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The Advantage Consulting Network
"Profit Oriented Business
Solutions"
TABLE OF CONTENTS
· BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY.
· NEWS.
· NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY.
· ARTICLES.
· PREFERRED PRICING FOR OUR
CLIENTS
· POINTS OF CONTACT.
· PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING SCHEDULE.
· NETWORKING CALENDAR.
Link
to March Newsletter; Link to April weekly articles.
The Advantage Consulting Network provides
information on business opportunities, teaming opportunities, events, and
services that may help you in your business development efforts. If you
do not wish to be on our Network, e-mail Debra
Giles and we will remove you from the Network. Advantage Consulting, Inc. makes no
warranties, direct or implied, regarding the accuracy of the information
presented.
___________________________________________________
Business Target:
Custodial
Services for Sheppard Air Force Base, TX
1.
If you want the free full summary of this target go to http://login.epipeline.com/limitedDisplay?ID=FOMDUSA3253&FLAG=SUMMARY. This target is only
available for a short period of time.
2.
If you need help designing and executing your capture program or
proposal to win this procurement contact Doug Allston, at dallston@acibiz.com of Advantage
Consulting or call 703-642-5153
______________________________________________________
Networking Opportunity:
Nothing at this time!
______________________________________________________
Articles:
You Are Getting Paid Too Much?
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage
Consulting, Inc.
According to Mathew
Weigeltto in an article in the 4/12 Washington Technology
magazine, Representative Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) wants
transparency in government contracting.
That is why he wants privately held contractors to report the
salaries of their CEO, CFO, and three highest paid employees. This is one of the provisions in the
Government Contractor Accountability Act.
Now I don’t know which is
worse. That we have leaders making
laws involving government contracting who obviously do not understand our
current contracting process or that we have leaders who do not
understand capitalism or even worse who hate capitalism
or perhaps all of the above.
The Congressmen Murphy’s comment says it all, “If there are people
out there making millions off of government contracts, profiting off of
this war, we should know about it.”
You bet your socialist heart we need to know about those people
making money. What is our next
step? We will control how much
they make and then tax away those profits we deem excessive.
Congressmen Murphy, in a
competitive procurement a competitive price is necessary to win. Since salaries are fairly standard,
benefits are fairly standard; overhead is fairly standard, putting in a
high profit margin probably will not win.
The government already requires full disclosure of the cost
structure for most contracts. But
even so, what is wrong with employees and owners making money? If people do not make competitive
salaries they tend to go to jobs where they get paid. Owners and investors want a return on
their investment. If not they tend
to go where they get the return.
All of this is basic capitalism and it is what has made this
economy the envy of the world. It
is the reason why the movie stars who threatened to move somewhere else
in the last election have not moved and it is why we have an illegal
immigration problem. The world
wants to move here. Have we come
to the point where some petty bureaucrat in Washington (whose biggest management
decision is where to go to lunch) is going to decide whether or not the
owner or President of a company that creates jobs and pays taxes is
getting paid too much?
I think Adam Smith summed it up in
the following:
"It is the highest
impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers, to
pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain
their expense, either by sumptuary laws, or by prohibiting the
importation of foreign luxuries. They are themselves always, and without
any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society. Let them look
well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people
with theirs. If their own extravagance does not ruin the state, that of
their subjects never will.” —Adam Smith
Questions and comments to Doug
Allston at dallston@acibiz.com.
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Now Isn’t The Right Time For Training
By Mike Berger, Vice
President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
Discussions
about bringing professional development training “in house” sometimes
boil down to whether or not “now” is the right time to do it. The
conversation sometimes has to do with money, sometimes it is about
conflicts with other activities (e.g., on-going proposals, summer
vacations, winter vacations, etc.), and sometimes the corporate person
just wants to “wait” a while.
I
tend to be a bit mystified about what is so difficult about making this
decision. Considering how inexpensive business development and related
training is the cost issue should be a non-starter, since the ROI (return
on investment) could be a hundred times or more than the course of any of
our workshops. As far as the conflict with other activities is concerned,
that too is a non-starter since I’ll bet there’s never going to be a
perfect day for a workshop in terms of getting any particular group
together for the session. Since we offer to present our training on
weekends or evening hours (two evenings from 4 to 8 for example),
arranging a session couldn’t be easier.
