Government Proposal Consultant | Pam Silverthorn, CF APMP
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Are you guilty of being a proposal caveman?

3/24/2014

 
I got a chuckle out of this cartoon that appeared in my Linkedin feed yesterday. It was shared by one of my connections, Lynn Ann Casey of Arc Aspicio. It got me thinking about all of the times I've seen people try to reinvent the wheel on proposal process.

Gregory W. Pease of Tenzing Consulting presents some fundamental advice on improving your company's proposal writing efforts in his article "How Do I Avoid Reinventing the Wheel on Every Proposal?”
Proposal Cavemen
 In my opinion, the three most important ways to avoid caveman mentality are to:
  • design an achievable schedule
  • offer just-in-time training at the right points during proposal development
  • mature the proposal process by 1) documenting it, and 2) incorporating lessons learned

Greg presents some ideas on how to leverage proposal content via repositories.  This concept is a double-edged sword. You run the risk of having the wrong customer name in a graphic, or worse, being non-responsive because your writers leveraged content designed for a completely different solution. Reuse squelches the creativity of the storyboard process and can inundate reviewers with too much text in the early color reviews.

Bottom line, the use of proposal boilerplate must be handled with caution.

I agree with the idea of developing a culture of improvement. Proposal people can burn out quickly, so it's important to reward them and encourage them to drive improvements in the process. Greg offers good advice to company executives to develop a list of 3 to 5 investment priorities and expected benefits and then share with everyone to achieve buy-in.

In the end, Greg sums it up nicely:  Eliminating “reinventing the wheel” in your proposal environment is about committing to change in the way you apply people, process, technology, and investment.

2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)

3/4/2014

 
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The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is a legislatively-mandated, 4-year review of DOD strategy and priorities. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel presents it as a 10-year plan with three priorities:
  1. Defending the homeland
  2. Building security globally, to aggression
  3. Projecting power by remaining prepared to win decisively against any adversary

The QDR sets a long-term course for DOD as it assesses the threats and challenges that face our nation. It re-balances DOD's strategies, capabilities, and forces to address today's conflicts and tomorrow's threats.

Download a PDF version here:
Quadrennial Defense Review 2014

Defense Transformation: Spending & Strategy

3/3/2014

 
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I had the opportunity to attend Bloomberg's BGOV Defense Summit at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center. We spent the day with DoD officials and industry experts (partial list at bottom of post).

I must add that Peter Cook, Bloomberg TV's chief Washington correspondent, did an excellent job interviewing some of the senior defense officials. He's a native Washingtonian and seems passionate and knowledgeable about what's going on in government. Kudos to Bloomberg Government and its staff for putting on an fantastic event.

For me, the most exciting aspect is meeting new people and hearing their amazing stories. During the summit, I was fortunate to meet some super smart people including: 
  • Nate Tibbits of Blackwood Advisory LLC
  • Nathan Wilson, human trafficking expert, Founder of Project Meridian Foundation and CEO of Gallant Knights, LLC 
  • Angela Harpalani, CEO, Dimensional Concepts, a Reston-based government contractor specializing in business intelligence (BI) solutions
  • Also reconnected with Rear Admiral, USN (Ret.) Julius Caesar, Addx Corporation
At the post-event reception, I was in awe at the stores told to me by Lynda S. Roades of Roades Advisory. Lynda is a global public sector finance and government operations expert. She has assisted foreign governments including Afghanistan, Iraq and Zambia to establish and streamline their financial systems.

Listen to Peter Cook's Audio Interview with Admiral Winnefeld, Vice Chairman of Joint Cheifs of Staff

Bloomberg Government Video Highlights

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Partial List of Participants

Michele Flournoy, Senior Advisor, The Boston Consulting Group, Fmr. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Jim Talent, Distinguished Fellow, The Heritage Institute
Admiral James “Sandy” Winnefeld, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Heidi Shyu, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology)
Elliot Branch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Acquisition (Navy)
LT. General Charles Davis, Military Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition
Jeremy Bash, Founder and Managing Director, Beacon Global Strategies, Fmr. Chief of Staff, Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency
John Dowdy, McKinsey & Company, Aerospace and Defense
Byron Callan, Director, Capital Alpha Partners
Rep Adam Smith (D-WA), Ranking Member, House Armed Services Committee
Rep Randy Forbes (R-VA), Chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, House Armed Services Committee
Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, Chief of Naval Research, Office of Naval Research
Nancy Harned, Executive Director for Strategic Planning and Program Planning with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology 
Ricky Peters, Executive Director, Air Force Research Laboratory
Deborah Lee James, Secretary of the Air Force
Robert Hale, Under Secretary for Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer

Grant Writing Resources

3/1/2014

 
I help federal government contractors win new business in the for-profit arena; however, I'm often approached by non-profit organizations for advice on grant writing and how to locate a grant writer. Following are some of my recommended books and websites to help with grant search and grant writing tasks. Good luck to you!

Grant Writing Books

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The Only Grant Writing Book You'll Ever Need (August 2009)
Authors: Ellen Karsh, Arlen Sue Fox

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0465018696/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_sxCktb1QZANN3

I own this book. The authors are successful, experienced grant writers who have done an excellent job providing all of the information you need to develop a grant proposal.

New edition to be released April 8, 2014
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GL9TODI/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_nqCktb1CVA4D1


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Grant Writing for Dummies (new edition to be released March 31, 2014)
Author: Beverly Browning

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1118834666/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_9zCktb1SNMJF8F8C

I'm not usually a fan of the "Dummies" books, but this one is very good. I own this book.


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Perfect Phrases for Writing Grant Proposals (October 2007)
Author: Beverly Browning

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071495843/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_ECCktb1SZGD2A

This book provides specific examples of how to construct your needs statement and provides a lot of example narrative that shows you how to describe your solution and the evaluation activities/plan that are usually required as a part of receiving grant money.


Grant Writing Websites

Grants.gov - search for federal grant opportunities http://www.grants.gov/applicants/find_grant_opportunities.jsp

FoundationCenter.org - search for private funding opportunitieshttp://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/

Grants Alert - search for funding opportunities
http://www.grantsalert.com/grants

American Grant Writers' Association (AGWA) http://www.agwa.us/

American Association of Grant Professionals http://grantprofessionals.org/

Association of Fundraising Professionals http://www.afpnet.org/

Volunteer Match - find a volunteer to help with your grant proposal http://www.volunteermatch.org/nonprofits/

The Grantsmanship Center http://www.tgci.com

The Grantsmanship Center video series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXiAsoeSN0Q&list=UUQKwClajjqdn9UdrbP7v5xg&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Additional Thoughts

Based on my experience on a U.S. DoJ grant effort, I have two key recommendations to increase your win probability on any grant:
  1. Include formative and summative evaluation techniques to demonstrate that goals are being met.
  2. Include information on your program's financial sustainability (e.g., long range funding strategy, commitment of other donors, etc.).

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