• We are not REACTIVE; We are PROACTIVE with deal actions and shaping
• We are not ISOLATED; We are INTEGRATED with delivery and innovation
• We are not RIGID; We are AGILE to accelerate deal progression
• We do not SELL; We SOLVE client problems
• We do not MANAGE delivery or innovation; We INFLUENCE delivery and innovation
• We think BIGGER than any one division
• We CONTINUOUSLY move the ball forward for EVERY deal we own

• Approach all deals with a PRIME FIRST perspective
• SHAPE deals
• Focus on STRIKE ZONE deal scope
• Take BIG SWINGS
• MAXIMIZE WORKSHARE as a subcontractor
• CONVERT the solutions we built in 2025
• Selectively STRETCH into new customer organizations
• Perform GrowthOps with EFFICIENCY and EFFECTIVENESS

Convert $92M of new, organic, and recompete growth by 2027 via well-funded national security clients with challenging scope by fusing agile GrowthOps and BCORE's advantages of speed and precision, idea to enterprise, mission foundation, and execution agility.

Submit: $405M   Win: $92M

IC agencies in the DMV, non-IC US missions (e.g., counter narcotics), all COCOMs

• Well-funded
• Complex/challenging scope across intelligence, operations, S&T, and tech functions
• Innovation forward
• Decisionmakers, operators / downrange users, and intelligence professionals within IC and DoD agencies
• No state or local agencies, LPTA, or SETA

• Speed & Precision. Apply agile principles on all delivery functions to accelerate our client's decision advantage
• Idea to Enterprise. Expertly progress from innovation ideation to prototype to enterprise deployment
• Mission Foundation. Convert analysts and operators into technicians with broad and deep expertise
• Execution Agility. Rapidly deploy team members across enterprise to optimally overcome mission demands

• We are all accountable for our deals and will have KPIs
• We are not measured by number of deals we drop; dropping time-suck low ROI deals is a goal
• Growth team members who own Solicitation deals are measured by TCV submitted and win rate
• Growth team members who own Solution deals are measured by deal progression efficiency and deal conversions
• Failure is putting good effort after bad effort by getting strung along by a client with no intention or ability to influence deal conversion
• If the deal does not have legs or the deal progression plan relies on hope, drop the deal

• Own Your Deals. You are responsible for your deals. Momentum and forward progress matter far more than status updates.
• Drive Your Deals. We are in a hyper-competitive environment. Act with a sense of urgency because our competitors are. Now is not the time for passiveness.
• Forward Progress. Continuous forward progress is critical. Perform daily assessment to identify activities that move your deals forward, then act.
• Progress or Drop. Be quick to drop deals you cannot progress.
• Capture All Deals In PipeDrive. This includes early (Phase 1) conversations.
• Curate Your PipeDrive Deals Daily. Review and update your deals and deal activities daily, which should take less than 5-10 minutes total.

• Grow the Funnel. Have lots of early-stage client conversations; quickly assess if deal is real; be quick to drop deals.
• Maximize Workshare. Negotiate teaming agreements (TA) based on BCORE value and proposal effort.
• Team Objectively. When priming, subcontractor selection must fill a technical, past performance, or client relationship gap.
• Know BCORE. Become and stay intimately familiar with: BCORE CONOP & Training, Solution Book, Capability Deck, Technical Accomplishment documents.

• Think Bigger. When evaluating opportunities, consider the whole-of-BCORE capability set vice the strike zone of any one division. Target bigger deals.
• Exploit Inside Access. Transform delivery teams into BIZINT sensors, new deal identifiers, and signing deficit recovery agents.
• Optimize Operations. Tightly integrate delivery, growth, and innovation. We should never say "that is an execution problem." We work with delivery teams to propose realistic solutions and to enable execution success.

• Optimize Your Time. Avoid distractions. Do not waste ANY cycles on actions that do not progress deals or improve GrowthOps.
• Optimize Other's Time. Ensure meetings are focused, outcome-oriented, and respectful of other people's time (especially if they are billable).
• Avoid LLM Overuse. Use LLMs to offload content generation/refinement, not critical thinking. Understand and defend every word/concept generated by your use of an LLM. Do not submit LLM generated content unless it reads human generated.
• Do Not Be a Hero. Raise risks, concerns, questions, calls for help early. You will never be faulted for doing so.
• Your Voice Matters. Constructive friction is good, so voice ideas, opinions, concerns, recommendations about anything.

• Net New. Growth with a new client or a new contract with an existing client.
• Recompete. Growth characterized by the end of one contract and the start of the "next" or "follow-on" contract.
• Organic. Growth that occurs on an existing contract.

Growth type is not always clear-cut. Example: We are a subcontractor with one employee on Stargazer. We are pursuing the $50M follow-on (Heart of Gold) as a prime. Is this Net New or Recompete? In this case, we opted for Net New.

• Net New. The Growth Team is responsible for pursuing and winning new work; serve as support for organic and recompete growth. Mission Executives & Innovation are responsible for converting solution based net new work.
• Recompete. The Division-level Portfolio Leader is responsible for recompete captures.
• Organic. The Division-level Portfolio Leader is responsible for the conversion of organic growth.

Portfolio, Technical, and Campaign Leaders are senior team members (and usually highly billable). One individual may wear multiple hats.

• Christophe will send the Delivery Lead and Growth Team a monthly notification that includes end dates of existing contracts.
• Once BCORE crosses the 12-month threshold before the end of a current contract, the Growth Team will engage the Portfolio Leader.
• Discuss the recompete scope and identify new efforts the Delivery Team can start before contract ends to demonstrate recompete understanding and BCORE's future relevancy and impact.

• Solicitation Pipeline. Traditional capture and proposal whereby deals are released through the ARC, SAM, or other traditional avenues.
• Solution Pipeline. Tactical, fast-moving, and (unlike solicitations) deals CANNOT occur without converting relationships into wins.

TCV = Total Contract Value. Be realistic when adding TCV to the pipeline. Example: DAF ADC is $450M, but $425M is for no fee data buys; Actual TCV is $25M.

Solution Pipeline is not prescriptive process driven (like solicitation-based growth) since success largely predicated on people and relationships. Organic growth on existing contracts first requires zero issues and high technical performance from the delivery team. Conserve energy; do not spend cycles fully solutioning (and pulling others off direct work) until we have commitment from the client.

• Work through Delivery Lead to access division resources for any growth-related task expected to take more than a few minutes.
• The Delivery Lead must strike a balance between direct billable labor and unbillable B&P support.
• Leverage as few Delivery Team members as possible for any given deal and be extremely respectful of their time.
• Consider interviewing and recording Delivery Team member discussions where we ask specific questions, the answers to which we convert into proposal content rather than ask the Delivery Team member to write content.

Any capture manager requesting a deal-specific B&P code IF cost is less than $2K. If estimated B&P costs exceed this amount, contact Josh.

When ready for a deal-specific B&P code, provide Nina with all team members (Growth, Innovation, Delivery) who will work on the deal and the start and end dates.

Billable team members and overhead/corporate team members will have different B&P codes for the same deal.

We will perform all color teams. The formality and scale of participants will increase with the size of the deal. If small, you should still perform a Black Hat with the core Growth Team to identify potential competitor strengths and weaknesses, ghosting, and anti-ghosting.

Perform a Blue Team (technical solutioning) for early identification of the optimal solution (beware when relying on an old proposal that includes potentially obsolete information).

Answer following questions when assessing if we should pursue a deal, as a prime or subcontractor:

• Is the scope within our core competencies? If not, we should no-bid or subcontract?
• Do we have a relationship with this customer? If not, we should tuck under a prime or find a subcontractor with a strong relationship?
• What is our value proposition? If not strong, why are we considering this deal?
• What are the customers' pain points? If not known, are there avenues to find out?
• Who are the customer decision makers? If not known, are there avenues to find out?
• What to influence this deal in our favor? If nothing, we should be a subcontractor (unless our value proposition is extremely high)?
• Do we know if this deal is wired? If we do not know, are there avenues to find out? Heavily consider no-bid if wired.

Gate Reviews are required when the Capture Manager seeks to:

• Pursue a deal as a prime contractor
• Raise awareness (under control, going to bid, but want others to be aware and conversant)
• Needs advice (not sure if we should bid, want counsel)
• Needs extraordinary help (likely an all-hands-on-deck situation, or especially complex)
• Needs approval (too big/significant/risky/costly to proceed without CEO approval). "Big" refers to $50M+ BCORE total contract value (TCV) or $10M in a single year.

The Capture Manager should present the initial gate review as soon after entering Phase 2 as possible, then present updated gate reviews at a minimum when the draft RFP is released and when the final RFP is released.

The CGO will schedule recurring tagups with Capture Managers who lead deals when BCORE is the prime, a major subcontractor, or are strategic.

Once a deal enters Phase 2, complete the PWIN Calculator.

When pursuing as a prime: Develop a table that aligns the deal scope areas with BCORE experience and quantifies the alignment strength between experience and scope. This will identify gaps and inform our teaming decisions.

When pursuing as a subcontractor: Answer the following questions before courting a potential prime:

• Who are the players? Who are the favorites and dark horses?
• Who has gaps that align with our strengths?
• What teaming/workshare considerations are we targeting?
• What is the prime asking of us during the capture and proposal phase?

We are only entering agreements where we get workshare or right of first refusal for our capture and proposal effort as a subcontractor.

We cite Delivery, Innovation, and Growth as the three primary types of business function. In reality, Finance/Pricing is an equally important fourth function. In context of growth, they are equal partners.

A proposal could include the best technical volume, but if pricing is unrealistic, we will lose or, if won, we will create a delivery problem. Bring pricing into growth conversation early. They will present options to achieve a balance between winning price and financially feasible execution.

• Important to discern difference between management and leadership. Anyone can manage. We need you to lead: create and foster relationships to influence decisions best for mission and BCORE.
• Skillful relationship management in your role is required and CRITICAL, arguably more important than most management duties.
• Delivery AND Growth activities often encompass the same customers and primes. Poor relationship management on the growth side adversely impacts delivery and vice versa.
• Customers want to work with (even grow) contractors they trust, like, and respect.
• Primes want to retain (even grow) subcontractors they too trust, like, and respect. Do not bite the hand that feeds or show any disrespect. Do not "go around" primes to engage the client.
• Dry-run and role play important conversations before the actual conversation.
• General rule when dealing with all relationships: Take genuine interest in your customer and prime (and subs). Less likely to screw over / more likely to help and give benefit of doubt to those they trust, like, and respect.
• General rule when dealing with a difficult or unhappy customer or prime: Nod, show humility, eat shit, then huddle with BCORE afterwards to discuss recovery options.

BCORE's technical staff has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in customer spaces, but even the best-executed projects will someday come to an end (sometimes in an ignoble way through circumstances completely out of our control).

The goal of the Growth Team is to take the great work you do every day and translate it into new growth opportunities. While the Growth Team knows how to maximize the probability of winning new work, we lack your expertise in the underlying technologies and familiarity with the customer's biggest pain points.

We need your help to describe the value and benefits of BCORE's technical solutions in a clear, concise, and compelling way for potential customers.

BCORE is a rare company where the solutions are not vaporware and "we have smart people" is more than a sales pitch. Your technical perspective grounds our proposals in honesty and accuracy and reduces the risk that we oversell a pie-in-the-sky solution that cannot be executed if we win.

Delivery Team members will be called upon to help in one of four ways:

• Opportunity Triage. An informal, quick-turnaround review of available materials to help decide whether a deal is worth pursuing. Does it align with one of our divisions or core capabilities? Do we have a compelling story to tell? Your technical insights make it easier to determine which opportunities deserve our investment.
• Solutioning. Similar to a high-level system design session. Given a customer's requirements, what sort of technical solution should we propose that is better than anyone else's? How have we approached similar problems for other customers? What are the risks and trade-offs? Outputs might include architecture diagrams, technology trade studies, staffing estimates, or written descriptions of our approach.
• Technical Reviews. You review whitepapers and proposals written by others to assess whether the content is correct (it follows the Section L rules), compliant (it meets all of the SOW requirements), and most importantly, compelling (it provides a clear story about value and benefits that grades well against the Section M evaluation criteria).
• Technical Writing. You write sections of a proposal where you have the most technical expertise. The most important thing to remember is to emphasize the customer-specific benefits of our solution over the technical specifications or our experience alone.

What is Capture Management? Everything a company does to raise its win probability between the time it decides to pursue an expected government contract and the time the RFP is released.

Why Capture Management? A defined, repeatable, managed, measured, and optimized approach provides multifaceted results:

• Result in winning more business from fewer, better-qualified deals
• Raise overall win probability (PWIN)
• Decrease costs
• Improve the quality of life for everyone involved

Typical Capture Management Activities:

• Qualify. Assess the new business deal and make an appropriate decision to invest in the pursuit.
• Build. Develop a realistic, achievable plan that can be accomplished within the time available, and against which capture progress can be measured.
• Understand. Take the time to fully understand the customer's scope and objectives to be achieved.
• Develop Relationships. Identify and build relationships with customer champions/stakeholders as well as potential teaming partners/incumbents.
• Develop Solution. Create a solution to perform the work that achieves the customer's objectives.
• Position. Preview your solution with the client to shape the procurement strategy and the client's thinking. Easy to do for a re-compete but much harder with a new opportunity.
• Assess. Build a thorough, competitive assessment on which to base your strategy and price to win.
• Develop Win Strategy. Identify BCORE's strengths and competitor's weaknesses so you can mitigate our weaknesses, accentuate our discriminators, and neutralize competitor strengths.
• Establish. Establish a target price based on our competitive strategy and your competitor's pricing.
• Plan. Identify where teammates can bolster our position, select the best teaming partners, and negotiate teaming agreements.
• Assess Risk. Identify, analyze, and mitigate contract performance risk as perceived by the customer. Assess risk to determine Bid/No Bid. Assess requirements risks to determine if we can successfully develop a winning proposal.

Generally, the federal government releases the following solicitation documents in the order presented:

• Market Surveys. These artifacts help the government find out what technologies/services are available that meet the Agency's identified need; identify small businesses that might be enough for a set-aside; or to help get feedback on requirements. These are valuable tools that have much less rigid rules for engagement.
• Draft RFP. The contracting officer (CO) prepares a draft RFP (DRFP, i.e., solicitation) to obtain information from prospective contractors. The RFP outlines the Agency's requirements and requests proposals for addressing the Agency's needs and a price quote for implementing the proposed solution. An RFP does not oblige the government to award a contract.
• Final RFP. The final solicitation documents are released to industry (either Full & Open, Small Business Set-Aside, or Limited Competition). The government will usually entertain questions to clarify sections of the RFP, but they are NOT under obligation to answer.
• Proposal Submittal. Industry will prepare and submit proposals in accordance with the instruction of the RFP. Section L is law regarding proposal submittals.
• Source Selection. The government will have established a panel of reviewers to evaluate each proposal response. This panel is known as the Source Selection Committee (SSC). All proposals are first evaluated by the evaluation factors specified in the RFP (Section M). The strengths, weaknesses, deficiencies, and risks are documented.
• Contract Award. Based on the results of the negotiations, the CO awards the contract to the contractor who offers the best value to satisfy the Government's requirements.

FAR RFP Sections (A through M):

Key sections to focus on: Section L (instructions for proposal formatting, organizing, and submission), Section M (evaluation criteria and scoring system), Section C (what they want you to propose), Section B (how to format pricing), and sometimes Section J (sometimes they hide important stuff like the SOW in Section J).

Do not neglect to read the solicitation in full at least twice. Having a holistic view of what the government needs/expects is critical to formulating a winning response.

Getting the right resources in place early in the capture will avoid large-scale staffing problems; other resources may be necessary (depending on the deal size), like Staffing Lead, Transition Lead, Security Lead, etc. Your Proposal Manager can help determine the types of resources needed. By starting early, you reduce overall costs and raise overall win probability.

Capture Management and Proposal Management are two quite distinct functions, though they are often accomplished by the same team member on smaller deals.

• Capture Manager. Responsible for managing the pursuit and winning of a qualified deal, from preliminary bid decision through award. Responsibilities include: developing and executing the capture strategy that supports the Division's business decisions, participating in discussions with the customer, participating in discussions/negotiations with teammates and vendors, providing daily direction and oversight for all dedicated capture personnel.
• Proposal Manager/Coordinator. Responsible for the proposal process management and control of a qualified deal, from preliminary bid decision (DRFP) through award. Guides the development of a compliant, competitive, compelling proposal. Responsibilities include: managing all aspects of the proposal development (kick-off meeting, theme development, schedule management, action/issue tracking, proposal structure, compliance oversight, writing instructions and team guidance, graphics concept development, review team coordination, and production/delivery oversight), ensuring quality of the proposal, ensuring the proposal reflects win strategy and solution and is fully compliant with customer/solicitation requirements.

Stage 1: Identification and Qualification. New or recompete deal identified and determined to align with BCORE goals. Actions include:

• Preliminary customer and deal intelligence
• Preliminary competitive intelligence
• Internal program review (recompete only)
• Initial engagement with Growth Team, Security, Talent Acquisition, etc.

Stage 2: Capture / Strategy Development. Careful, well thought out capture planning will jumpstart the proposal process and reduce overall LOE. Up-front work will address challenges and identify gaps with enough time to mitigate, help identify the right prime/subcontractors before they are locked into other teams, mitigate the need to cram or scramble prior to milestones or color reviews, and provide time to iterate technical solutions leading to a more refined focused and tailored solution.

Pre-DRFP actions include:

• Capture plan and schedule
• Capture and proposal resources
• Customer contact and call plan to shape RFP
• Black Hat review
• Win workshop (strategy, themes, etc.)
• Teaming strategy
• Initial past performance strategy
• Initial PTW analysis

Post-DRFP (pre-FRFP) actions should entail revisiting all previous actions and establishing a target price based on the competitive strategy and expected competitor pricing. Schedule a Green Team (pricing) kickoff to discuss DRFP pricing information and strategy, to include:

• Section B
• Contract types (e.g., FFP, CPFF, CPAF, T&M)
• Best value or LPTA (lowest price, technically acceptable)
• Evaluation models
• Price to win / competitive analysis
• Consultants
• Selling in the Cost Volume and Cost Narrative
• Subcontractor negotiations

Stage 3: Proposal Development. Based on incumbent and/or draft RFP knowledge, develop initial proposed technical and management solutions. Actions include:

• Define technical approach
• Define management approach
• Develop staffing strategy
• Develop cost strategy and modeling
• Develop proposal outline and storyboards
• Develop initial proposal planning (schedule, data calls, etc.)

When the final RFP is released, convert business intelligence, strategy, and the solution into a written proposal.

Proposal readiness actions:

• Finalize resources
• Finalize proposal schedule
• Develop compliance matrix
• Develop requirements shred
• Conduct proposal kick-off

Proposal actions:

• Verify/freeze solution
• Pink Team review
• Proposal content development
• Graphics development
• Red Team review
• Finalize staffing
• Finalize pricing

Submittal actions:

• Gold Team review
• Proposal production
• White Glove review
• Delivery

Stage 4: Pending Award. Help the division manager develop a ramp-up or transition strategy and help the division manager and recruiting team develop job requisitions with salary ranges.

Be ready for the customer, post proposal submission, to ask for a best and final offer (BAFO), in which case, you will need to reengage the proposal manager, contracts, finance, and company executives.

The growth of a company depends on its ability not only to maintain current business, but to win new work. Proposals are the primary medium by which the federal government procures new products or services. Every program has a lifespan; longevity should never be a foregone conclusion.

• Increase Clarity. As part of BCORE's strategic plan, proposals are an integral part of our growth. Not only is it a way to secure funds, but it also enhances our reputation within the industry and helps BCORE achieve its goals.
• Gain Exposure. Participating in a proposal gives you insight into other technical areas, as well as different groups/teams within BCORE, teaming partners, and customers.
• Ensure Future Success. Proposal writing and participation enhances your opportunities for growth.

Government agencies are swamped with proposals. There is increasingly more competition for every RFP released and the Probability of Win (PWIN) for the typical proposal is less than 5%. What makes a winner in these types of competitions?

• A great idea, with significant potential (and credible) impact
• A clear path to delivering that impact
• Clearly articulated understanding of the technical problem and the solution space
• Credible credentials
• Check all the boxes for required content
• An easy read: clear, concise, focused, on-point, and compelling
• A good relationship with the solicitation sponsor

The first line of defense is gaining an information advantage by understanding the customer's needs and preferences better than the competition. This is primarily done in the capture phase.

Sometimes the RFP forces you to bid the exact same thing as everyone else. Or so it seems. You need to stand out from the other bidders. Consider: Is your solution developed or delivered in a different way? Producing better results? With more reliability or credibility? With more future options or flexibility? Delivered faster? Better integrated? With more accountability or transparency? With better risk mitigation?

When you offer exactly the same thing as everyone else, you compete on price. When you offer something different and more valuable, you compete on value.

Needs vs Wants:

• Needs are generally clearly outlined in the SOW, Section L, and Section M. Without addressing the needs, the proposal is non-compliant and gets thrown out. This will happen even if you address the customer's wants perfectly, a trap that incumbents in particular can fall victim to.
• Wants are left out of the RFP, for political or financial reasons. They are more than what the customer says in Section L or M. These are the issues that keep our customers up at night. Items that our customers think they cannot ask for. To tease out wants, a skillful Capture Manager must harbor mutual trust between themselves and the customer. Without addressing the customer's wants in your proposal, your proposal comes across as "empty" to an evaluator.

Getting the right resources in place early in the capture will avoid large-scale staffing problems.

Do: Plan backups, set expectations, provide training, furnish information to EVERYONE.

Don't: Allow self-editing, overschedule authors, ask authors to be artists, have authors desktop publish.

• Capture Manager. Responsible for managing the pursuit and win of a qualified opportunity, from preliminary bid decision through award. Develops and executes the capture strategy, participates in customer and teammate discussions, provides daily direction and oversight for all dedicated capture personnel.
• Proposal Manager. Responsible for the proposal process management and control. Manages all aspects of the proposal development: kick-off meeting, theme development, schedule management, action/issue tracking, proposal structure, compliance oversight, writing instructions and team guidance, graphics concept development, review team coordination, and production/delivery oversight. Ensures quality of the proposal deliverable. Ensures the proposal reflects win strategy and solution and is fully compliant with customer/solicitation requirements.
• Volume Leads. Responsible for developing compliant and compelling content based on the RFP requirements and the Team's win strategy/themes. Gathers needed technical writers and/or SMEs to develop the volume content. Directs all writers and coordinates "One Voice." Ensures volume maps to outline and addresses all RFP requirements.
• Volume Leads / Section Managers / Book Bosses. Proposals are typically broken down into volumes or sections, each requiring someone to oversee the development of that portion of the proposal. At the direction of the Proposal Manager, oversees the activities of the individual authors who write the proposal sections.
• Graphic Artist/Desktop Publisher. Responsible for creative and compliant design, formatting, production, and delivery of professional-level graphics and templates for proposals. Works collaboratively with proposal team members to develop high-impact proposal graphics. Formats proposal documents that are compliant with solicitation requirements and BCORE formatting standards.

These functions should always be brought in during draft RFP to assess the various requirements that might cause a risk either for the proposal or during execution.

• Talent Acquisition. Provides recruiting services across all BCORE divisions. Collaborates with hiring managers to source, screen, present and hire the right talent. Handles pre-bid labor market analysis and proposal stage recruiting.
• Corporate Security. Provides support during proposals for various security-related matters, including clearances/accesses, polygraphs, available facilities/systems.
• Contracts/Pricing. Ensures that the cost volume is compliant, competitive, and compatible with the proposal. Develops the cost strategy and layout of the cost/business volume. Serves in an advisory role to the Capture Manager and Proposal Manager for contractual matters, participates in strategy development and pricing.

The Capture Manager should have laid the foundation and provided the Proposal Team with: understanding of the Customer, the Requirements, and what it takes to WIN; how to staff for success (both on the proposal and on program); and the baseline of "the Story" (Value Propositions, Win Themes, and Discriminators).