So we
are down to the “wait” issue, and, as I read it, that is about a tiny bit
of fear about how the staff is going to react if someone on the top staff
asks to participate in the corporate business development process. Funny
thing is that we’re pretty good at predicting that one since most staff
members believe BD is about “selling” and we know they probably won’t do
it even when asked.
Solution?
Don’t ask them to or even suggest to them that you want them to sell.
Successful BD isn’t about selling. Rather it is about the staff listening
for your customers’ “needs wants and requirements” (‘problems’ if you
wish), bringing that information home, and your company doing its best to
help the customer meet those challenges.
The
issue should not be “when” should we present the training, but rather
“how soon” can we do it and hope to begin to see results. Is it starting
to get a bit “late” for you? Call me. Mike Berger, mberger@acibiz.com, 703-642-5153,
cell 703-861-0726.
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Communicate, Communicate,
Communicate
By J.P. Richard,
Vice President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
It’s
the proposal manager’s job to make the proposal process run smoothly.
That will only work if everyone works as a team to get the winning
proposal out on schedule. How can a diverse group of people be made to
work as one? Constant communications with the team and by members of the
team with each other is the oil that makes the proposal mill run well.
The proposal manager’s communications tools start with a writer’s
handbook that should be passed out at the kickoff meeting. That meeting
itself, when properly conducted, is the first step of the communications
plan. Make that an important event chaired jointly by the proposal
manager and the capture manager, with a senior executive present to lend
support. Hold daily, short meetings as the proposal evolves to address
issues and give the team a chance to talk with one another. You can keep
the meetings short by announcing a limited agenda for the daily meeting.
Hold informal discussions with the writers as needed to provide them with
feedback on their material as it develops. Negotiate timelines and
requirements as the proposal evolves and changes seem to be needed.
Encourage the team to talk to each other to ensure everyone knows what
others are doing. Talk, talk and talk some more. It takes time but saves time in the
long run. J.P. Richard, jprichard@acibiz.com.
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I Can’t Tell You; It’s
Classified
By Bill Hamilton, Vice president Advantage Consulting, Inc.
“I
really need a technical writer to help on a proposal due to be released
in a month,” the prospective client said.
“Great, what is the solicitation?” I responded. “I can’t tell you,” he said, ”it’s
classified”. “Who is the customer?”
The same response was offered.
Was this necessary? Was this Catch 22 all over
again?
Advantage
Consulting has a strict policy of only supporting one competitor in a
specific race. We do not want to
risk information leaks by failing internal Chinese walls. We require
information on the RFP or project and support task: including identification the issuing
organization. We need to know as much information as possible about the
task and the specific needs of the position. The best way to provide the best
possible candidate is for us to enter into an agreement to support you as
early in the process as possible.
We can find generalists but the best match comes when we really
know and understand your specific needs.
All
experienced Federal contractors live with the ever present concern to
protect those items that impact on national security. There are also restrictions on
accessibility of unclassified information identified as such (“For
Official Use Only” for example) that require controls.. There are times a program or a
program title might be classified but, in general, the title and/or a
summary are not. When we have to
work in a classified environment, we have consultants who are
appropriately cleared. However, frequently a non-disclosure agreement is
sufficient to permit us to have the basic information we need to find the
best candidate. In most cases we
do not need to have access to substantive classified information.
The best course of action is to follow
the agency guidelines for identification and handling of classified
information. If the Government
says an item, paragraph, sentence or title is classified, it is. .
However, some classified programs may have unclassified titles or
summaries that could be discussed with non-cleared personnel. At any rate, just because a program is
classified or sensitive, your are not precluded from getting proposal
augmentation assistance where you need it. We are able to work with you
in most cases to provide the appropriate proposal augmentation resource
you need. If you have a problem to
discuss, contact me at bhamilton@acibiz.com
or call me at 703-405-8912 and let’s talk.
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