Case Study

MindView to Develop Winning Cost Proposals

James Franklin

Project Manager & RFP Specialist

Industry

Project Manager & RFP Specialist

Location

Skøjtevej 26
DK-2770 Kastrup
Danmark

At-A-Glance

This case study presents the benefits of using MindView 4 Mind Mapping Software to develop winning cost proposals.

Background

I am employed by a Government Contractor (company confidential) in Southern California, and in 2012, we bid on seven projects in response to Government request for proposals (RFPs). Project scopes included fueling system upgrades and repairs at various military bases in the Southwest. Client funding for these projects ranged from $250,000 to $5,000,000. Each proposal was evaluated based on technical approach, past performance, and price. The Contractor was awarded five of the seven projects for a total value of $3,000,000. MindView 4 software was a key tool to develop the winning proposals and achieve these results.

The Challenge

I used MindView to develop a capture strategy, analyze the RFP, and define project requirements. Using a Capture Map, we brainstormed and documented scope requirements and capture strategy. The map was exported to MS Word to create the Capture Strategy and scoping documents. A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Map was created to decompose the scope of work and define project deliverables. The WBS was a key input to develop a competitive cost estimate. An Activity Map was created to identify the activities, resource requirements, and durations. This map was exported to Microsoft Project to create the project schedule.

MindView was used to centralize proposal narrative input including scope requirements, technical approach, risk mitigation, and capture strategy. Our proposal writers were able to quickly develop a proposal narrative addressing RFP requirements.

A key benefit of using MindView is that the proposal narrative is consistent with the WBS, cost estimate, and project schedule.

Solution

MindView 4 is a powerful proposal preparation tool in that it is optimized for project management and proposal preparation. A proposal team can quickly review the RFP requirements, develop the proposal outline, create the WBS, project schedule, and create the proposal narrative. Using the MindView software, we were able to easily create winning cost proposals.