I’ve worked in proposals longer than I’ve worked in biometrics. Although my first proposals experience wasn’t in writing a proposal. It wasn’t even in writing a proposal letter. (I’ve told that story before.) It was in writing a REQUEST for Proposal.
Granted, it was a pretty rudimentary RFP. Through the guidance of a Moss Adams consultant, I wrote an RFP for a non-biometric poster company that needed a computer system. It was primarily a checklist: do you do this? Do you do that? Companies that automatically checked every box ended up being discarded, while the two companies that put some thought in their responses and actually said what they couldn’t do, and why, move to the finalist stage.
Over the last 30+ years I’ve dealt with RFPs that were much better written, but for the most part I’ve specialized in responding to requests for proposal rather than writing them.
Writing the procurement documents: the pre-acquisition and procurement support from two companies
Writing RFPs takes a different skill set. The RFP writer, either an employee of the company/agency issuing the RFP or an independent consultant, has to simultaneously addresss:
- The procurement standards of the entity issuing the RFP.
- The needs of the stakeholder within the entity.
- The reality of the environment in which the potential respondents operate. For example, even if the entity demands 100% biometric accuracy, no vendor can deliver 100% accuracy so don’t ask for it.
While there have been giants in biometric RFP consulting over the years, two entities that are active today are Applied Forensic Services and Biometrics Consulting Partners.
Applied Forensics Services
Here is how Applied Forensic Services describes its automated biometric identification system (ABIS) pre-acquisition services.
“An expertly guided ABIS pre-acquisition and acquisition can result in greater agency stakeholder satisfaction, reduced deployment time and costs, and increased public safety for your jurisdiction.
“Your agency needs a knowledgeable acquisition professional who understands your stakeholders, strives to keep your vendors focused, and produces a unique acquisition that addresses your concerns and obtains agreement from your stakeholders.
Michael K. French, owner of Applied Forensic Services LLC (AFS), draws upon 12 years of experience with a law enforcement agency, 13 years of experience with ABIS vendors, and eight years of service on forensic and industry standards bodies. He is knowledgeable about all aspects of an ABIS acquisition through his involvement in approximately 50 ABIS implementations including the FBI Next Generation Identification system (NGI).”
French’s services include consulting with all stakeholders, developing the many documents required in a solicitation, and conducting benchmarks of proposal finalists.
Biometrics Consulting Partners
Biometrics Consulting Partners, a multi-consultant entity, provides similar procurement support:
“Biometrics Consulting Partners (BCP)’s staff have led procurement activities in both agency and biometric vendor settings. This experience enables a unique perspective which helps anticipate risks and clearly identify agency needs.
“BCP applies this unique and rare expertise to help government agencies strategically develop system requirements and articulate them in ABIS, Live Scan, MobileID, Mugshot, Patrol, and Applicant Processing RFIs, RFQs, and RFPs.”
The experience of the BCP principals is even more impressive than Mike French’s experience, including local, state, national, and international deployments in law enforcement, government benefits, and other areas.
Answering the procurement documents: Bredemarket proposal services for biometric identity firms
While both entities also have vast experience in answering RFPs written by others, I’d like to toot my own horn in this regard.
Bredemarket
While Applied Forensic Services and Biometrics Consulting Partners (BCP) primarily assist government agencies in writing biometric RFPs (the questions), Bredemarket assists biometric identity vendors in writing the compliance-driven proposal responses (the answers) to win those contracts.
After my mininal RFP writing experience in my pre-biometric days, I’ve spent decades responding to RFPs while employed by Printrak, MorphoTrak, and Incode, and by working with Bredemarket clients.
While I’ve written hundreds of proposals and proposal letters and secured tens of millions of dollars of revenue for my employers and consulting clients, let me just focus on three notable proposal efforts.
How did I answer the questions for the Louisiana Automated Fingerprint Identification System (Printrak)?
I joined Printrak right as it began to sell its Series 2000 AFIS.
Probably the most notable proposal in that initial year was one for the State of Louisiana.
This wasn’t just a simple client-server system (multi-tier would come later when I was the Omnitrak/Printrak BIS product manager for Motorola). This was a multi-server implementation, in which the clients fed into six regional centers that themselves fed into the central AFIS.
Complex, but valuable in solving crimes throughout the state. It solved crimes and identified people; what more could you ask for?
How did I answer the questions for Albuquerque and other cloud-based Automated Biometric Identification Systems (MorphoTrak)?
Up until this time, all of MorphoTrak’s ABIS deployments were on-premise.
I wrote the first three proposals for the new cloud-based MorphoBIS Cloud.
- This required coordinating the technical response.
- More importantly, I also ensured that other aspects of the bid (financing, pricing, legal, and support) accorded with a service-based model. This is very different from an on-premise model: for one, the vendor doesn’t receive a single dime until after it is providing the service. No pre-payments at contract signature, requirements document finalization, shipment, and testing completion.
This resulted in a monumental transition in how MorphoTrak deployed its projects and realized its revenue, but the end result was a more reliable stream of revenue and better service for the end customers.
How did I answer the questions for the undisclosed biometric front-end system (Bredemarket client)?
This consulting client responded to a Request for Proposal for an undisclosed entity requiring multi-biometric submission services.
I not only wrote the winning proposal, but also managed the project for the first two releases of the supplied product.
So what can I do for your identity/biometric firm?
Now I didn’t win every single proposal that I wrote, but I’ve won enough to know what a proposal needs and what it doesn’t. Similar to what I’ve said in other contexts, a winning proposal needs customer-focused, benefits-oriented responses that move the prospect to buy. Proposals also need some sort of process: perhaps a complex 96-step process, perhaps a less burdensome one.
Read about Bredemarket’s proposal services here.
Schedule a free meeting to request my services here.
Bredemarket 