Have you ever written a series of documents, and then realized that you need to augment that series…years after the fact? Here we are.
Back in February 2022, I wrote a four-part series of blog posts on Bredemarket’s proposal services:
All these were pretty good…for February 2022.
But I need to revisit the first one.
What the original “part one” post covered
Not because it’s wrong in any way. It accurately covered several topics.
Such as the need for RFx response services.
“RFx” is shorthand for a number of “request for” items, including requests for proposals, requests for information, and requests for comment. These RFx documents ask entities to submit a formal response in the format dictated by the RFx document. The response may be one page long, five pages long, or one thousand pages long.
And the differences between Requests for Information (RFIs) and Requests for Proposal (RFPs).
In the Request for Information stage, you still have an opportunity to shape the final procurement (if a final procurement takes place). For example, if you offer a green widget and your competitors do not, your RFI response will make an important point about how the customer will benefit from a green widget, and a solution without a green widget is substandard.
(One important point here. I didn’t say that the RFI response should say that XYZ Company offers a green widget that is a technological marvel. I said that the RFI response should say that the customer will benefit from a green widget.)
In the Request for Proposal stage, the time to shape the final procurement has already passed. (This is why you engage with a customer years before the customer issues an RFP.) At this stage you have to go all out and win the business, telling the customer how they will benefit from your solution.
And some of the mechanics that Bredemarket uses to assist my proposal clients.
The mechanics of writing an RFx response have varied between my clients. In some cases, I have worked with one or two people to come up with the response, and the client then sent it out. In other cases, I have worked as part of a team of dozens of people in multiple companies to come up with the response, and followed multiple processes to ensure that the proposal is not only sound, but is approved at the corporate level of the client. Some processes are dictated by the client, but some clients have no processes which means that I need to implement a simple one to get the job done.
I guess you can be forgiven for thinking, like Ed McMahon did many times in the past, that John (actually Johnny) covered EVERYTHING that there was to say about RFx responses.
And you probably remember that John (actually Johnny) usually told Ed that he was WRONG.
Because I never talked about full-fledged proposal MANAGEMENT.
Six examples of proposal management
It’s one thing to write a little piece of a proposal. Subject matter experts do it all the time. They turn in their little bit, and then they’re done.
But I have also spent years managing proposals, including these six aspects.
1: Project management
An RFx response is an entire project, and just like any other project, it has deadlines.
But these deadlines are not internally set; they’re externally set.
- If your company is working on a brochure for April 10, your CMO has the authority to change the date to April 20.
- But if you’re submitting a proposal to the Department of Wrecking Historic Buildings, you can’t change the due date; only the DWHB can change that date.
I’ve run into many times where the DWHB or its equivalent has set due dates to their own convenience. For example, a proposal will be due on January 2. The DWHB doesn’t care that this means you’ll lose your Christmas holiday to complete the proposal. The DWHB wants completed proposals to read when they get back from their holiday.
Combine that with your company’s internal processes. For large companies, those can become very onerous. If you work for the U.S. branch of a multinational that is headquartered in a European country, then proposals with certain prices and/or margins require headquarters approval. And that doesn’t happen in an hour.
So how do you ensure that your RFx response reaches the customer by the due date?
By managing the project.
Work backwards. If the proposal must be submitted electronically by 4:00 pm Eastern Time on January 2, and if you want to account for issues with the electronic submission system, and if your proposal needs approval from Paris, plus all the executive approvals at your own firm, and if people need to review it, and if subject matter experts need to contribute to it, and if you have to account for modificiations to the RFx from the question and answer period…well, you’d better get started in November.
Anyway, someone needs to look at what needs to be done, set a schedule, communicate the schedule, and force people (including executives) to stick to the schedule.
Often, that project manager has been me. And over the years I may have sent a strongly worded email or two when people don’t get their act together for my proposal.
Yes, MY PROPOSAL. Often the proposal manager is the only person who can focus on the project. So I do.
2: Questions and answers
I previously alluded to the question and answer period. For most RFx documents, potential bidders get the opportunity to ask clarification questions. The dates for this process are outlined in the RFx schedule:
- December 1: Agency releases RFx.
- December 10: Last day for bidders to submit questions.
- December 25: RFX releases answers to questions, some of which may change the entire scope of the RFx.
- January 2: Proposals due.
And between you and me, sometimes these answers are very helpful, and sometimes they’re not.
Bidder question 35: Section 7 of the RFx says that the system will process 100 subjects an hour, while section 9 says that the system will process 200 subjects an hour. Which is correct?
Answer to bidder question 35: Please refer to RFx sections 7 and 9.
Normally the answers aren’t that bad, and sometimes the answers provide important clarifications, or perhaps even a relaxation of onerous requirements.
And let me spill one secret: sometimes, even when my company had decided NOT to submit a proposal, we ended up asking questions anyway, just to make things difficult for the competitors who WERE responding.
