FEDERAL Govt Contracting - Color Reviews For Successful Proposals

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Color Reviews for Successful Proposals US
Federal Government Contracting Webinar Series -
2016 Presented By Jennifer Adeli JUNE 7, 2016
2
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series
CALENDAR OF EVENTS (All Webinars are at 12pm EST
Recorded) JUNE 1 - Maximizing The Value of
Your GovCon Business  https//attendee.gotowebinar
.com/register/74156936435694851 JUNE 2 - Capture
Planning - To Bid Or Not To Bid  https//attendee.
gotowebinar.com/register/7051206926535220483  JUN
E 3 - Teaming Agreements - The Good, The Bad
The Enforceable  https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/
register/7352313683359938307 JUNE 6 - Teaming
With Tribally Owned 8(a) Businesses https//attend
ee.gotowebinar.com/register/4324839202604449539 J
UNE 7 - Color Reviews For Successful
Proposals  https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/regist
er/3973323136181419267 JUNE 8 - Preparing The
FSO for a DSS Audit  https//attendee.gotowebinar.
com/register/423786240906737667 JUNE 9 - Life
After 8(a) - Best Practices Case
Study  https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6
473232146721067779 JUNE 10 - The Politics Of
Procurement   https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/reg
ister/3924758807094447107  JUNE 13 - Contract
Administration - Best Practices  https//attendee.
gotowebinar.com/register/2132047978959217667 JUNE
14 - So You Have A Facility Clearance, Now
What?  https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9
028972158695833091 JUNE 15 - Unsolicited
Proposals - Why, What How. https//attendee.goto
webinar.com/register/4729436391901262849 JUNE 17
- SBIR's - The Good, The Bad The
"How" https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/63
37198369128857857
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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• AGENDA

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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• AGENDA
• Introduction HOST
• Introduction GUEST
• Presentation
• Conclusions
• Q A

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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• INTRODUCTION
• Host

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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Jennifer Schaus
• About The Host

Approx 20 Yrs in Gov Contracting Career
DB (Govt Division) Federal
Sales GSA Scheds Frequent Speaker Chambers,
NCMA, AFCEA, etc Member WIPG Education
Towson University B.A. UC Berkeley -
Leadership Accelerator Cornell University
- Exec Leadership
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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Jennifer Schaus
• Jennifer Schaus Associates

DC Based Consulting Firm Over 10 Yrs in
Business Support Services for Gov
Cons Proposal Writing / Contract Vehicles
(GSA) Sales Biz Dev Certifications SBA
8(a) SDVO etc. Events
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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• INTRODUCTION
• Guest

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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Jennifer Adeli
• ABOUT OUR SPEAKER

• 20 years of government services
• Career
• Capitol Hill
• Education consulting and lobbying
• Big 5 consulting (Arthur Andersen and Booz Allen)
• Mid-sized contractor NetStar-1
• Entrepreneur Launched WinBiz 2011
• Education
• MBA, Georgetown University
• B.A. Political Science UCSB

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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Jennifer Adeli
• WinBiz Proposals

• Northern Virginia-based 100 virtual
• Customer profile
• Small and mid-sized federal contractors
• Any industry or agency
• Services
• Proposal Management
• Writing and Editing
• Graphics and Desktop Publishing
• Pricing
• Capture, BD and Orals
• SharePoint proposal site development (free
  hosting for customers)

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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• PRESENTATION

• Color Reviews for Successful Proposals

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What We Are Going to Cover
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Why we do color reviews
• Jargon Lingo
• Color review best practices
• Process and tools
• Timing Considerations

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What Are Color Reviews?
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• What are Color Reviews?
• Color Reviews are Shipley defined reviews
  usually Pink, Red, Gold
• What Color Reviews are NOT
• Time to say I told you so
• Real-time solutioning
• Opportunities to show off what you know and no
  one else does
• Why should you review?
• Stop writing and read (and get some rest!)
• Gain outside perspective
• Score yourself against the government criteria
• Identify holes, risks and opportunities
• See the proposal in format and page limits
• Get buy-in from team, especially executives

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Jargon and Lingo
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series
Color Review Purpose
Pink Team 80 written. First draft of proposal response. Annotated outline.
Red Team 90 written. Near final content in all sections. If any holes, they are known and in process.
Gold Team 100 written. Final proposal, no holes, all sections done. Executive approval of final proposal response document
White Glove Final proposal review before being boxed/emailed Fix nit picks
Redline Markup content using track changes and comments
Recovery The time period after review to address all the findings
In-brief Meeting to kickoff the review and distribute instructions
Debrief Meeting to discuss reviewers findings and formulate recovery plan
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Color Review Best Practices
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Clearly explain instructions, roles, deadlines,
  rules
• Assign readers to sections not the whole
  proposal
• Dont review your own work
• Provide win themes and reference material to
  reviewers
• Use the RFP Section M (evaluation criteria)
• Independent compliance check
• Give reviewers enough time to read in detail, and
  not real-time during the review
• Comments in soft-copy preferably online

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Color Review Best Practices, Cont
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Focus on the meat
• Do not get hung-up on typos, grammar, formatting.
  Those will be cleaned up during editing and
  production
• Make suggestions!
• Provide data points to support narrative
• Give examples to strengthen draft content
• Suggest ghosting opportunities against
  competition
• No Seagulls allowed! Dont peck the writer to
  death. Provide actions to resolve issues
• Yes This is unclear. Suggest adding Point A
  and cut Point B.
• No This doesnt make sense.
• Encourage what is working in one section to be
  used in another section

