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PROJECT PROPOSAL
Broad Contents
Characteristics of a Project Proposal
Preparation for Future Proposal
Proposal Effort for Specific Proposals
Proposal Efforts
Typical Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Proposal
Contents
Modifications to the Standard Proposal
13.1 Characteristics of a Project Proposal:
The more important characteristics of a project proposal are:
1. Proposal projects are high priority, short duration efforts.
They must be completed to the
owners schedule requirement regardless of the work load and
other demands on the
contracting organizations.
2. The owner’s specifications for the preferred payment method
must be adhered to, at least in
the basic proposal. Alternates which offer benefits to both
parties may be suggested for the
owner’s consideration.
3. The owner frequently will specify a particular format for the
proposal and for presentation
of the requested information.
4. The owner may express a clear preference as to the location
where the project work will be
done. The engineering company may suggest alternate arrangements
that give the owner a
more cost effective project without sacrificing the required
contract. The base proposal
however, must be as responsive as possible.
5. The owner may have a preference, openly expressed or merely
implied, for the construction
labor arrangement. If this preference has not been made clear in
the Request for Proposal
(RFP) or in the discussions with the owner, it should be
determined at the earliest possible
time in the proposal effort so that the proper construction
program may be planned.
6. A proposal project requires forming a team of the
representatives for sales, project
management, technical and support functions. Many of these have
responsibilities over and
above the proposal project. These work loads must be considered
and respected insofar as is
possible.
7. Proposal projects are normally costed against corporate
overhead and therefore will be
tightly budgeted and be closely monitored by senior management.
13.2 Preparation for Future Proposal:
Because of the price restraints and the repetitive nature of
much of the data used in proposals, it
is helpful to collect as much as possible of the proposal
information in advance. This is
especially true for the following areas:
• Proposal
project manager should be identified in advance. In a company with a significant
continuing proposals load, a group may be formed consisting of
former project managers
with verbal skills and the proper personality to allow them to
function in the pressure
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cooking environment of proposal preparation. These individuals
must have a high tolerance
for working under tight schedules, stringent budgets, with
borrowed personnel, and being
the object of continual criticism which is not always
constructive.
• A proposal
publication staff should be in place to be fully effective. These individuals
should have skills in editing, use of word processing and
reproducing equipment, as well as
graphic art capability. They should be able to work effectively
with the masses of material
in various stages of progress to assure that all of it comes
together according to the
schedule.
• A technical
information data base including the full range of the type of projects offered
by
the company, including feasibility studies, engineering
projects, as well as full scope
projects for various types of facilities.
• Standard scope
of services should be developed that can be readily customized for the
particular project on word processing system. Much of the
particular information of various
projects is quiet similar and only requires bringing it into
conformance with owner’s
requirements or with those of particular facility of location.
• The company
should have developed comprehensive definitions for the various levels of
efforts associated with producing cost estimates of various
accuracies. This is particularly
important for developing proposals for feasibility studies.
• Work plans
should also be developed for the various basic types of projects. These can be
of general information which can then be modified to conform to
the plans for the specified
project under consideration.
• A data bank is
helpful to standardize commercial terms and conditions together with listing
that define those costs included in overhead and those which are
not. This is particularly
important in reimbursable contracts to control charges to the
standard check list and the
resultant changes in the reimbursable unit cost.
• Qualification
material should be updated frequently in several different standard formats
such as:
- Project
performance data, schedule and cost
- Descriptions of
past projects
- Resumes of key
personnel
- Write ups on
support areas such as:
- Project
Controls
- Procurement
Procedures
- Material
Management
- Quality
Assurance Practices
• Typical write
ups should be prepared in advance for various other parts of the proposal.
These will be modified to suit the Request for Proposal (RFP) or
inquiry document. Among
other these writings include:
- Introduction
- Project
Organization
- Schedule
- Project
Controls
- Compensation
13.3 Proposal Effort for Specific Proposals:
Preparation of the proposal may start as soon as there has been
a positive indication that the
company will be included in the bid list and preliminary
information is available on the project.
Early efforts would include:
• Preliminary
assignments for the anticipated proposals would be made based upon the
schedule for the Request for Proposal (RFP) release and the due
date of the proposal. These
assignments would include the proposal project manager, the
project manager proposed to
head the project, and the proposal publication and technical
support personnel. In addition,
the lead estimator, the lead scheduler, technical personnel,
procurement and construction
representatives as indicated by the nature of the effort would
be selected.
• The preliminary
proposal plan schedule and budget should be blocked out. The proposal
plan would define the outline of the proposal and the
preliminary assignment of the work.
The schedule would indicate dates for completion of the
preliminary draft, job hours and
cost estimates, the final draft dates, the necessary dates for
approval, and the publication
and delivery dates.
• A rigorous
assessment should be made of the technical aspects of the project to identify
the
company’s strengths and weaknesses. Immediate and specific
actions should be planned to
boost capability where this is required and to develop the
personnel and background
information to cover these critical areas.
When Request for Proposal (RFP) is received, it is reviewed and
a bid/no bid decision is made.
13.4 Proposal Effort:
1. Assignment of Proposal to Team Members:
As soon as decision to bid has been confirmed, the assignment of
team members is
finalized.
2. Kick-Off Meeting:
The project manager calls a kick-off meeting, at which the time
task assignments and
the corresponding schedules are made. At this meeting,
technical, legal and
compensation considerations are reviewed and assignments of
responsibilities are made.
3. Preliminary Review of the Proposal Text:
All material is typed on word processor, with margins for easier
editing. Typed drafts
should be checked carefully against the original draft to assure
that nothing has been
inadvertently omitted.
4. Final Review:
When text is essentially in final form and all changes have been
incorporated, it is
submitted for review of operations management and for final
legal review. All major
changes from this last text review should be flagged so that the
signoff should be
obtained quickly.
5. Publication and Signoff
6. Delivery of the Proposal
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13.5 Typical Engineering Procurement and Construction (epc)
Proposal Contents:
Following is the summary of the typical contents of cost
reimbursable proposal for Engineering,
Procurement and Construction services.
1. Introduction and Summary:
The Request for Proposal (RFP) conditions are summarized and
general approach to the
work by the contractor is indicated.
2. Project Description:
This material is largely taken from the Request for Proposal
(RFP). It may also include
information that has been obtained by site visits, during
pre-bid conference, and in other
contacts with the owner of other knowledgeable sources.
3. Scope of Services:
This section details the services the owner will provide. It
includes the services that will
be performed and the documents that will be produced. All
services should be well
defined, not opened, even in reimbursable proposals. All of the
documents that are to
be furnished as part of the services of the contractor should be
listed in detail. A brief
description of what each will include should also be provided.
4. Work Plan and Schedule:
The project work plan is developed in response to the stated
objectives of the owner or
as defined by the sales representatives and the objectives of
the contracting firm for the
specific proposal. It may be presented in graphic form for
showing the interrelationship
between various activities.
5. Project Organization:
This describes the proposed project organization, and details
the responsibilities of each
of the key member of the project team. An organization chart
depicting the proposed
project team will be drawn. The interface with the supplier of
technology should be
carefully defined, and the technical review responsibilities
should be carefully defined.
6. Estimates, Hours, Costs:
All of the information presented in the previous sections of the
proposal must be taken
into account in preparing the estimates of work. The cost
estimates will include salaries
of all technical and non – technical personnel, as well as
indirect costs such as travel,
communication, computer use and reproduction.
7. Compensation:
After the estimates have been reviewed, the commercial terms are
finalized by adding
those discretionary figures such as burdens, contingencies,
overlays and fees required
by the format of the bid. This information is presented in the
compensation section of
the bid.
8. Qualifications:
The qualification section of the proposal contains all relevant
material arranged in
proper manner to strengthen confidence as to the contractor’s
capability in the mind of
the owner’s management. It must always be reviewed to ensure
that the information
presented is accurate, pertinent and forceful.
13.6 Modifications to the Standard Proposal:
Many owners have a very specific format which requires that the
contractor depart from a
standard proposal format. It is best to follow the specified
format as it will help to simplify the
proposal evaluation process in the owner’s office. |