tk-

We've had the same frustrations in my office. Our biggest problem is that the person doing most of the writing isn't in the office much, and typically writes the brunt of each proposal on weekends. We have a similar structure where one person plays InDesign jockey, one takes care of the formatting and graphic design and one takes care of collecting resumes from consultants, pulling info on past projects, etc.

We have at least five templates that can be used based on the project type (eg street scape, water front, park) We have dozens of nice looking covers that get reused from time to time, if there isn't time to crank out a piece of artwork.

We, too, have had trouble getting shortlisted. I feel that smaller offices or branch offices of larger firms have a lot of difficulty in this realm. Larger offices typically have marketing and graphics departments that take responsibility for proposals. There's a lot of client-side consultant abuse going around these days, with deadlines getting tighter.

Not sure what the answer is, but I'm with you 100% on this one. It's a constant source of disdain in my office.

In my office I seem to do it all... pull and edit resumes and example project info. Layout in Indesign, and if I have time i get to proofread and edit. Oh yeah.... I also get to do an original cover for the document as well. Meanwhile I got the Project manager asking for drafts of the rfp document in the middle of all this! WTF, since the rfp's usually hit my desk with a week to the deadline, I got plenty o time. NOT!! Instead of bothering me...go learn InDesign why don't you! Or better yet... write the fucking content that will actually go into the document.... so that i may insert it into the document u want to see!!

I would agree. Having a "competent" team working on all parts of the effort is the most effective way to go, along with a constant effort to standardize all proposal elements. I also feel that the PM/ principal should be the primary shot caller as it relates to the actual response section of the rfp and those who's resumes are selected should be the editors of their own resumes in response to the rfp. I got my own resume to maintain...like I want to do your f'ing resume too?!!

Arggh... I need a drink now! I get frustrated just thinking about it all.... the dysfunction!

My office uses roughly the same format and workflow that tk is talking about, and yes, I have some of the same frustrations about last minute cobbling and especially frankensteined text. Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v is rampant, and everyone seems to want to shoehorn open sentences so they can cram more modifiers, qualifiers and clauses in there ...

What do you all think works best for the writing in these things? My tendency is to keep it subtle, while others go for a more superlative-laden, breathless approach.

As for finding out about RFPs in advance - follow the money. Check city council meetings for bond issues. Check planning meetings for hotspots. Does your area have a quasi-autonomous development corporation? Check into what they're up to. Read the publications - the local paper, and especially any local business journals. We've got to be explicitly political about this stuff if we're going to keep it going, people.

I don't know how large your offices are (or how many proposals you do a month) but that seems like a lot of people to produce proposals. At the offices i have worked at (i only do marketing, not an architect) i work directly with the principal, we meet, i generally get notes on the cover letter, approach, and/or methodology, i write those up, he or she edits that, then i do a final pass (okay sometimes not on the cover letter if it is last minute!) i do all the consultant coordination and indesign layouts, printing and binding. If i need new images i go to the project manager for each project, but basically it is just me and the principal.

I have a flexible template in indesign (with fonts, image placement, etc), generally the project pages, bios, and consultant info stays pretty much the same, the approach, methodology, and especially the cover letter are custom. i think a lot of people on committees read very little past the cover letter....

My advice would be to establish a template in indesign as one document-- do not do individual files for each project page/bio and then assemble, it really helps to view the proposal as a a book--it will make your presentation more consistent

make sure you have it coming from one voice. the fewer people involved the better.

if you are doing 6 proposals and month and not getting shortlisted it would be better to do 3 a month and have the principal invest the time in calling people on the selection committee, the project manager, anyone with knowledge of the project, and writing a really tight, focused proposal for the most realistic opportunities for your firm.

do a pro/con list for each potential proposal-- if you think your chances are really low invest the time and money in getting to know the folks in your local planning dept, read up on measures that have passed, perhaps invest in a lead service so you don't have to weed through every paper.

target institutions you are interested in and get to know the campus architect, the finance person, etc. the more time the principal spends out of the office meeting people the better off you will be.

as for writing avoid cliches, personal stories and touches go a long way. Assume the committee knows you can do the job and tell them how you will be the best fit for them. think about who your competition is and why you are different and tell the committee that. if you are already not getting shortlisted then you have nothing to lose by bringing in humor or some of your personality into the cover letter. I think many times architecture firms are so focused on trying to prove they can do the work that the cover letters all sound the same and are incredibly boring.... if i was on a selection committee i would assume that everyone applying has read the rfq and can do the job, i would want to find the best firm for the job. I have found the riskier we are the better the response is-- if we don't get shortlisted at least we made an impression and it pays off later when we apply for other things either at the same institution/city

one last thought- have someone either not in the firm or not in architecture, preferably someone with a writing background, read through one of your proposals and make comments/edit. that can be incredibly helpful....

thanks desmodo (welcome to archinect) & 765 for the tips - we're doing most of those things already.

we've been churning through 3 to 4 domestic proposal a month for our 40 person firm. Most of the time is spent customizing the 'project response' to address the specifics of the project. While we have a few template and modify prior proposals to save time, each client has different requirements. The only boiler plate that doesn't change much is the firm history. Our design teams change to place the best qualified person one each proposal - but when somebody has 30 years of projects, it takes time to edit their resumes.

the biggest obstacles are that our firm (which once dominated the local market) has gone through some ownership transitions and is now operating under a new name that refers back to the founder, so we're just starting to be re-established locally. This economy has every other firm in town is chasing the same projects. The local clients care more about relevant experience then quality design - and most of our domestic experience is from ten or more years ago.

