Project Description
A government Contracting Company recently increased in size and hired many new people. There had always been a core group working on many aspects of the business; however, these people were approaching retirement age, and needed to pass their knowledge on to the new employees. The Contracting Company needed a training program that would enable senior staff to impart their knowledge to the new staff regarding Requests for Proposals (RFP), as well as management of other projects underway.
Contracting Company Challenges:
Challenge Number 1:
There was no standard method written down, to help newer employees understand how the Contracting Company responds to RFP’s. The senior staff was having trouble imparting information to the newer staff members. Project Masters was hired to develop a training program to correct this problem.
Challenge Number 2:
At Contracting Company most of the work was “program based” but, these programs had many new initiatives that needed to be managed as “projects”. Project Masters was hired to develop a Project Management training program delivered by Project Masters’ instructors.
Challenges:
Project Masters faced the following challenges in managing this project:
- No formal method in place for responding to RFP’s
- Contracting Company employees located throughout the country
- Differing inputs, opinions, and needs from the various levels of the company
- No formal project management method
Solution(s) Provided:
Over a period of five months, Project Masters’ consultants met with Contracting Company personnel from all levels and locations. Project Masters developed an RFP Response training program as well as a Project Management training program.
RFP responses training was delivered in June of 2004. Training covered the following areas:
- Determining whether to bid or not on a given RFP
- Developing an RFP response strategy
- Developing an RFP response
- Writing a proposal
Project Masters’ consultants developed a customized project management training program based on the Project Management Institute (PMI) model. The training covered the following general areas:
- Project Management Context
- Post-Selection Process (After Contract Award)
- Scope Management
- Project Schedule
- Project Budget
- Risk Management
- Quality
- Communications
- On going customer support
Benefit:
Project Masters working with Contracting Company, provided training programs and consulting services that:
- Enabled transfer of information from senior staff to junior staff regarding RFP’s.
- Enabled Contracting Company to have a re-usable RFP training program that can be used well into the future and reflects Contracting Company’s corporate philosophy and values.
- Helped gain “Buy-in” of project managers to the “PMI” way.
- Enabled Contracting Company to adopt the Project Management model which Federal government agencies require.
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