Doin' the Dynamic Limbo

By Bill Jaeger

We’re heading into the 24th day of the Federal Shutdown, and many Federal contract shops are shuttered, meaning a lot fewer RFPs - and seemingly little for proposal wonks to do.

I’m glad to say that I’m still adequately busy (for now), but my bids are about to get bogged down as a result of the Shutdown. One we’re waiting on Q&A, and the other is a scoresheet-style bid (e.g., GSA Alliant) that requires about a dozen signatures from KOs who’ve been furloughed. We’re sending in a question asking how we should deal with this, but the RFP’s KO is also furloughed, so I don’t expect an answer or amendment any time soon.

I used to call this state of anxious anticipation, where you’re waiting for someone/something that you can’t control but can’t start anything else, "hurry-up-and-wait-mode." However, a retired Army Lt. Colonel taught me the term "dynamic limbo," which is much more succinct. 

Thus, we are all stuck in dynamic limbo. 

Given the tight margins most Federal contractors run on, I’m sure many Federal business development shops are starting to feel the pinch too. A few missed invoice payments and payroll can get tight. Nevertheless, there is worthwhile work for BD staff to do even if FBO.gov isn’t on fire. It’s time to prep for the tsunami of bids that will most certainly come: 

• Past Performance: Now’s the time to update those past performance write-ups. Chain your SMEs in a war room and cater lunch. Start with your most-used references (which are presumably up to date, right?), then start working back through the others, pulling in material from all the proposals you’ve done since the last shutdown. Do an inventory. Put it all in a spreadsheet. The information is useless unless you can find it (see “Mise en place”).

• Resumes: Your rock-star key staff haven’t updated their resumes in forever. They always claim they’re too busy to do it. Now they aren’t. Nag them.

• Mise en place: That brilliant new SDLC description you wrote? If it’s buried in an old proposal, nobody can find it. How about your standard management sections? Are they all filed and organized, or do you go rooting through the archives with every new bid? You will save yourself a great deal of misery by going through and organizing the “best in breed” sections from past proposals.   

It’s certainly an "interesting" time to be in Federal contracting. Let’s all hope that things get sorted on The Hill sooner rather than later so we can get back to business.

--Bill