Proposal Writing Tips » Request For Proposal

How to: Writing Risk Analysis for Business Proposals

Editor — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:09:22 +0000

Risk assessment creates problems for proposal writers. When responding to a Request For Proposal (RFP), you need to identify all known risks but also flag how these will impact other projects and deliverables. Your response also needs to discuss how you will mitigate against this; in other words, if you were awarded the contract, what measures would you take to reduce the risks.

Outline the Costs. Provide line item details and daily rates

It’s a challenging area for bidders as you don’t want to seem too negative but… you need to demonstrate that you understand the risks and have the expertise to control them.

Risk Assessment in RFPs

You can discuss the risks by breaking them down as follows:

Risk Number – provide a unique number to each risk. This helps track it across all procurement documentation.
Category – identify a set of categories and place each risk into its own category.
Detail – use this section to describe the risk in detail and how it relates to the requirements as identified in the Request For Proposal.
Impact – highlight where it impacts the solution and what other issues need to be addressed.
Mitigation Actions – finally, include a section that discusses the steps you will take to reduce this and minimize disruption to services.

Risk Analysis: Number

Use a numbering system that it easy to track in both Microsoft Word and Excel. Avoid complicated numbering systems as these take time to manage and update. If possible, cross reference the risks to the requirements.

Risk Analysis: Category

Examples of categories include:

Mobilization
Project Management
Client Input
Organisation
Functionality
Acceptance
Schedule
Budgets

Restrict the number of categories to keep it manageable.

Risk Analysis: Level of Detail

Discuss the risk in detail so the reader understands your concerns and later the mitigating actions you’re going to take. Here are some examples from a previous project:

Number of people that will join the project. Risk that there will not be space or facilities for them.
Deadlines are aggressive. The solution needs to be in place by September 2012.
Client’s resources are either not available to participate from the start or participate at different stages throughout the project.
Unclear contractor responsibilities result in less effective project management.
Change is not managed in a controlled manner.
Security audit requirements; may take several weeks.
Parallel project (which we are dependent on) is delayed.
Scope changes.
Client is not prepared for acceptance on completion of User Acceptance Test (UAT).
Client does not deliver test environments before start of the Technical Design phase.

Risks Analysis: Impact

The next step is to discuss how these may impact the project’s success.

Lack of preparation may result in delays.
Delays will result in negative perceptions in staff.
Delays will impact timelines and costs.
Scope creep results in delays and unanticipated complexity.
Security audit may impact the project’s timelines and thus project costs.
Project team does not have the required information before technical design begins.
Impacts to project timelines
Impacts to costs.
Impact delivery timelines.

Risk Analysis: Mitigation Actions

So, how do you mitigate against this? Here are some examples:

We have successfully delivered projects for Government clients, such as [project name]
We have the experience of meeting tight deadlines. We can ensure that each stage is managed tightly and produces the right inputs for the next stage.
We have will work with you to ensure that there is adequate notice of when all client resources are required.
We have the experience to provide the cohesive project management capability that you require.
We have has experience of working with and managing third parties to work together as a coherent and productive team and to successfully deliver projects.
Monitor scope in order to ensure successful delivery.
Baseline and agree the scope of the project during the Scope Definition phase.
We are accustomed to planning audits and designing solutions that meet these security audit requirements.
We have has taken into account your readiness date when planning.
We can work with you to manage any issues relating to project overlap.
We are accustomed to building solutions that need to interface with third party solutions.
We have can work with you to monitor any impact on parallel projects.
We will help prepare the UAT user group for conducting UAT with a view to acceptance on behalf of the organisation.
We will ensure that you are aware of the timelines by which environments are required.

Conclusion

When writing the risks section of the proposal, it’s best to present the information in a table format. Creating a table (possibly in landscape format) will help the evaluation team examine the risks and, if necessary cross reference them back to the Request For Proposal’s requirements.

What else would you add?

How do you identify risks? Do you use a specific numbering system? How do you discuss the mitigating actions?

Consultancy Proposals – Supervising the Consultant

Editor — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 22:00:33 +0000

Use the Supervision section to identify who will monitor (i.e. supervise) the consultant. This person is responsible for ensuring that the consultant meets their objectives and performs their activities in line with the Work Breakdown Structure.

In most projects, the supervisor will also work as the government agency’s Project Manager, coordinating communications, budget controls and report generation activities.

Here is sample text for this section of the proposal:

‘A Consultant is required to prepare a Strategic Plan under the supervision of the Operational Group responsible for the implementation of the Waste Management Plan.

[Name of County Council], being the lead authority for the implementation of the Waste Management Plan, shall be the contracting authority for the proposed service.’

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to write the Deliverables.

7 Request For Proposal Evaluation Guidelines

Editor — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 11:41:00 +0000

Your success as a Proposal Manager depends on your ability to respond to Request For Proposal documents, understand the procurement process, write compelling responses, and coordinate your team during the writing process. However, even with the best will in the world, unless you have guidelines, templates and checklists in place, you may jeopardize your own efforts, especially if you overlook one key requirement in the bid document. Here’s how to avoid this.

