10 Tips for Better Contracting: Relationship Advice for Contract Managers

It all starts with better communication.

Companies wait in suspense for months to hear who wins a contract that’s vital to their portfolios. They’ve invested a lot of money and time into getting each piece of the bid correct. In the end, for one company, it’s good news. The press releases go out and work gets started.

But the work, in fact, can begin too soon, former program managers and experts say. Any miscommunication between the contractor and the program manager from the start of a contract can cause problems to brew.

The world of procurement hinges on how the two interact. It’s so important because too often, the two sides don’t know what each other wants or expects. They may not even know what success really is, particularly on cutting-edge projects.

  

Your 10 Tips for better Contracting .

1. Learn about the program manager’s expectations and goals. Contractor and customer need to figure out milestones that point out progress.

2. Establish goals for the program that deal with cost, schedule, and performance with top management based on the contract’s requirements.

3. Get agreements in writing to be clear on issues.

4. Build a solid team in order to meet all parts of a contract. More specifically, have a strong financial manager and strong contract specialist..

5. Arrange a schedule for meeting regularly, whether in person or otherwise, whichever fits the circumstance.

6. Meet the points of contact in the program manager’s office. Contractors need to develop more than arm’s length relationships. It’s also important to know the chain of command in the program office.

7. Realize that bad news doesn’t get any better with age. Delaying bad news doesn’t help relationships. A program manager—or anyone, for that matter—doesn’t want to be blindsided with problems.

“Small problems, if you wait too long, become big problems,”

8. Grow tough skin. Contractors need to learn patience, and when people get upset, they should take the high road. In other words, act like an adult in tense situations and don’t retaliate for what is said.

9. Don’t take comments personally.

“Zone out for a few minutes and let them vent,” Once they’re done, “then begin to engage to accomplish things.”

10. Finally, learn from the mistake that were made. Deconstruct the steps that led to the collapse in the contract after it’s happened.

Subcontracting Your Starting Point into the Government Market

When considering how to enter the government marketplace, most business people first think about doing business directly with federal, state or local government agencies.

Contracting directly with a government entity involves many steps, and likely involves the requirement that you have years of established experience. In fact, there are many major considerations for doing government business as a prime contractor, including:

• Thorough knowledge of all applicable procurement regulations and laws.
• Registration in numerous vendor databases and keeping them up-to-date.
• Comprehensive market research to identify upcoming work.
• Skills necessary to analyze government solicitations, and then prepare detailed and responsive offers.
• Ability to secure bid, performance and payment bonds, if required.
• Ability to finance what may be a multi-million dollar job for at least 60-90 days until the first payment arrives.
• Established relationships with agency, including buyers and end-users.
• Track record of relevant experience.

If your business lacks the wherewithal to support all this, you may want to consider an alternative.

  

Five Stages of Proposal Writing

Business Development Phase

1. Opportunity Identification and Assessment

·         Identify opportunity

·         Meet with customer

·         Quality opportunity

·         Start capture plan

·         Prepare opportunity assessment package and conduct review

2. Pursuit

·         Organize capture team

·         Understand customer requirements and objectives

·         Development preliminary solution

·         Position solution with customer

·         Assess competition

·         Develop win strategy

·         Build/execute teaming strategy

·         Establish price to win

·         Assess risk

·         Conduct pursuit progress and preliminary bid decision gate reviews

Capture Phase

3. Pre-Proposal Preparation

·         Assign proposal resources

·         Development strawman RFP

·         Review solution against RFP

·         Review/approve storyboards

·         Identify and develop early-stage proposal products

·         Draft oral presentation

·         Finalize proposal development plan

·         Plan kickoff meeting

·         Conduct pre-proposal gate review

4. Proposal Development

·         Confirm bid decision

·         Finalize and validate proposal outline, design and resources

·         Conduct kickoff meeting

·         Finalize solution

·         Finalize storyboards and conduct Blue Team review

·         Begin writing proposal

·         Review/approve price proposal approach

·         Conduct Pink/Red Team reviews and edit

·         Conduct Gold Team review

·         Produce and quality check proposal

·         Conduct proposal submission gate review

5. Post-Submittal

·         Conduct closure strategy

·         Clean up proposal files and archive

·         Receive award notice

·         Attend debrief

·         Assist with protests

·         Conduct lessons-learned review

·         Conduct continual improvement gate review

·         Hold win party!

·         Transition to operations

Government Contracting First Quarter Review and Second Quarter Projection

The first quarter of fiscal 2012 got off to an all-too-familiar start, with federal agencies operating under a series of short-term continuing resolutions, instead of year-long budgets. Still, that didn’t stop agencies from awarding contracts worth more than $45 billion.

With budgets now in place, that pace likely will speed up. 3,500 solicitations worth up to $325 billion have been identified planned for release early this year.

First, let’s take a look at some of the more notable contract awards from the first quarter: