Capture management requires planning

Capture management is everythinga company does to raise its win probabilitybetween the time it decides to pursue anexpected government contract and the timethe RFP is released. After identifying an opportunitybefore the RFP is released, the company performsan early stage qualificationreview to make sure the deal fits thecompany and that there is a reasonablechance of winning. A capture team isthen created from the line operation orfrom a standing group of capture executives.These are people who know how to orchestrateactivities in the marketplace and in the company.They become the champions for the pursuitof the activity, bringing in technical experts,business development experts and consultantsas needed. Together they form the capture teamand go after the contract requirements. They need to try to learn the competition'sstrategy, challenge its price to win, builda teaming strategy, put that in place and dealwith the risk in a proactive way. All of these elements,if they are enacted properly, increase theprobability that the company will be selected. The responsible corporate executivedesignates a capture executive to representhim or her on the team. It would alsoinclude the business executive involved withthe client agency, perhaps an operations orservice delivery manager, a program managerwho will perform the contract, the personwho will write the response to the RFP, and afew subject-matter experts who will join theteam from time to time as needed. It takes great natural ability ? it'sin their DNA and they know how to win ?and great coaching. It is someone who canhelp raise your level of competitiveness inthe market, not just march through theprocess.If you're going to play, become obsessedabout winning. Anything short of that, you'rejust a tourist in the market. First, the capture executivesmust be the best and brightest employeesin the company. Too often, companiesdon't have that caliber of peopleor too few of them, and the task goes topeople who aren't ready to play at thatlevel. The second pitfall is assumingthat capture managers can also performtheir regular day jobs. The third one isthe one that probably galls me the most.There are too many people in the marketwho call themselves capture managers whenall they are really doing is populatingPowerPoint charts with data they collect,which is inconsequential to increasing thewin probability. Smaller businesses go after smallercontracts. That can be done with just a coupleof people, but the process is the same. It'sjust scalable.