“We have a deep bench” and “We have great corporate reachback” are some of my favorite lies. While this is not always flawed, it can most definitely boomerang around to kill your bid. Let’s take a journey down the yellow brick reachback road to see examples of the good and the bad. In this blog…
Oh, the nonsense we con ourselves into believing is not always going to catch on! It’s that time for the obligatory eye roll at another deadly sin. Read on as we continue our series in win-loss trends. Sin #13: Industry leading best practices = strength U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) IT…
The sins of hubris and ignorance continue to plague bidders. While there are always ample opportunities to engage in poor decision making, let’s learn from these follies. This pair of sins focuses on “the Government is not your mother” and your past does not govern your future. Read on as we continue our series in…
Does your capture team want to try a trick play to get a competitive advantage? This can work (perhaps) if you clear it with the referee (a.k.a. your customer), but it can go very badly. Being creative in capture strategy and solution development can help your prospective chance to win (a.k.a. the dreaded Pwin). This…
We’re back to bring forward yet more “deadly sins.” While these sins and examples might give us all a good hearty and exasperated groan, let’s learn from these errors so you can be a smarter bidder. This continues our series in win-loss trends. Sin #7: Key personnel exceed basic requirements = strength? No! There is…
The age-old debate of “submitting a technically acceptable proposal and a very aggressive bid leads to a win” is one we hear constantly. Let’s pause though. Is that really true? This routinely comes up in Black Hat reviews as a topic of great and enthusiastic debate. While we presume this is partly a product of…
Oh the mistakes that are made leading to some very expensive losses are ever so avoidable. Bear these in mind so you can avoid spending bid and proposal funds on losing proposals and then more on legal fees for a losing protest. Sin #5: You don’t understand the evaluation tendencies of the agency This sin…
We continue our journey into the land of deadly sins in proposals with two sins involving the bidder’s failure to connect content and concepts in their proposal to ensure credibility of their proposal. Sin #3: You cut staffing levels without an effective rationalization Although reducing staffing levels is a short cut to significantly lower your…