1. Black Hat
2. Blue Team
3. Proposal Planning & Readiness Review
4. Proposal Kickoff
5. Finalize Solution & Develop Content
6. Pink Team Review
7. Red Team Review
8. Green Team Review
9. Proposal Production
10. Gold Team Review
11. Final Print (White Glove) & Deliver
12. Post-Submittal / Lessons Learned

Actions and outputs include:

• Define roles and responsibilities > proposal governance org chart and contact list
• Define proposal development schedule > proposal development schedule
• Define proposal outline > proposal outline and writer's matrix
• Develop proposal template > proposal template
• Develop proposal compliance matrix > proposal compliance matrix
• Establish proposal operations and infrastructure > proposal operations and infrastructure FAQs
• Update competitive analysis and gap analysis > updated competitive analysis and gap analysis

Do not neglect this step; it gets everyone on the same page and should thoroughly describe the structure of the proposal team and what everyone's responsibilities are. Actions and outputs include:

• Conduct internal proposal kickoff meeting > internal proposal plan kickoff presentation
• Conduct external proposal kickoff meeting > external proposal plan kickoff presentation
• Distribute proposal plan presentation, proposal tools, and artifacts
• Develop subcontractor data call packages (tech & price) > subcontractor data call packages
• Begin daily standup calls > continuously updated daily status call briefing

Actions and outputs include:

• Develop questions for submission to government for clarification > proposal questions for government
• Conduct review to down select questions for government > final questions for government
• Conceptualize and develop proposed graphics > proposed graphics
• Finalize proposal artifacts > final writer's matrix, outline, compliance matrix, proposal template, etc.
• Develop proposal content > meeting invites, meeting room reservations, other planning logistics

Pink Team Review. The first formal review of the all-up proposal draft; reviewers don their "customer hats" and evaluate the proposal like the customer; formal scoring against the Evaluation Criteria.

Red Team Review. All Pink Team comments should be resolved, along with polished graphics; message and strategy should be clear and compelling; proposal should be fully compliant with no holes.

Green Team Review (at least 2).

This phase pertains to converting content into the final formatted version that we will submit to the Government. Actions and outputs include:

• Finalize production plan > final production plan
• Formalize and implement version control process
• Perform proposal proofing and editing > professionally edited proposal
• Develop graphics for proposal > graphics for each section (ideally more than 1 on each tech volume page)
• Prepare production materials for final hardcopy submission and delivery, if applicable
• Prepare proposal for electronic submission and delivery

Gold Team Review. Final read-through and cleanup of the proposal prior to printing; final audit against RFP to ensure ALL the details are right, including adherence to page limits, accuracy of pricing data.

Final Print (White Glove) & Deliver. All pages are included, all production and delivery requirements are met; no glaring errors on any page.

The Capture Manager should provide the following information, which the Proposal Team should read, understand, and if necessary, question for clarification:

• Win Strategy. Using concepts derived from customer analysis, define "Why BCORE?" An analysis of our ability to meet requirements in a manner that is unique and more attractive to the customer.
• Win Themes. Statements that are repeatedly woven throughout the proposal to highlight Team strengths and the benefits of our approach and solution.
• Value Propositions. Examination of customer hot buttons and issues and develop specific experience and tangible, quantifiable value that the BCORE Team will deliver.
• Discriminators. The elements of BCORE's offer/solution are unique and valued by the customer.
• Ghosting. Subtle messages that identify perceived competitor weaknesses.
• Anti-Ghosting. Open acknowledgement of a known problem/weakness of BCORE's that the competition will try to exploit, along with the proposed corrective action.

The Proposal Manager should account for the following proposal development best practices:

• Outline proposal volumes
• Allocate page count by evaluation weight
• Storyboard the solution
• Get management involved EARLY
• Conduct kickoff meeting(s)
• Conduct daily stand up/status meetings
• Ask the government questions, resolve conflicts between RFP sections
• Conduct Pink/Red Team reviews
• Perform compliance checks
• Perform editing/formatting/proofing
• Build in time for production

There are two primary methods for outlining the proposal:

• One method mirrors the statement of work outline.
• An alternative is to develop the high-level outlines based on the Section M evaluation criteria, then embed SOW headers under the relevant Section M-based outline headers.

The proposal outline is provided with the original text from the RFP in gray italic font. Additional tips and suggestions may be added in orange italic font to guide you when writing. These will continue to stay until Gold Review.

