Prepare a Solution Before the Request for Proposal

Now that you have the team lined up, you are in the final stretch—the countdown to the RFP issuance might have already started. There is a lot to do because you have to put together the solution that you will showcase in your proposal. Solution development is where all the aspects of capture finally come together and culminate in succinct work products that summarize all the work you have done during capture. While fighting the natural tendency to skip solution development, you will have to run brainstorming sessions to figure out exactly what you are going to propose. You will need to structure your brainstorming correctly to avoid wasted time, as it is the easiest thing in the world to spend hours discussing your approach and getting nowhere useful. One prerequisite to running efficient sessions is to postulate the requirements before the government issues the RFP. Then you have to use a formulaic structure and checklists to guide your experts in figuring out solutions. This chapter takes you through the sticky wickets of solution development and explains what you can figure out in advance of the RFP issuance, and how to do it without wasting precious resources.