Westinghouse Advanced Power Systems Business Unit (APSBU): Early in my career, in the Pittsburgh area, I was a proposal specialist (writer/coordinator) on several multi-company teams that scored notable wins, including two really big projects with international recognition:
- Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The original proposal was written in the late 1970s, and the facility finally began accepting nonmilitary radioactive materials for long-term storage in deep salt deposits in 1999. Talk about instant gratification!
- Solar Total Energy Project (STEP) in Shenandoah [Newnan], Georgia. Sponsored by DOE and Georgia Power Company, this was the world’s largest industrial solar thermal cogeneration project during the 1980s. The collectors provided heat to make steam to run a turbine that powered the adjacent knitwear plant, and then the reduced temperature steam was channeled to the plant for use in the pressing machines.
I passed on an offer from the WIPP project manager, Chuck Klanian, to relocate to New Mexico as documentation manager when the site team was formed. However, at the request of project manager Ed Ney, I did continue an association with STEP as a consultant throughout its 12-year construction and operation period. I developed technical reports and wrote, designed and produced high-budget promotional literature and other documentation in support of DoE’s requirements for information dissemination and technology transfer.
My work on the original STEP proposal led to a 20-year friendship and professional association with Mr. Ney that included the first Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) awarded at the U.S. Government’s Savannah River Site (for solar assisted venting of hydrocarbon plumes) and proposals for wind and solar feasibility projects planned for Ecuador. Mr. Ney passed away in 1999, still participating on a bid evaluation team for a collection of utility-scale solar thermal and PV projects planned for a site in Nevada.
Westinghouse Combustion Turbine Systems Division (CTSD): My success on the aforementioned development projects let to a transfer to the Philadelphia area and a promotion to division communication manager. My group of five turned out a series of marketing brochures that have survived for more than two decades as base documents for more current collateral, now being used by Siemens Power Systems. We also supported trade shows, advertising, and proposals for advanced gas turbine technology and other innovative power generation systems.
Compaq/HP Global Services: Success during my five-year tenure is difficult to quantify in terms of a win/loss ratio or total contract value. Our business development and support team claimed an overall win rate of 60 percent, but many losses resulted from extremely high pricing and other factors beyond the control of the bid team. Many wins were follow-on contracts, and other awards were based more on mutual business deals than win strategy, such as with automobile companies that supplied fleet cars or employee benefits providers (Compaq/HP had more than a hundred thousand employees at the time). In any case, every proposal in which I was involved was submitted on-time, was 100 percent responsive and error free, communicated clearly and concisely, and contained strategies, themes, and targeted graphics to the extent possible.
Wyle: Officially, I was Senior Proposal Manager for Corporate Business Development, but my work extended into a wide range of publications and activities. For instance, I wrote and developed the basic script for an award-winning corporate video, which is still in use and available on the company’s website. I also played a significant role in the company’s winning proposal for the Joint Test and Evaluation (JT&E) Program, which supports fighter projects across the military services. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity award is for a five-year base period for $465 million with five one-year options. The overall contract has a potential value of $930 million over its 10-year life cycle.