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Timeline Rules of Thumb
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Divide up the sections
• 5 pages per hour for in-depth review complex and
  dense
• 8 pages per hour for mid-level review average
  complexity
• 10 pages per hour for light review low
  complexity and density
• Reader fatigue _at_ 4 hours max
• 20-35 pages per person assigned
• Best results _at_ 15 pages, 2 hours
• In-brief 30 minutes
• Debrief 2 hours (diminishing returns _at_ 3 hours)
• Total time commitment 4.5 to 6.5 hours
• Block off your calendar multitasking does not
  work

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Ideal Color Review Cadence
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• 300 pm In-brief
• 330 pm Distribute files
• Reviewers have discretion to read their 2-4 hours
  of content until the next morning...
• 900 am Comments Due
• 900 am 1100 am Compile and adjudicate
  comments (cherry pick)
• 1100 am 100 pm Debrief and discuss
• 200 pm Distribute recovery assignments and
  files

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Sample 30 Day Schedule
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series
Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat
1 RFP Release 2 3
4 5 Kickoff 6 Draft Writing 7 Draft Writing 8 Pink Team 9 Pink Recovery 10 Pink Recovery
11 Pink Recovery 12 Pink Recovery 13 Pink Recovery Pens Down 14 Red Team Inbrief 3pm 15 Red Team Debrief 2pm 16 Red Recovery 17 Red Recovery
18 Red Recovery 19 Red Team Recovery 20 Red Recovery 21 Gold Team Inbrief 3pm 22 Gold Team Debrief 2pm 23 Gold Recovery 24 Gold Recovery
25 Gold Recovery 26 Final Edits 27 Production Print 28 Ship 29 Delivery 30 Due
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Tools and Materials
2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Online document management
• Coauthoring
• Version history
• Security groups
• Maintains file formatting
• Virtual meeting room
• Skype for Business (formerly Lync)
• Go to Meeting
• Webex
• In person meeting room
• Print outs of RFP and proposal
• White board
• Note taker
• Conference phone
• RFP evaluation criteria and color review
  scoresheet

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Sample Scoresheet Summary
TABLE 3 COMBINED TECHNICAL /RISK RATING Your Score (Put an X and comments please)
Rating Description
Outstanding Proposal meets requirements and indicates an exceptional approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths far outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is very low.
Good Proposal meets requirements and indicates a thorough approach and understanding of the requirements. Proposal contains strengths that outweigh any weaknesses. Risk of unsuccessful performance is low.  
Acceptable Proposal meets requirements and indicates an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. Strengths and weaknesses are offsetting or will have little or no impact on contract performance. Risk of unsuccessful performance is no worse than moderate.
Marginal Proposal does not clearly meet requirements and has not demonstrated an adequate approach and understanding of the requirements. The proposal has one or more weaknesses which are not offset by strengths. Risk of unsuccessful performance is high.
Unacceptable Proposal does not meet requirements and contains one or more deficiencies. Proposal is not awardable.
Target
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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• CONCLUSIONS

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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• CONCLUSIONS

• Reviews are vital to the writing process
• Constructive feedback is actionable
• Give enough time to be effective
• Tools, technology and scoresheets are your friend

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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series

• Q A

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CONTACT DETAILS Ms. Jennifer L.
Schaus Washington DC 1 - 2 0 2 3 6 5 0 5 9
8 jschaus_at_jenniferschaus.com www.JenniferSchaus.c
om ------------------------------ Jennifer
Adeli Northern Virginia 2 0 2 2 4 6 -5 3 6
6 jennifer_at_winbizproposals.com www.winbizpoposals.
com
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2016 US Federal Government Contracting Webinar
Series
CALENDAR OF EVENTS (All Webinars are at 12pm EST
Recorded) JUNE 1 - Maximizing The Value of
Your GovCon Business  https//attendee.gotowebinar
.com/register/74156936435694851 JUNE 2 - Capture
Planning - To Bid Or Not To Bid  https//attendee.
gotowebinar.com/register/7051206926535220483  JUN
E 3 - Teaming Agreements - The Good, The Bad
The Enforceable  https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/
register/7352313683359938307 JUNE 6 - Teaming
With Tribally Owned 8(a) Businesses https//attend
ee.gotowebinar.com/register/4324839202604449539 J
UNE 7 - Color Reviews For Successful
Proposals  https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/regist
er/3973323136181419267 JUNE 8 - Preparing The
FSO for a DSS Audit  https//attendee.gotowebinar.
com/register/423786240906737667 JUNE 9 - Life
After 8(a) - Best Practices Case
Study  https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6
473232146721067779 JUNE 10 - The Politics Of
Procurement   https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/reg
ister/3924758807094447107  JUNE 13 - Contract
Administration - Best Practices  https//attendee.
gotowebinar.com/register/2132047978959217667 JUNE
14 - So You Have A Facility Clearance, Now
What?  https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9
028972158695833091 JUNE 15 - Unsolicited
Proposals - Why, What How. https//attendee.goto
webinar.com/register/4729436391901262849 JUNE 17
- SBIR's - The Good, The Bad The
"How" https//attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/63
37198369128857857