Request For Proposal Evaluation Guidelines

Unless you organize the Proposal development process, your success as a Proposal Manager will be severely under-minded.

One way to avoid this is to create easy to use checklists that your Proposal writing team can follow. And, more important, help automate the writing process as much as possible.

You can start on this by creating Action Plans that itemize the key steps, actions, and action owners so everyone on the team understands their role. Here’s a list of the items you need to capture:

1. Proposal – Selection

How to identify, review and select Request For Proposals.

Sales Manager schedules meeting to review new Request For Proposals.
Sales Manager & Bid Manager decides which Request For Proposal to bid for.
Review selected tenders in advance of Monday meeting.

2. Proposal – Meeting

How to schedule, assign and plan Request For Proposals responses.

Sales team organize meeting.
Review last week’s proposals, highlight issues, and plan week ahead.
Discuss Proposal Team members and who will write each bid document.
Contact staff members required to contribute to the tender, e.g. Developer.
Agree date for proposal to be completed, e.g. 48 hours before submission date.
Update the Proposal spreadsheet on the Intranet.
Take and share meeting minutes

3. Proposal – Team Actions

How to organize the bid team for each Request For Proposal.

Read the RFP before starting any writing.
Clarify any points that are unclear with the RFP issuer
Circulate the replies to team members.
Notify Project Coordinator if resources are required and/or impact existing schedules
Notify Proposal Owner of major issues, i.e. schedule conflicts

4. Proposal – Draft Stage

How to write, edit, and gather information for each Request For Proposal.

Use the Business Proposals template.
Confirm financial details with Finance Dept.
Confirm resumes with Human Resource Dept.
Team members return completed sections to Proposal Author for compilation.

5. Proposal – Review Stage

How to proof, review, edit each draft document.

Proposal Author circulates compiled Draft 0.1 to team members.
Team members review draft copies.
Proposal Author collates next draft.

6. Proposal – Quality Assurance

How to test, proof, and circulate the draft Proposal.

Send Draft to Proposal Manager 24 hours before deadline. Late documents cannot be fully checked.
Proposal Manager checks Draft documents. Resolve queries with contributors.
Proposal Manager returns Final Draft to Proposal Author.

7. Proposal – Production

How to print, proof, and product the draft Proposal, especially if you need a hardcopy.

Proposal Manager prints required number of hardcopies.
Inform Proposal Manager in advance
Proposal Manager checks quality of final print.
Prepare labels for large envelopes.
Create CD-ROMs with company logo.
Include cover letter from Sales Manager

and in case we forget, here’s number eight.

8. Proposal – Post Production

How to archive, share, and prepare status reports on the Proposal.

Proposal Manager files ‘Final Draft’ on shared drive.
File supporting proposal documents in a sub-folder for reference.
Update team members at Monday Meeting.

What have we missed?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.

Request For Proposals: Writing the Format Section

Editor — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:48:00 +0000

What’s the quickest way to evaluate responses to your Request For Proposals? One way to speed up the evaluation and award process is to create a Format section in your RFP document.

RFP Template – Sample Costs Format

Understanding the RFP Format section

Most format Request For Proposals (RFP) includes a Format section which explains to the bidder how the Business Proposal should be written. After you have written the Request For Proposal and published it, the next step is to wait for contractors to submit bids.

If you’re working on a large tender, you can get many bids for suppliers. One way to evaluate these bids quickly is to include a “Format of Proposal” section at the end of the Request for Proposal.

Request For Proposals: How to Write the Format section

Remind the bidders that they must follow the “Format of Proposal” criteria as otherwise they risk disqualification. In general, the criteria will mirror the main sections of the Request For Proposal itself.

Note: an Request For Proposal is also called an Invitation To Tender or ITT.

The following section provides a suggested “Format of Proposal” outline:

General Information

Name
Address
Telephone
Fax
Email

Terms and Conditions

Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions as described in the request for proposal by the bidder and third parties.
Statement from the bidder that none of the excluding circumstances listed in section <> are applicable.
Confirmation that the bidder understands the requirements and scope of the project
Recommendation that the bidder should provide any other information that may be relevant to the proposal.

samples Format For Bids

Proposals should respond under the headings set out in “Section X” of the main RFP:

Introduction

Details of Bidding Company
Details of Key Personnel

Proposed Solution

Understanding of Requirements
Scalability
Performance
Deliverables
Audit Requirements
Testing
Skills Transfer
User Training
Reporting Requirements
Development Environment
Testing Environments
Maintainability
Development Support
Project Management
Quality Management

Costs

The costs section should provide the following:

Total Costs
Consulting costs
Software costs
Training costs
Implementation costs
Indicative costs (e.g. hardware)
Schedule of costs (costs associated with deliverables)
Validity period of costs

By mandating that these criteria need to be followed, your Evaluation Team will be able to review the responses much quicker and, in turn, speed up the procurement process.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.