• Compliant. Provide a solution that responds to (all) the requirements. Use the RFP text provided with the outline and answer all requirements. If we fail to address all the requirements, our proposal will not win, no matter how well-written. Answer the Mail: Obey the RFP. Too many have the desire to write about what they "think" the customer wants, rather than answering the requirements. The quickest way to show a client that you are not attentive to their needs? Ignore their questions.
• Criteria. Keep the evaluation criteria in mind as you are writing. Anything we write, no matter how important it is to us, will not help us win if it is not included in the evaluation criteria. Conversely, failing to address all the evaluation criteria may cause us to lose.
• Collateral. Leverage relevant collateral.
• Comprehensive. Write about specific areas of each requirement with a view of our entire proposed solution.
• Concise. Nothing makes a reader's mind go numb like endless shoptalk, buzzwords, and information that is not requested nor has any impact on the project. Keep your statements simple and short. Use common words and write short sentences. We are not evaluated for fancy language; we are evaluated for clarity and cohesiveness of description of our superior solution. Do not write sentences that span paragraphs.
• Compelling. State that we are currently providing the same solution to another customer (or have done it in the past, when/where). Identify customer and project name if not classified. If classified, state "USG agency." Describe the solution and benefits accorded to the customer.
• Cracking. Indicate the benefits of our solution to the customer. How did we add value (benefits) beyond responding to the requirement? Was the result of our work above and beyond the basic expectation? State any potential risks associated with the requirement and provide mitigation strategy. State other customers' responses to our results (kudos, acknowledgement, etc.).
• Cohesive. Tell a story with one voice that resounds throughout the proposal.
• Conviction. Avoid weak statements that include "feel," "think," or "believe." If we are writing it, we obviously believe it. Incorrect: "We believe the system will improve data transmission." Correct: "The system will improve data transmission."
• Customer & Evaluator Point of View. Is the content important to them or is it annoying filler? Is it easy to read and evaluate? If you were an evaluator, how would you feel if you were tasked to evaluate this section? Keep in mind that in most cases evaluators must complete an evaluation sheet to verify compliance with each requirement.
• Customer Focus. Remember that the focus of the proposal is our customer (not us). Talk about the benefits we will deliver as a result of meeting the requirements using our solution. Introduce solutions/products/services by describing how much better things will be for the customer because of the additional value (benefits) we are going to deliver. Do not use BCORE in every sentence. Using "we" and "our" is acceptable. When referencing both the customer and BCORE in the same sentence, put the customer's name first.
• Customer Terminology. Evaluators will be looking at the RFP and skimming our proposal looking for keywords, so they can quickly verify that we have addressed what is in the RFP. Make the keywords easy to find.
• Choice. Articulate what makes BCORE the best choice. Too often companies fall back on pricing as the greatest differentiator. By focusing on price you end up with two problems: there will always be someone that underbids you and you are not bidding the project but instead what you think the competition will bid.
• Claims. Do not include unsupportable statements. Prove ALL claims. Use proof points, past performance examples, and statistical call outs. The best way to prove to a client that you can successfully complete their project is to show them examples of past projects that you have completed that are similar to their own.

Using a Feature/Benefits approach makes it easy for the customer to see the key aspects of what you are proposing and why it matters to them.

It is not enough to state qualifications or features; we must explain why the qualifications or features are important or unique and how they will benefit the customer. Never assume the value of a statement will be implicitly understood. When asking "so what," keep these definitions in mind:

• A feature states a fact about a component of our solution
• A benefit provides a direct connection between a feature and the customer's needs, and explains why the feature will help the customer
• A discriminator shows how our solution is unique (or better) in the marketplace

Five W's and One H. Answer the 5W's and 1H: who, what, when, why, where, and how.

• Who will do the work associated with this requirement? Our program manager, engineers, administrators, etc.
• What do we currently do, or have done in the past, that we will do to respond to the requirement(s)?
• When have we done the work?
• Where (for whom) have we done the work?
• How will we do the work?
• Why should the customer select BCORE? What benefits will our work bring to the customer above and beyond fulfilling requirements? What discriminates us and our services/products from all others?

There are some reviewers who will not read beyond this. When faced with a stack of 30 or more proposals, each consisting of 20+ pages, your proposal is judged by its first page. Faced with the situation of having to read 30+ proposals, would you read every single page of every single proposal? Or would you start reading the ones that catch your eye?

Writing in the active voice means constructing sentences where the subject "acts." Always use active voice; avoid passive statements.

Passive: "The reports will be generated on a monthly basis."

Active: "We will generate and distribute monthly reports."

Active voice will keep your reader turning the pages. Sentences written in the active voice are also less wordy than those in the passive voice, and cutting unnecessary words always improves proposal writing.

How to Get Started Using the Active Voice: Review your content and look out for the use of "was." Another clue is the use of "by" when referring to who did something ("The report was written by me" becomes "I wrote the report").

Use the active voice when you want your writing to be simple, direct, clear, and easy to read. In general, make sure the majority of your sentences are in the active voice: your writing will be livelier and more engaging.

Use bullet points, callout boxes, tables, and graphics where appropriate so that evaluators are not faced with page after page of endless text.

Your audience is human. You may have the best solution, but they may miss or misunderstand a critical element. Evaluators and decision makers are distracted, tired, overworked, and often take short cuts to help them decide who should win. Make it easy for them to quickly understand your solution.

Evaluators will have to take time to interpret and understand each graphic. Do not waste their time with a graphic that is too busy and does not add value.

All graphics must be referenced before they are shown. A graphic without a reference and an explanation is confusing and unprofessional. Make appropriate reference when you are writing (even if you do not have the finished graphic yet) so you will not forget.

