Deloitte: Federal Proposal Simulation
Proposals to provide services to the U.S. Federal government must meet extensive compliance requirements in order to be considered, much less for a contract to be awarded. Many proposals often are disqualified because they are deemed to be noncompliant by the Federal government, even when the submission was otherwise competitive on technical capabilities, past performance, staffing, or price. Deloitte’s Federal Practice embraced the opportunity to create a learning program to improve performance on proposals and increase associated capabilities across the practice.
Deloitte’s Federal Talent Development team— in partnership with Deloitte’s Federal Capture group and business leadership— began by identifying key proposal performance issues, practitioner capability gaps and needs, and desired outcomes for the program. It was decided that a simulation built around the Federal proposal process would best address business drivers and achieve the desired value and impact across the practice. Through “learning by doing,” Deloitte practitioners would have the opportunity to practice key proposal development activities— with a focus on compliance— in a safe environment with real-time feedback from experienced and knowledgeable coaches.
Program Details
The resulting Federal Proposal Simulation features a simulated Request for Proposal (RFP) and actual proposal development roles, activities, issues, and considerations. As part of the program, participants practice developing win themes, the RFP requirements compliance matrix, the management plan, past performances, and resumes, and also conduct multiple proposal review sessions. Feedback is provided “in simulation” as part of the normal proposal development and review process.
Managers in Deloitte’s Federal Practice are the target audience, given their roles on proposals and when the associated capabilities become a part of a practitioner’s performance expectations. Managers are also in a strategically advantageous position of being able to push lessons learned both down to the proposal teams they manage, as well as up to leadership. The overall goals of the simulation are to improve the quality of Deloitte’s proposals to the Federal government, increase the organization’s proposal win rate, and deepen the pool of practitioners qualified to lead and produce compliant and winning proposals.
Program leadership and sponsorship comes from Deloitte’s Federal Marketing and Talent Development groups. Deloitte’s Federal Capture team contributed several senior proposal managers representing multiple business segments to serve as subject matter experts and simulation coaches and cast. Client service leadership provided ongoing feedback during program development, nominated program participants and coaches, and has championed the program within their respective parts of the business. Additionally, client service practitioners served as program design subject matter experts and facilitation coaches, and have supported ongoing maintenance and continuous improvement efforts.
Business Impact
To date, more than 250 Federal Practice managers have participated in the Federal Proposal Simulation, and are now out in the field applying lessons learned and leading proposal efforts. Participant evaluations have highlighted the learning gained, applicability of the program to their work, and impact on their performance, with strong average scores in job impact (4.71 out of 5) and value (4.79 out of 5).
The Federal Proposal Simulation also has had a strong impact on the business as a whole. During the second year of running the program, Deloitte’s Federal Practice win rate on new business proposals worth $10 million improved considerably. As additional learning programs are considered to address other Federal Practice business priorities, the Proposal Simulation stands out as a best-in-class example of a learning program that addresses key business needs and generated a positive, quantifiable impact on organizational performance.
SCC Soft Computer: STARFISH
In order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Care Record (EHR) Incentive Programs, under the HITECH Act (part of the American Recovery and Reimbursement Act), health-care providers need to attest to using certified EHR technology (CEHRT) to meet specific objectives. SCC Soft Computer’s flagship product, SoftLab, was enhanced to meet laboratory-related criteria for certification. Extensive staff training was required to prepare teams to help their clients implement the new software within the government mandated timeline.
The corporate strategic goal to be achieved by this training was to simultaneously accomplish the following:
- Upgrade SCC’s clients who need to meet the requirements of the new CEHRT
- Continue to provide seamless support and world-class service to clients who already upgraded, as well as to those who had not
- Roll out SCC’s new service tracking and response system (STAR), which is designed to improve support task management
To effect full changes in its task management system (TMS), SCC had to move all clients to the STAR system at the same time the support team was being asked to support clients with the upgrade process for CEHRT.
Program Details
SCC’s Educational Services (EDS) developed the STARFISH initiative to address the challenges faced by the Client Services/Technical Support Team, which is on the front line and has direct client contact. The initiative used the FISH! Philosophy of making individuals alert and active in the workplace as the basis for starting discussions and facilitating interventions with teams that were in crisis.
EDS and the HR team partnered with the director of Client Services and vice president of R&D in what became a nine-month ongoing, company-wide, leader-led training initiative. Synchronous WebEx training was provided for remote employees. Programmers and product specialists conducted the initial phase of training on software architecture and infrastructure. In addition to training on troubleshooting and competency, the quarterly training also included technical sessions, SCC health-care information systems product training, and a review of the topics from the previous quarterly training.
The Educational Services Team was tasked not only with updating training materials to include information on the new processes associated with the requirements, but also with the following:
- Providing mentoring
- Offering presentation skills training
- Tracking, reporting, and maintaining training records as required by regulatory agencies
The training culminated during the Client Services/ Technical Support quarterly training week. Various members of the support team conducted informational sessions and updates about the process. HR— with the help of SCC’s senior organizational development specialist and Professional Development Team— conducted teambuilding with the entire support organization, as the additional workload had a negative impact on employee morale. The teambuilding program was started with the traditional FISH video training concepts and then followed up by group exercises that supported and reinforced current customer service best practices for dealing with both internal and external clients.
Results
SCC is only one of two laboratory information systems (LIS) developers in the world that was able to meet the CEHRT requirements before the mandated deadline. In addition:
- 90 percent of SCC’s support team has been trained on the new STAR system.
- 100 percent competency of supporting STAR was achieved during training.
- 98 percent of clients surveyed have responded favorably to SCC’s competent support staff.
- SCC did not receive any negative response from clients citing a lack of support during this transition.
- SCC maintained its low turnover rate of 6 percent, which remains among the lowest in the software industry. No decrease in employee retention was noted.