Column: Business Development and Capture Management – Skills & Expertise

Many small business CEOs grapple with the decision to hire full time/dedicated business development, capture management, and proposal development resources to support their pursuit of federal government contracts.

Common yet valid reasons not to move forward include the following: a lack of overhead budget to hire experienced professionals; no guarantee that a contract will be awarded within the typical 12- to 24-month acquisition timeframe; the length of time it takes a new employee to articulate their company’s technology offerings and past performance; a general lack of understanding about the roles, responsibilities and importance of the business development and capture functions; and ultimately the company’s concern about return on investment.

It is too costly for personnel to be unbillable or to “sit on the bench.” Many employees are hired and cross-functionally trained to perform multiple functions. As such, there has been a trend to hire more technical business development professionals that are able to also perform in the capture management role and to participate in technical solution, pricing, proposal development and review team sessions. Many companies assign their Project Managers and project team members a role in helping to maintain and expand current contract opportunities.

Service providers and consultants

An alternative and potentially less costly option to hiring employees includes engaging with service providers or consultants who specialize in providing business development, capture management and proposal development services.

At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter whether a company decides to hire internal or external specialists as long the specialists possess the skills and expertise to identify and qualify opportunities utilizing proven processes, procedures and industry best practices.

Companies must perform their vetting and due diligence to ensure their prospective service provider possesses the requisite skills to perform these services.

There are many individual factors that will influence whether a company chooses to work with junior, mid-level or senior-level business development and capture management specialists.

Factors could include, but are not limited to, company size, budget, agency familiarity or knowledge, maturity of technology or solutions, target market readiness to integrate the company’s solution, available contracting vehicles, and capability to develop winning technical and business solutions, as well as other requirements.

Skills and experience

I’d like to briefly outline some of what I feel are recommended skills and experience that should be considered when evaluating a potential business development or capture management resource.

Skills:

• Great interpersonal, oral and written communications skills;
• Organizational skills;
• Time management skills;
• Relationship-building skills with large, medium and small prime contractors;
• Knowledge of your company’s technology area;
• Basic to advanced experience with popular productivity software and tools.

Experience:

• Business Development, Capture Management or Project Management past experience;
• Participation in proposal development process;
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tracking and reporting;
• General yet high-level understanding of government and private industry technical trends and federal government direction;
• Competitive knowledge.

Federal Government Experience:

• Knowledge of federal government departments and agencies;
• Knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR);
• Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation (DFAR);
• Knowledge of the Acquisition/Procurement Lifecycle;
• Knowledge of key agency prime and subcontracting opportunities (GWACs, IDIQs, Contracts);
• Experience with responding to Requests for Proposal, Requests for Information and Sources Sought notices;
• Capacity to “market to” various agency personnel (contracting officers, program managers, small business specialist).

Business Development Skills and Processes:

• Opportunity Research/Identification/Qualification;
• Competitive Analysis;
• Teaming Partner Analysis and Vetting;
• Presentation Skills;
• Solicitation Review and Analysis;
• OMB Exhibit 300 research;
• Call Plan Development;
• Capture Plan Development;
• Bid No-Bid Analysis;
• Skilled at getting meetings with federal small business and program level contacts

Specialized Training:

• Business Development;
• Sales;
• Marketing;
• Capture Management;
• Agency Small Business;
• Federal Contracting;
• Project Management;

Pricing

In addition to generating a good position description for each business development, capture management and project management function, it is advisable to seek the support of an experienced business development professional or executive who understands how to effectively evaluate the candidate’s skills, attributes, characteristics and experience.

Conclusion

It is also important to remember that every employee or function in a small business serves a crucial role in helping to grow your business. There is involvement from the “front facing” receptionist who answers the phone and greets potential clients or partners, the human resources professional who participates in sourcing resumes to be included in a proposal submission, and the marketing or administrative support team members who assist with preparing marketing materials or preparing proposals for submission.

Lynn Jenkins is CEO of Celero International, a professional services training and capture management firm located in Silver Spring, MD. Celero supports small, minority, woman-owned, and veteran-owned businesses in achieving their revenue goals. Celero also delivers professional services to the federal, state & local government markets. She can be reached at lkjenkins@celerointernational.com.

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Column: Business Development and Capture Management – Skills & Expertise

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