Events

Three session series in which attendees may choose one or all sessions to attend depending on level of interest. Registrations after 3/31/2021 are accepted via email at ptac@gmu.edu until the date of the last session. We hope you will join us!

Capture Management Process webinar series will arm you with real knowledge and tools you will apply immediately to capturing government contracts and dramatically improving your win probability (Pwin).

Government capture planning process starts after opportunity qualification and continues past proposal submission. Its goal is to position you to win before the government releases a Request for Proposal (RFP).

Your chances of winning government proposals without capture planning are the same as cutting classes during the semester in college and hoping to get an A on the final exam. It can possibly happen but “hope to win” is not a good business strategy for a government contracting company (or any business).

In order to raise your win rate, take this capture training to master techniques for customer engagement, intelligence gathering, win strategy development, competitive analysis, teaming, solution development, and more.

3/31/2021 Capture Management Process: Capture Overview and Customer Engagement

The first installment of the Capture Management Process Series will introduce you to the Capture Process and will teach you how to create strong, lasting relationships with your Government Customers. Enduring relationships will give you an insight into your Government Customers’ true “care abouts”, as well as their worries, challenges, mission drivers, and buying criteria. Building relationships will also make your Customers want to choose you over your competitors.

4/7/2021  Capture Management Process: Information Gathering and Win Strategy

The best-informed government contractors win, which is why this second installment of the Capture Management Process Series covers how to gather actionable intelligence from government customers. Learn how to develop great win strategies and win themes so that your proposal focuses on the proposal evaluators and clearly articulates your value proposition. These phases of capture build on your relationship with the government decision makers and mark the beginning of when you will start developing proposal text and graphic in anticipation of proposal preparation. Developing hard-hitting, customer-centric win themes will make writing government proposals easier and raise your Pwin.

4/14/2021  Capture Management Process: Competitive Analysis, Teaming, and Solution Development

This third and final installment of the Capture Management Process Series shows you how to analyze your competition so that you can capitalize on your competitors’ shortcomings and outdo them through strategic actions. The webinar includes a process for conducting competitive analysis for opportunities you would like to win. It discusses a systematic way to decide whether you should be a prime contractor or subcontractor, need to form a joint venture, a mentor-protégé relationship, or a Contractor Teaming Arrangement (CTA). It also shares professional techniques for how to choose and engage the right teaming partners to create an all-star team that compels the government to select you. Finally, it gives you the steps for how to develop a technical and management solutions pre- and post-draft RFP to wow the government decision-makers and place your proposal in another league.

Olessia Smotrova-Taylor, CF.APMP Fellow, president and CEO of OST Global Solutions, Inc. (www.ostglobalsolutions.com – home of the GovCon Incubator and Bid & Proposal Academy), has more than 20 years of experience in business development, communications, and marketing, including more than 15 years in contract capture and proposal management. She led winning bids for four out of five top government contractors, winning more than $20 billion over the course of her career. She is the author of the book How to Get Government Contracts: Have a Slice of $1 Trillion Pie. She also consults and teaches others how to get contracts with the government and large commercial organizations, as well as developing processes, tools, and Bid & Proposal Academy courses that enhance business developers’ abilities to win business. She has taught a graduate course at the Stevens Institute of Technology, and provided training to Treasury and NASA. She has served for two years as the President of the National Contracts Management Association (NCMA) Bethesda/Medical Chapter, and for 2 years as the President of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) National Capital Area Chapter. She is recognized as an APMP Fellow for her contributions to the field of capture and proposals – the highest honor in the business development profession. Prior to supporting hundreds of Fortune 500 companies and small businesses as a proposal consultant and growing OST, she worked as a business developer for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, and wrote for the Financial Times of London.