Column: The Art of the Capture

      When we talk about federal business development, winning federal business and writing proposals, we often hear the word “capture,” as in capturing the work.

      Most large businesses have large business development teams, a nice budget and a powerful capture management process. Most small businesses cannot afford such luxuries, but you should have a process in place to help you win. The phases outlined below are essential – whether one person does them all or they are assigned to different teams.

      First, let’s define the terms. Capture is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as catching, winning or gaining control by force, stratagem or guile.

      Capture management, in the context of federal business development, is the approach a business uses to qualify business opportunities and to develop strategy to improve your chances of winning that opportunity. The capture cycle begins when the executive team decides to pursue an opportunity and ends when the proposal is completed.

      Now let’s look at the process itself.

      The overall capture management process is an integrated team approach aimed at turning the pipeline into qualified opportunities, putting together the strategy to win and then writing the best proposal possible. Successful capture approaches share information and data with each team. Here is how it should work:

Business Development (BizDev)

      Business Development builds the opportunity pipeline, identifies and qualifies opportunities, gathers information and intelligence about each opportunity, tracks it to include incumbents and other potential bidders, builds relationships and establishes the knowledge and trust factor between the business and the federal agency. BizDev should also lead the preliminary bid/no bid decision meeting.

      Here are some duties of Business Development:

• Develop the company Business Development Strategy and Plan;
• Maintain an opportunity pipeline;
• Meet with government employees to build knowledge and trust and to understand the government’s needs and requirements and maintain those relationships;
• Act as the primary company point of contact at networking meetings, conferences and other events where government employees attend;
• Identify and meet with potential teaming partners;
• Conduct bid/no bid decision meetings
• Work closely with the Capture and Proposal teams; and
• Be adept at speaking and making presentations.

Capture Management

      Once a preliminary “bid decision” to continue is made, the Capture Management team takes what the Business Development team provides and focuses on what it will take to win a specific opportunity or project. The Capture team does a deep dive into the requirements and the buying agency itself to determine the proper approach to follow and the strategy needed to successfully pursue.

      The Capture team also helps determine what the firm should offer, in order to meet the agency’s requirements, as well as what resources and teaming partners are needed. They should also perform an initial cost estimate to see if their contract cost is in the acceptable range.

      Some of the duties of the Capture Management Team are:

• Assist Business Development in qualifying the opportunity and positioning the company to win;
• Fully understand the needs and requirements of the customer;
• Finalize the teaming requirements and select partners;
• Develop the solution and initial pricing;
• Identify potential competitors;
• Develop a risk assessment; and
• Work closely with the proposal team.

Proposal Manager

      The Proposal Manager takes what the Business Development team and Capture Management team have determined as the best course of action and puts it to paper - following the guidelines established in Sections L and M of the Request For Proposals:

• Leads the development and writing of the proposal itself;
• Works closely with Business Development and Capture teams to ensure all required items are covered;
• Manages the technical writers;
• Must be able to translate the technical writing into something that technical and non-technical reviewers can easily understand;
• Schedules, coordinates and conducts various proposal reviews to measure progress and compliance with the RFP;
• Communicates with the Executive team;
• Delivers a compliant, quality proposal, on time as required by the RFP and the Management Team.

Conclusion

      While larger firms have the staff to specialize in each of these areas, smaller firms generally do not have that luxury. In many cases, the Business Development person is also the Capture Manager and could even be the Proposal Manager and primary writer.

      Since this entire process is very time consuming, expect the firm’s business development efforts to slow down considerably, and some opportunities in the pipeline could pass by without the firm taking any action.

      In some cases, it makes good sense to hire an outside proposal manager/writer to help the firm manage the work required in this process.

      And remember, win or lose, ALWAYS get a proposal debrief. You need to know why you were not successful as well as why you were.

Walt Wise is a federal business development specialist at BPI Strategy Group and helps small businesses build a robust federal business development system. He can be reached at wpwise@bpistrategy.com.

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Column: The Art of the Capture

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