3: Compliance
Now if you talk to the Shipley folks and everyone else, a winning proposal has to tell a story that sets the bidder apart from the competition. But you still have to make sure you meet the basic requirements or you’ll get thrown out.
Some of you have heard this story before, but once upon a time I was managing a proposal in which the RFx clearly stated that the agency would not pay a dime until the system was completely delivered and operational.
I was told by management that my proposal HAD to include a down payment at contract signature…so I submitted our proposal that way.
Well, in the same way that bidders can ask agencies questions before the proposal is submitted, agencies can ask bidders questions after the proposal is submitted. And the first question we received from the agency was basically, “Didn’t you read our RFx, you idiots? No down payment!”
Anyway, someone needs to read the RFx, figure out what is necessary to be compliant, and determine whether the bidder and the bidder’s solution actually IS compliant.
That someone has been me. I won’t go into details, but I’ve had to raise red flags when our proposal would NOT be compliant. Sometimes we changed the proposal. Sometimes, such as in the case above, we didn’t…and paid the price.
4: Writing
Rather than go into detail here, I’ll just make a single point: your proposal has to read as if it came from a single company. Yes, proposals usually DO come from a single company, but if you have a lot of subject matter experts, they’re all going to write differently. They may even use different names for your product or your company itself. Yes, you can issue a style guide for all proposal writers, but that’s no guarantee that the writers will follow it or even read it. So allow some time for edits.
5: Submission
Sometimes proposal submission stories are scarier than any Halloween story. It doesn’t matter whether you’re submitting by paper as we did in the 1990s, or if you’re submitting electronically as we do today. Something can always go wrong.
Such as the time when two companies were working together on a proposal, and the work took up to the very last minute. As in “assembling the proposal in the taxicab” last minute. And the companies didn’t deliver the proposal before the deadline. Sorry.
I’ll share one that has a happier ending. I recently worked on a proposal that was due at a particular date and time. EASTERN time. Just to ensure no hiccups, I decided early on that we would submit the proposal the day before the due date. Which is good, because as we were filling out the electronic submission forms…we encountered something unexpected that prevented us from submitting the proposal that day. We stepped back and requested rework from a subject matter expert, and regrouped on the due date…early in the morning Pacific time, to make sure it was done before the expiration. (We were.)
6: After proposal submission
One of the drawbacks of the proposal world, and the reason why I left Proposals twice, is because there are too many cases in which you’re called in when the RFx drops, and dismissed when the proposal is submitted.
That can be really unfulfilling, which is why I once became a product manager (to manage things for successful proposals) and I once became a strategic/product markter (to set the stage for successful proposals).
But sometimes I’ve had the opportunity to continue with a customer after a successful proposal. There are benefits to everyone from this, because I already know the subject matter from working on the proposal and don’t need a lot of time to get up to speed.
One way to employ proposal managers post-proposal is to have them work on the requirements.
“Wait a minute, John,” you may be saying. “There’s already an RFx, and already your proposal. Don’t those two documents dictate EVERYTHING about what needs to be done?
Cue Johnny.
Often there are further clarifications that are required above and beyond the proposal, and a document (such as a requirements document) resolves those nagging issues.
I’ve been writing requirements documents for decades, dating back to my days as Omnitrak product manager, so I’m a natural at writing requirements documents for a particular customer implementation.
Especially when I’m already familiar with the underlying proposal.
Oh yeah, Bredemarket received a new testimonial
For the past year-plus, Bredemarket has worked on multiple proposals for fingerprint hardware and software company Integrated Biometrics.
Before you jump to conclusions, let me point out a couple of things.
- Integrated Biometrics, as a South Carolina business, never required overseas proposal approval. That was…another firm.
- Integrated Biometrics never submitted a proposal with a down payment when a down payment was prohibited. That was…another firm.
- Integrated Biometrics never tried to assemble a proposal in a taxicab, missing the due date and time. That was…another firm.
But Bredemarket has managed multiple proposals, including successful ones, for Integrated Biometrics. This work has included project management, questions and answers, compliance, writing, submission, and post-proposal requirements management.
And David Deady, “The Fresh ‘Prints” and Director of Marketing for Integrated Biometrics, was kind enough to provide Bredemarket with this endorsement.
(From David Deady, Director of Marketing at Bredemarket client Integrated Biometrics, October 2025)
John,
You got big props on the huddle tonight (our exec team meeting). We are very grateful for the quality of your work and your ability to know what needs to be done with a quick turnaround. The FBI RFI response was mentioned specifically, but all projects have been equally appreciated. Thank you.
And thank YOU.
But what about YOU?
If you are with a fingerprint firm and need support for federal government proposals, I probably can’t help you.
But if you need proposal support that doesn’t create a conflict of interest for me, let’s talk.
Bredemarket 