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Proposal Crutch Words – What They Are and Why You Should Avoid Them

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  Many of us are familiar with crutch words in speech—those filler words that give us more time to think about our response or next point. Common crutch words we may use when we talk include: umm like er ah right and so anyway okay well like I was saying I guess you know. In oral proposals, we commonly practice our presentations and questions responses while minimizing these crutch words. This is because crutch words quickly become distracting to the evaluators and detract from our main points. But did you know that we tend to use crutch words in our proposal writing as well? You may have heard crutch words called by other names—fluff, filler words, or weasel words. However, these all refer to the same bad habit of cluttering and diluting our message. In this week’s blog, I’ll review some common proposal writing crutch words and present some strategies from removing these from your text. Avoid Words That Indicate Quantity But Lack Precision Some commo
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How to Establish a Successful Task Order Machine

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  According to a 2017 US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, spending by federal agencies on indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts accounts for about a third of total government contract obligations. With IDIQ contracts becoming more and more prevalent in the US federal government space, it’s critical that companies not only invest in the pursuit of IDIQ vehicles, but also establish a successful task order response machine. In this week’s article, I’ll discuss how to do just that! First, I’ll quantify the Government’s task order spend to understand why having a successful task order process is so important. Next, I’ll review the steps necessary to establish a successful process, including establishing the infrastructure, conducting capture activities and using baseline resources, establishing and leveraging proposal management resources, generating and using boilerplate sections, and generating and using task order templates. I’ll review how to establish
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7 Things I’m Thankful for in 2020

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  I can’t believe it’s December already—and since I missed posting about it last week, I thought I would use this week’s blog to talk about all of the things I am thankful for this year. Despite a global pandemic that has locked down much of the world, this year has really flown by. I started this year out with a bang—I embarked on a new life adventure and moved to Nashville with my boyfriend, Kevin. I also took on a new leadership role with APMP-NCA  chapter and served as the Corporate Partner and Membership Chair. Also in January, Baskar Sundaram  and I started recording the Scribble Talk podcast! Then at the end of January, Kevin and I took a trip of a lifetime to Australia—a trip that almost got cancelled due to early uncertainties surrounding COVID-19. And that was all in January! I know that this has been a rough year, but despite all that has been wrong with the world this year, I am excited to share some of the things I am thankful for in 2020. 1. Scribble Talk Podcast Firs
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Three Ways Proposals are Like Building a House

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  I know I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus from this blog for the last two months or so—it’s been a busy end of the year! For those of you who don’t know, Kevin and I are in the process of building our dream home. It wasn’t something we set out on this year planning to do—we just kind of…fell into it. As you know, safe, socially distanced activities have been limited during the pandemic, so Kevin and I got creative in June. We decided to pretend we were house hunting and set up an appointment to see an extravagant, overdone home about 20 minutes outside the city. Harmless fun, right? The problem is that we actually fell in love with the neighborhood and decided to start meeting with the different builders to find out more about the process. Fast-forward five months, and we are getting ready to break ground on our new home next month. We couldn’t be more excited. However, as I look back on the process, and can’t help but draw some parallels between the home building process and proposals
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Critical Skills and Resources for Quick-Turn Proposals

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  I recently came out of a project where we supported the client in submitting 25 task order proposal responses between August and September. The responses were spread across four different indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) vehicles and spanned two major delivery sectors. It had been quite a while since I had worked on this high of a volume of proposals requiring such quick-turn responses. And this made me realize that a key skill that I boast in my LinkedIn profile—the capability to manage multiple projects with tight deadlines—is one I have not tested in quite a while. I have focused on large, strategic proposals for so long that my gritty, task order response capabilities just simply aren’t quite as strong as they used to be. This got me thinking about the different skillsets that are required between a strategic proposal manager and a task order proposal manager. In this week’s blog, I outline some of these key differences. Organization, Planning, and Time Management
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Surviving the Current Deluge of RFPs

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  It’s that time of year again—we’re approaching the end of the US Government fiscal year, and agencies are releasing the RFP floodgates to secure their funding and drive next year’s budget. And as a result, many of us in the proposal world are barely keeping our heads above water. For those of you who feel like you’re on the verge of drowning, I want to offer you some words of encouragement. I took a look back at my Facebook feed, and ever since I entered the field, this has always been an unbearable time of year. But even though the challenge seems utterly insurmountable—I look back, and for thirteen years, I have gotten through it. And that gives me confidence that I’ll get through it again this year—and if you’re feeling doubtful as well—I’m sending you confidence that you’ll get through it too. But I also wanted to send out a friendly reminder to all of you out there to take care of yourselves! I know it’s hard when we’re working crazy long hours, but please eat healthy, get e
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Reflecting on APMP's Winning Business Virtual Experience 2020

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We’re just five days post the much anticipated APMP Winning Business Virtual Experience (WBVE)! The event proved to be the largest bid and proposal conference held anywhere in the world to date. Heading into the event, there were more than 2,000 registered attendees across the globe. Over two days, participants chose from a variety of educational presentations, including more than 120 educational presentations and 75 hours of content. Because there was no way for participants to take full advantage of the event in just those two days, APMP is graciously leaving up the presentations for another month or so, and I couldn’t be more excited. In this week’s article, I’ll reflect on some of my favorite events from the virtual conference, highlight some of the presentations that are on my list to check out over the next few weeks, and reiterate a few of my tips for making sure you get the most from this amazing event. Highlights from Day 1 With so many fantastic presentations to choose fr
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