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© 2009 Business Development Solutions, Inc.
A couple of weeks ago Lisa and I attended a NC Chapter meeting of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) in Raleigh. After dinner, we enjoyed an informal “panel” discussion with three folks representing the federal government, state government and a commercial company. Each speaker was an experienced buyer for their organization. In the case of the government buyers, they sat on selection committees for goods and services. In other words, these folks were typical of the selection committees that review your proposals.
The purpose of the discussion was to help those of us in the business capture end of things understand our audience. In this article we'll share a few of the interesting questions and answers to give you some insight into the way things look from the Selection Committee Side.
Q. How long do you spend reviewing a proposal?
A. Commercial - typically about an hour. Challenge is to make sure you compare apples to apples across the proposals.
A. State and Federal - Can be months, depending on size and complexity.
Q. Do all reviewers score the whole proposal?
A. State and Federal - Yes in some simple cases, but more typically, subject matter experts are in charge of different sections.
Q. What about learning why we lost a bid?
A. Request a debrief! It is surprising how many proposers do not request one. Whether written or oral, request a technical person be present so you can get proper insight. This could be for litigation purposes, however, in most cases it is not actionable but rather for future reference.