Win a Contract

Succeed in a competitive arena.

Winning a public sector contract involves a highly competitive process with many vendors vying for the same business. The Proposal Centre offers a range of services to help companies, big and small, succeed.

Opportunity monitoring
To win a contract you need to find a suitable opportunity to bid on. By continuously monitoring major public sector tendering services, we identify the best opportunities for your company. This is in addition to opportunities you may identify on your own or be invited directly to bid on.

Proposal development
We follow a rigorous proposal development process designed to ensure your company’s best chance of winning (our win rate is over 84%). We can carry out each step with your support or work with you to decide which areas you will complete yourself with our guidance. Our process includes five distinct phases:

  • Opportunity assessment—We develop an understanding of the buyer’s expectations and assess your company’s ability to meet their requirements while achieving your business goals.

  • Bid-No Bid decision support—We provide objective counsel on whether or not you should pursue an opportunity. We consider factors that include the likelihood of proposal and project success, investment required, and long-term benefits and impacts.

  • SmartShell© Design—We develop a comprehensive SmartShell© that serves as the ultimate proposal roadmap guiding the proposal from creation to completion. SmartShell© is an innovative technique developed by The Proposal Centre to keep proposal teams focused and productive.

  • Proposal management, writing and review—We use an iterative, collaborative approach to complete, review and refine the proposal into a professional and highly responsive submission.

  • Publishing and delivery—Upon your approval we publish your proposal and coordinate with you for bid signature and delivery.

Follow up
We stay engaged after the proposal is submitted to help with questions throughout the evaluation, negotiation and contract award phases. Typical activities include:

  • Archives—We collect all final documents and submit them for your company’s records. We look for re-usable materials and update existing boilerplate libraries, if needed.

  • Continuous improvement—We review the process with you to improve future proposal efforts.

  • Questions of clarification—We help you respond to any questions that the evaluation team may have regarding your submission.

  • Presentations—We support your team in follow-up interviews or presentations, either helping you prepare to make such presentations, or presenting on your behalf.
  • Debriefs—We attend debriefing meetings following contract award to understand why the proposal was successful or not.

Proposal coaching—Bring your proposals to a higher level
Intended for clients already comfortable with their proposal writing capabilities, this service hones your skills and challenges you with a third party, client’s eyes’ view of your proposal.  Our experts help you understand the client’s needs and their proposal requirements, introduce you to techniques that make your proposal stand out, and review your bid to identify areas of weakness and opportunity. It is like having your own evaluation team member helping you build a winning proposal. The result is a better proposal now, as well as lasting improvements to your company’s proposal development capabilities.