The Mad Dash to the Finish Line… “Never Again”
A cautionary tale of the perils and pitfalls of proposal deadline day
On the wall of my former manager’s office hung a testament to how, despite the best of intentions, a large proposal involving dozens of people and countless hours of effort can easily come down to a frantic, last-minute tear through the streets of Ottawa and Gatineau.
This testament was a photocopy of a bid receipt – the document that is issued to confirm a proposal has been received by deadline. The time stamp was 2 p.m., which, incidentally, had been the cut off time. The proposal had been delivered and accepted, literally, at the last minute.
Upon the photocopy my manager had written “Never Again.”
Which begs the question – How had it come to this?
No one ever intends to close off a proposal with a last-minute rush. In fact, this particular day began much the same as another day on which a proposal was due – start early, gather all the materials that have been prepared for the bid, coordinate with anyone willing to help fill the proposal binders, grab a coffee (no where near any printed materials, of course), sit down and start pumping out the completed hard copies.
We were in reasonably good shape. After more than three months of effort, most of the materials were finished and any remaining gaps were manageable. Despite the enormous pressure of ensuring the proposal gets out the door, I, as the proposal manager, always enjoyed this final stage and remained calm throughout – which drove my boss crazy. On this day, I was perhaps a little too calm as the hours, minutes, seconds wound down.
The one drawback of the process that we followed was that I was somewhat at the mercy of others. Late input was forever forcing last minute changes – executive summaries would have to be rewritten and at least one person would come along and say “Oh, I finally reviewed the materials you sent me three weeks ago.”
Sure enough, Murphy was hard at work on this day. It soon became apparent that there would be an inordinate number of changes to ensure the proposal was as strong as it could be. In retrospect, I could have used a moat and a pair of ear plugs.
As time wound down, my boss wound up, and our two-hour buffer disappeared. By 1:30 we had no choice but to wrap it up as best we could and go. We piled into the car at around 1:45, leaving only 15 minutes to make the deadline. Not only that, we still had work to do – we knew there was still some critical information missing.
This particular bid required that security clearance file numbers be included. So there we were – five people squeezed into the car weaving its way through downtown streets, madly talking on cell phones to obtain security clearance numbers for a half-dozen people and add them to each of the four copies of the bid.
By the time we arrived at Place du Portage we had the information in hand and the bid boxed and ready. Two of my colleagues jumped out of the car before it came to a complete stop and ran. It was already 2 p.m. by my watch. We had no choice but to sit and wait.
And wait. By 2:10 we were sure they weren’t coming back. You hear stories about people who don’t get the bid in on time. They plead with the receiving officer to take it, even though they know it will be sent back unopened. Anything rather than having to return to the office with the bid still in hand.
At last they returned, empty handed and chuckling. After their 400-metre sprint they arrived at bid receiving where someone was holding open the door. Not sure what was going on, they stopped.
The gentleman at the door said something along the lines of “you’ll want to be on this side of the line – right now!” Realizing their near-error, they hopped in as the door closed.
After recounting their story, they revealed the pièce de résistance – the official bid receipt with the time stamp of 2 p.m.
Tips to avoid the last minute dash
- Write the proposal iteratively and deal with mandatory criteria first
- Plan to finish a day early for local bids, and three days early if sending by Courier.
- Enforce writing and review schedules. Plan your schedule with ample contingency and never rely on this buffer
- Publish completed sections early as well as any title pages, cover letters, tabs, box labels or other general sections.
- Ensure you have access to more than one printer, three-hole punch, binding machine or any other equipment critical to publishing
- Ensure you have excess materials on hand, like toner and paper
- Never rely on smooth traffic – construction comes up in the most awkward of places
- Have absolute and unmovable deadlines near the end of the proposal effort. Better to miss out on a few extra points than it is to miss the bid closing time.
- Have extra resources on hand
- Drive over in two cars in case something happens to the main car.
Getting the proposal in on time is the most important thing you can do. No matter how great your proposal is, it will never be looked at unless it arrives on time. Ensure that all your plans and efforts lead you to a timely bid delivery, always.
