Events

Find out the behind-the-doors process of proposal evaluation, and what really happens when Government evaluators read our proposal “masterpieces.” This course also addresses how to avoid common mistakes proposal writers make when they don’t see their proposals through the evaluators’ eyes. The course offers specific techniques for making your proposals more persuasive, to be better received by the evaluators, and ultimately to help you win. The course discusses who are the evaluators, key drivers of today’s acquisition realities to help understand problems that influence evaluators, what happens behind the closed doors, details of how acquisition process plays out, and the evaluators’ pet peeves about the proposals they read.

Olessia Smotrova, 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.

David Huff, Partner is the Vice President of OST Global Solutions, Inc. (www.ostglobalsolutions.com – home of the GovCon Incubator and Bid & Proposal Academy). Dave brings more than 15 years of government business development and military experience. As an OST Partner, he oversees business development and operations. As a capture and proposal manager, he has developed over 200 multimillion and multibillion-dollar government and commercial proposals. He teaches at OST’s Bid & Proposal Academy public courses and custom training to industry and government organizations.
Dave has presented as a speaker at NCMA, APMP, and other associations’ events. His skills span proposal management, orals coaching, business development, capture, technical writing, editing, graphics development, and desktop publishing. He is an Army veteran that served with the 82nd Airborne Division during two tours to Afghanistan. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration in Economics and Public Policy from the George Washington University School of Business, Washington, D.C.