• Point of View. When referring to BCORE or our Team use personal pronouns "we," "us," and "our." Never refer to BCORE in the third person (e.g., "it" and "they"). When referring to the Customer, avoid gender specific pronouns by using "they" or "their." Only use gender-specific pronouns ("he or she" or "his or her") in resumes.
• Numbers. In technical text, use words for cardinal numbers less than 10; use numerals for 10 and up. Exception: when there are two numbers in a sentence and one is greater than 10, both must be expressed in numerals. Spell out ordinals "first" through "ninth," use numerals for 10th or greater. Use numerals when referring to units of time or measure. For very large numbers, use a combination of numerals and words (e.g., 1 billion tons). Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence or recast the sentence.
• Capitalization. Generally, keep all words lowercase except proper nouns and adjectives. Capitalize "Figure" or "Table" when they refer to a specific numbered item. Capitalize formal proper names but do not capitalize the general terms. Always capitalize the names of specific titles (Data Scientist, Engineer, Analyst).
• Abbreviations and Acronyms. Define acronyms on first use, followed by the acronym in parentheses. Thereafter, use only the acronym. Include a complete list of acronyms within each Volume. Use two-letter abbreviations for U.S. state and territory names. Do not use a period after an abbreviated unit of measure (exception: in. for inch). Always use the symbol "%" with numerals. Use the word "percent" in text.
• Dashes. The shortest dash is the hyphen (-); the en dash (–) is longer; and the em dash (—) is the longest. Unit modifiers are two words that together describe a noun and are often hyphenated (e.g., time-dependent reaction; high-frequency transition). Use the en dash to mean "and," "to," or "versus" (e.g., carbon-oxygen bond, cost-benefit analysis) and between ranges (e.g., 12-20 months). Use an em dash to set off words that would be misunderstood without them.
• Punctuation. Use serial commas (e.g., cats, dogs, and horses; not cats, dogs and horses). Place periods and commas inside quotation marks. Insert a single space after punctuation, including the sentence ending period.
• Vertical Lists. Each entry begins with a bullet or a number. Only use numbers if you are describing steps/stages. Omit periods after items unless one or more items are complete sentences. A colon is commonly used to introduce a list or series.

If a phrase rolls off your tongue, it is probably a cliche. Cliches are worn-out phrases that have lost all meaning and effectiveness. They suggest a lack of thought on the part of the writer.

Proposal cliches to delete: "We are pleased to present our proposal for...," "Thank you for allowing us to submit our proposal for...," "Please don't hesitate to call."

More cliches to avoid: at the end of the day, best-of-breed or world-class, food for thought, involving all stakeholders, moving the goalposts, low-hanging fruit, get everyone on the same page, pushing the envelope, thinking outside the box, fertile ground.

Delete these. Use simple words.

• Make sure the placement of win themes is relevant and appropriate but not overkill. The win themes should provide compelling reasons for the evaluator to select BCORE.
• Write to the customer's pain points as much as possible. If you know this customer is particularly risk-averse, mention as often as possible how our solution reduces risk.
• Do not make negative statements; write positive statements instead.
• Do not highlight the customer's weaknesses and/or deficiencies if you know of any. Think about them and write statements that show how we overcome them.
• Anticipate issues, risks, etc. and provide mitigation as part of our solution.
• Avoid jokes, jargon, slang, and cliches.
• Do not refer to other sections of the document. Be respectful of evaluators' time, make your point in the section you are writing.
• Make bullets parallel (all bullets start the same way, either all with nouns, or all with verbs).
• Use "more than" instead of "over"; "less than" instead of "under."
• Avoid the words ensure, assure, and guarantee; instead use less legally binding terms such as confirm, verify, provide, achieve, determine, enable, maintain, facilitate.
• Introduce acronyms on first use regardless of their commonality, and use only the acronym in the rest of the document.
• Do not use "i.e., etc., e.g., or like." Instead use "such as," "and so forth," and "for example."
• Spell out the words "percent" and "percentage." Only use the "%" symbol in tables and graphics.
• Do not use the "&" symbol; spell out "and" instead.
• Avoid starting a sentence with "there is" or "there are," which invites passive voice and results in wordiness. Rewrite the sentence with a specific noun and an active verb. Incorrect: "There are eight people on our team." Correct: "Our team includes eight people."

• Avoid starting a sentence with "there is" or "there are"
• Avoid weak statements that include "feel," "think," or "believe"
• Avoid the words ensure, assure, and guarantee
• Do not use "i.e., etc., e.g., or like"
• Do not reference something as being "above" or "below" in the text. Use the words "earlier" or "previously," and "later" or "in the following"

This framework defines who owns, supports, and provides contracts guidance for key activities across FP&A, Delivery, Growth, Security, and General/Cross-Functional areas.

A name we use in the market to refer to the collective power and capabilities of our combined company. It is NOT a legal entity.

How it should be used: Marketing materials and discussions, capability decks, websites, social media, proposals, branding.

Acceptable phrases: "GeoYeti/Teknoluxion/Bridge Core/2 Twelve is a Division of Bcore" or "2 Twelve LLC, hereafter referred to as the bcore Team"

How it should NOT be used: Contractual agreements (NDAs, TAs, Contracts), Government Forms (SF-30, SF 1449), FOCI/Security Documentation, Bids (except as a team name, including data calls), Representations and Certifications, Payroll/Banking.

Do NOT use: "GeoYeti/Teknoluxion/Bridge Core/2 Twelve is a subsidiary of bcore"