Case Studies

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION/GLOBAL NETWORK SERVICES, EQUIPMENT & SUPPORT

Suss Consultants supported a large business contractor on this $50 Billion, 15-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity vehicle providing federal departments and agencies access to voice and data network services, managed network and security services, data center infrastructure services, wireless communication services, contact center services, conferencing services, commercial cloud services, and service-supporting equipment and labor.

Services Provided:

Pre-solicitation analysis of existing customer base, high-probability growth targets, win strategies, and opportunity shaping plans.
Review of draft technical, management and price acquisition strategies; development of alternate and amended contract approaches; preparation of formal questions to procurement officials.
Assessment of partnership options for non-core service and product offerings; support for high-level corporate introductions and teaming agreements.
Engagement with business development, sales, and capture teams to understand buyer priorities, management teams, concerns, and key evaluation criteria.
Development of overall contract management approaches; preparation of task order management and transition plans; review and comment on security approaches and plans.
Support for development of contract price proposal tasking, workflows, and staffing; preparation of databases and workbook templates to accommodate disparate service price mechanisms.
Compilation, analysis, and audit of internal and external price points; assessment of competitive price positions on contract- and task-order bids; preparation of formal price submissions.

MULTIPLE DEFENSE AND CIVIL AGENCIES / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SERVICES

Suss Consultants, over 12+ years, provided comprehensive proposal services to support exponential business growth for a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business. Bids included full and open and other government- and department-wide contract vehicles. Professional services covered program management and control, infrastructure management, business analysis and planning, solution architecture and engineering, application development and implementation, and service security controls.

Services Provided:

Assessment of internal business development, sales, and proposal support processes and resources; recommendations for improvement of opportunity targeting and win probabilities.
Proposal management including requirements analysis, template preparations, scheduling and resourcing, content reviews, compliance tracking, and proposal submission.
Solution development including technical assessment, engineering alternatives development, partner engagement, work breakdown structures, and quality/risk planning.
Proposal development including subject expert interviews, technical narratives and graphics, copy writing and editing, color team preparation and fixes, and document preparation and submission.
Bid prices including labor rate analyses, bases of estimate, partner workshare and rate negotiations, profitability analysis, business risk assessment, and price proposal submission.

FEDERAL MARKET ENTRY PROJECT FOR A FORTUNE 100 CLIENT:

A high technology Fortune 100 company with minimal sales to the federal government engaged a team from Suss Consulting to analyze the opportunities and risks for significantly expanding their sales to U.S. Federal and Department of Defense (DoD) agencies. The Suss team conducted an analysis of the client’s product/service mix and prepared five deliverables:
A Federal Market Segmentation and Sizing Study, including a detailed bottom-up model projecting the total, addressable, and achievable federal market size
A Technical Requirements Analysis to determine whether the client’s products and services would require changes to comply with government performance specifications
A Pricing Requirements Analysis to determine whether sales opportunities in the federal space were sufficiently profitable to justify aggressive federal market entry
A Geographical Requirements Analysis to determine the fit between the client’s U.S. footprint and the primary locations of federal facilities with significant demand for the client’s products and services
A Marketing, Sales, and Project Management Requirements Analysis to help the client estimate the investment costs and organizational changes that would be required for successful federal market entry
Based on the findings and recommendations, the client decided to enter the federal market following one of three market entry scenarios recommended by the Suss team. The client has become an important competitor that has captured major contracts with both federal defense and civilian agencies.

DESIGN-TO-COST MODEL FOR A LARGE SYSTEM INTEGRATOR:

A market-leading federal and DoD system integrator asked a Suss team to help develop a winning solution in response to a federal agency RFP for a large, complex, high-reliability, high-availability network. The client had established a technical team to engineer a solution, but executives at the client were concerned that the design being developed by their own engineers was too expensive. The Suss team conducted an independent assessment of the requirement, gathered market pricing data, and built a model to estimate the costs of alternative design solutions. The Suss team also researched available technologies and architectures, estimated the cost and price of an optimized solution, estimated the cost of likely engineering designs from the competition, and provided the model, data, findings, and design recommendations to the client. The client updated their solution based on input from the Suss team.

PROPOSAL SUPPORT FOR A SMALL BUSINESS

A small business in the federal government IT space has engaged Suss Consulting for over five years to provide support including proposal writing and editing as well as win strategy, teaming strategy, and price-to-win strategy guidance. Many of the proposals involved staff augmentation for a range of DoD and non-defense agencies. The Suss Consulting proposal specialist took the lead on multiple proposals, often with tight deadlines, working closely with client management and staff. The client brought in Suss price-to-win and subject matter experts to work with the Suss proposal specialists when needed. The proposals supported by Suss Consulting resulted in over $300 million in awards as well as positions on IDIQ vehicles valued at over $5 Billion.

PRICE-TO-WIN, CAPTURE AND PROPOSAL SUPPORT ON A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR IDIQ:

A Suss Consulting team was brought in by a large technology services provider for price-to-win, capture, and proposal support on a multi-billion-dollar federal indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract (i.e. a large umbrella contract). The client then engaged the Suss team to provide capture and proposal support on the Task Order competitions that followed the award of the umbrella IDIQ. The Suss team included subject matter experts with prior experience as senior executives in the federal agencies issuing the Task Order Requests for Proposals (RFPs). A primary part of the support from the Suss team focused on pricing strategy, price-to-win analysis, price proposal preparation, and QA before price proposal submission. The client successfully captured billions of dollars in Task Order contract awards, including awards on contracts that had been held by competitors for decades.

CAPTURE SUPPORT FOR A LEADING FEDERAL IT SOLUTIONS PROVIDER:

A leading consulting firm that provides IT solutions to Defense Department agencies brought in a team of Suss Consulting subject matter experts to help position the firm for success in pursuit of a complex DoD network involving unique cybersecurity, architecture, and political challenges. The Suss team included retired DoD-CIO and DISA senior executives with many years of experience and insight into the specific challenges facing the government on this challenging program. The Suss team has helped the client with understanding the customer environment, designing solution architectures, and addressing the specific engineering and cybersecurity challenges faced by the government. The client is in the process of positioning for the opportunity and preparing for a successful proposal.

VA SALES SUPPORT

A team of Suss Consulting VA specialists is helping a leading IT system provider bring a set of powerful new technologies to the attention of VA IT and operations decision-makers. Following a client briefing and demo on the new technologies, the Suss team helped to tailor collateral material to demonstrate how the new technologies can address some of the VA’s high priority challenges. The Suss Consulting team then contacted VA decision-makers, and is in the process of setting up meetings to bring in client engineering and sales professionals to provide demonstrations at various levels in the VA.

CAPTURE PLAN PREPARATION FOR A LEADING HIGH TECHNOLOGY SERVICE PROVIDER:

A leading high technology services provider brought in a Suss Consulting team, including DoD computing services and cybersecurity subject matter experts, to help develop and implement a capture plan for a large DoD opportunity. The Suss team provided insight into the customer decision-making environment and helped the client design technical solutions and develop attack/defend strategies and tactics to address the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors. The opportunity is currently under evaluation.