background
• Google him, what does he care about?
Knowledge gathering
Website announcement of RFP
• What data is there?
• Deadlines, key pieces, contact, FAQ
• Last year’s awardees?
• Common traits?
• Key differences?
What are you good at?
Your home institution
• Who are key faculty?
• What partnerships exist already?
• What makes you special?
• Where are your gaps?
• Who has those strengths?
• How do you partner with them?
Where to put the gathered data
Open a Word Doc (text file)
Keep a worklog
• where you searched
• terms you used
• What do you know? What do you need to know?
Dump citations into citation manager (RefWorks, EndNote, Mendeley)
Review the worklog, create a strategy for future searches
Key Library Databases
Business resources
• Private companies
• Public companies
Citation Databases
Disciplinary Databases
Free websites
Key Library Databases
Market reports
• BCC Research
• Hoovers
• Gartner
• Forrester
• Mintel
• Bizminer
• PassportGMID
Hoover’s Industry
30
Hoover’s Industry
31
Hoover’s Industry
32
Business Source Complete
33
Scopus
34
Tips for Searching Databases
Think about the content of the database
All databases have a help menu
Group similar concepts together
Use the special characters (*, ?) and proximity search tools (NEAR)
When in doubt, contact your librarian!
Reflecting on gathering
What should you include in the proposal?
How do you know?
What additional information do you still need?
Library Resources
Who are your contacts in the library?
You have subject librarians!
• What resources do you need now that you’ve done your initial analysis?
• What does your library subscribe to?
• Who can help you navigate those databases?
• What database should I use?
• Where should I gather all of this data?
• Who will need access to it?
Tips for searching Google
Video searches
Proximity searches
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Searches (specific domains, terms grouped together, etc.)
You have all of your data, now what?Think about what you’re collecting before you start collecting.
• Who will need access?
• How will you identify gaps along the way?
• How will you document where you started and what you’ve already done?
How will all of this information fit into your SWOT analysis?