Most of the proposals that didn't gain any traction were for projects that up until ten years ago, we were one of the firms to beat. Now there are newer offices with more hotness that we're running against.

we're just starting to quantify our specific project experience and strengths of the current staff - so we won't just be relying on our legacy experience.

You can write proposals until you are dead and never get shortlisted. A professor of mine once said, "If you are responding to the RFP after it is published, you're too late to the project." It didn't sound fair to me at the time and I didn't understand it. I would now say that it is a very true statement. This business is largely based on trust which is only developed through relationships. While an RFP/RFQ will help a client to identify potential firms, and in some cases is required by law, it is highly doubtful that simply responding to an RFP/RFQ will result in many awards. That being said, once you are to the point where responding to the RFP will not be an effort in futility, you best better make sure that your RFP is not the reason the client begins to doubt your capabilities.

desmondo, thanks, that's a great write-up.

wurdan, I think that's oversimplifying pretty drastically - not every job is awarded on connections and insider dealing, but yeah, it is always better to know about stuff before it hits the streets at large.

I wouldn't call it insider dealing. I would call it due dilligence. Drastic or not, that is my experience, even with State Governments.

thanks sevensixfive. treekiller apologies if my post seems redundant.

I have to agree with you ssf, while it is best to build a client base through relationships our firm has actually gotten projects just from the RFQ process, with no notice-- but generally someone at the client level is at the very least already familiar with the firm and our capabilities.

wurdan, you make a great point, and it has nothing really to do with insider dealing. if you neglect a market, in order to go where the fishing is great, and then think you could just nonchalantly step back into a local market, well, then you are missing the mark. now that i am stepping into the 'real' world i am beginning to realize that wurdan is right, and the connections i make with local community leaders, council members, etc are only going to work to my benefit.

people smell desperation, if you deal with them as honest brokers early and often, they'll be there for you when you need them.

In our office (and we're around 17 people), we have one person who is explicitly 'marketing', he tracks everything and does a pretty good job of it. We also have marketing meetings about once a week with the four or so of us that deal with this stuff a lot in addition to design work. That helps everybody stay coordinated, too. But even with all this, it's still often a scramble to staple one of these things together and get it out the door. Thankfully, more people are asking for PDFs lately instead of printed material.

Since our small firm is made up of architects in different countries and we are not tied down to one area. I am wondering if it would be a good idea to put some ads out to hire someone on a commission basis to find work for us. Where as if they found a project for us and we got hired to complete it then they would get a percentage of the commission. What do you all think? Is this something that is done often? Of course it would have to be someone who has specific experience or connections with obtaining architecture projects.

tree -

i do all the governmental proposals in our office. all in-design and, yes, we have plenty of boilerplate sections we try to keep updated so that all we have to do is drop and drag that info over.

we spend an inordinate amount of time responding to the 'thrust' of the rfq - making it very personalized to them, offering our 'take' on the project, and addressing their concerns very directly.

that said, wurdan is dead on - we have only been shortlisted on one governmental job where we didn't know or have a conversation ahead of time with the players involved. and we've missed on several where we had cultivated a long term relationship. everything in that world is done on relationships. (and i know you know all this - i'm speaking to the others on the board who don't do this part of the job as often). all of these project managers, directors, etc.: their first priority is to cover their arse. they like security, stability, and people who aren't going to embarass them. it doesn't mean they won't take a chance on some smaller or newer firms, but they just aren't going to hand over a 20M classroom building to someone they've never heard of. just won't. so, we've had to get in and do smaller jobs, do them better than anyone else, and we get the chances to get to the shortlist.

doing a killer proposal, graphics wise, is always a way to reassure them, but the most savvy project managers have seen all that before and understand anyone can produce the pretty book. content still wins out.

finally, i'm with you tk - we're seeing everyone in town going after any public project imaginable, regardless of size or previous experience. where we would have seen only 4-5 firms (who we thought could compete) on some county projects, now we're seeing 30. it's crazy. if you don't know someone before it hits the street, good luck.

sorry, to answer one other question tk - we've just cut back to no more than 2-3 a month and try to focus on the projects we think we'll have the best chance on or that we have some kind of relationships with.

state does have a list of university projects which are on the docket each year. we meet with the head of capital planning for the whole regents system once a year. her best advice was to focus on 5-10 institutions and go work them like a bad coat. go back again and again. also, she mentioned that they are forbidden from refusing to meet with new firms. if they do, she wanted to know because she'd yank part of their funding. not sure i'd rat someone out like that, but...

only one person does the proposal - either me or my partner (depending on the project) we have others read and proof what we've done, but the partners have to do the heavy lifting. usually, it's a night/weekend thing. the one bonus from that is, even if it's somewhat boilerplate, it all tends to sound like it's coming from a single voice.

i should qualify that we're about 1/6th your size, so there's not a dedicated marketing staff by any means...