Above and Beyond ...
The Essential Role of
Capture Managers in The
New Normal Environment
11.21.14
Nancy Kessler
VP, Consulting Operations
Shipley Associates
Agenda
 Introduction and Disclaimer
 Climate Change is Real and the Sea Level
is Rising
 What Shipley Sees Our Clients Doing
About It
 Capture Managers Building Arks
 The Value of Doing the Right Thing For
The Right Reason
 What Your Company Can Do
 Wrap-Up and Questions
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Introduction and Disclaimer – Nancy
Kessler
 APMP Fellow
 APMP Professional
 Capture and Proposal Professional for
more than 20 years
 Industry and Consulting Experience
 Personal Win Rate in excess of 90%
 NO CREDENTIALS WHATSOEVER TO
DISCUSS GLOBAL WARMING
 And, keeping my opinion to myself
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Climate Change is Real
and the Sea Level is Rising
 Shrinking
budgets
 Increased
competition
 The LPTA
tsunami
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Recent Observations
 GAO-14-584: Published: Jul 30, 2014
– The Department of Defense (DOD) used two best value
processes—tradeoff and lowest price technically acceptable
(LPTA)—for approximately 93 percent of the 2,851 new,
competitively awarded contracts awarded in fiscal year 2013
with obligations greater than $1 million.
– Estimated Source Selection Processes Used in Fiscal Years
2009 and 2013 for New, Competitively Awarded Contracts
with Obligations of $25 million or More
Source selection process
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FY 2009
FY 2013
Tradeoff
69%
58%
Lowest price technically acceptable
26%
36%
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More from the Washington Technology
Breakfast 8/19/14
“LPTA is here to stay. You’re going to have to
learn how to play if you’re going to stay in it.”
– Len Vincent, RADM, USN Ret., Defense
Acquisition University
“Proving that you are competitive and
superior has to happen in the sales cycle.”
– Steve Charles, Executive Vice President,
immixGroup
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What Shipley Sees Our Customers Doing
About It
Offensively
Defensively
Competing in new markets
Reducing costs and overhead –
doing more with less
Acquiring new capabilities
Increasing competitive
intelligence
Starting earlier to take away
incumbent work from others
Protecting incumbency with
strategic pricing and teaming
Spending more to win more
Leveraging operational
relationships
All things that must be done BEFORE you receive
a solicitation if you want to keep afloat
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Capture Manager’s Role
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Capture Managers Building Arks
Capture Managers
keep you ahead of the
game and prepared
for the contingencies
of competition
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The Value of Doing the Right Thing For
The Right Reason
And sometimes, capture managers just keep you focused
on your customer’s needs whether in your comfort zone or not
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What Your Company Can Do
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Estimated % of Total Expenditure
Invest Capture Resources Early
100%
100%
80%
60%
Leaders Estimate Up To
65% of Funding Spent
Before Final RFP
40%
BD estimates based on
typical opportunity
20%
DoD Study Indicated that
Successful Bidders Typically
Invest 57% Before Release
of Final RFP
Opportunities Pursued
0%
Pursuit
Decision
25%
50%
Opportunity
Assessment
25%
0%
Lead
Identification
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Capture
Strategy
Development
Pursuit
Decision
PreProposal
Preparation
Initial Bid
Decision
Proposal
Development
Bid
Final Mgmt
Review
Initial Bid
Decision
Bid
Decision
Submit
Decision
Program
Start-Up
Address the Challenge with a Unified
Repeatable Capture Process
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Significance of a Unified Capture Process
 Activities, guidance and tools integrated across
the entire organization – no translation required
 Transferable skills – the right resources at the
right time, drawn from multiple business
units/organizations as needed
– New hires contribute sooner
– Training based on common baseline
 Management connected to business
development activity and outcomes
– Resource allocation and opportunity value determined
through defined decision activities
– More effective use of sales dollars
– Mission impact optimization
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Establish Clear Roles and Areas of
Accountability
Capture Process Span of Leadership Roles & Responsibilities
Business
Development
Manager
Capture
Manager
Technical
Lead
Program
Manager
Proposal
Manager
Elab #1
Phase I
Elab #2
Phase II
Phase I: Long Term Positioning
Phase II: Opportunity Assessment
Phase III: Capture Team Development
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Const #1
Phase III
Const #2
Const #N
Phase IV
Phase V
Phase VI
Phase IV: Pre-Proposal Preparation
Phase V: Proposal Development
Phase VI: Post-Submittal Activities
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Understand the Capture Manager’s Role
 “Owns” the deal
 Dedicated to and responsible for
the overall pursuit effort, including...
– Capture planning
– Pre-proposal and proposal preparation
– Closure activities
 Works in partnership with the
Proposal Manager to develop and
implement...
– Strategy for winning a specific opportunity
– Pre-RFP marketing effort and capture strategy
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Balancing Perspectives
Delivery
 Customer Budget &
Capture Strategy
 Program Cost & Risk
 Best Value & Price To
Win
 Profit & Sales
 Company Risk
 Available Resources
Capture Manager
Program Manager
Customer Advocate
Company Advocate
Balancing
Perspectives
Proposal Manager
Integration
Business
Development
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 Compliance &
Responsiveness
 Ethics & Integrity
 Strategy
Implementation
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Business
Management
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Results Speak for Themselves
Win Rate = #Won / #Bid
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Wrap Up and Questions
 Summary
– Companies must rise to the challenge of the New
Normal
– Capture Management is now essential to remain
competitive
– Efficiencies are key to meeting financial objectives
and stockholder/owner responsibilities
– Clear roles and unified capture processes increase
efficiencies and competitiveness
 Questions?
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Thank You
Nancy Kessler
VP, Consulting Operations
Shipley Associates
nkessler@shipleywins.com
703.391.5486 (o)
703.862.5486 (c)
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