Proposal Writing Program

Nonprofit Programs 

The Institute of Contracts & Grants (ICG) provides technical assistance training in real-time simulated experiences that will prepare subcontractors for the rapid response environment that comes with participating on a team with large projects. 

The intense 5- or 14-day boot camp-style platform simulates the government experience which, in most cases, is based on emails. Therefore, learning how to effectively communicate while remaining relevant, responsive, and compliant is key.  

The SBA's All Small Mentor-Protégé Program gives inexperienced businesses the opportunity to win contracts while under the watchful guidance of prime contractors. Unfortunately, the burden is usually on these Prime mentors to "ready" their protégés for the federal marketplace. No longer. 

ICG does the work for you by preparing subcontractors to compete for and win contracts with Primes. We assist Prime mentors in fulfilling their Mentor-Protégé commitments, while thoroughly training novice subcontractors to do business in the federal market.  

In addition to custom, project-specific programming, we offer an intensve, web-based government contract simulator that recreates the experience subcontractors can expect when bidding large projects and performing awarded contracts with large primes and government agencies. 

ICG expedites mobilization in three key ways:  

• Familiarizing subcontractors with the internal processes and procedures of the Prime Contractor or Agency
• Identifying expectations
• Enabling subcontractors to identify the steps required to successfully compete for, and perform, federal contracts as a team member.

ICG streamlines the onboarding process for subcontractors by verifying their credentials and ensuring they are technically equipped to perform contracts.

We use PARS™ (Performance Assessment Rating System) - our proprietary scoring tool - to rate the performance of minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, and other disadvantaged businesses. PARS uses a weighted algorithm to score small businesses in three core areas:  

• Technical capability - How well companies do what they do 
• Teaming suitability - The value they offer  
• Government suitability - How well equipped they are for government contracts  

We use PARS to assess the overall readiness of your subcontractors to perform contracts. 

PARS generates a series of scores in more than a dozen different categories to determine which companies would make good teaming partners and which are best-suited for subcontracting work.

We make recommendations to the subcontractors on ways to leverage their strengths and fortify their weaknesses. 

And we report back to prime contractors with our findings and our recommendations. 

Both you and your subcontractor can save yourselves hundreds of manhours when small business partners have a rubric for determining the projects they are best-suited to perform.

With more than 400 government agencies, all in need of products and services, MBEs / DBEs / WBEs need a fail-proof system for quickly identifying which opportunities may be good for them and which are not. A good vetting plan is that fail-proof system. 

This training teaches subcontractors how to: 

• Build a rubric that will help them identify which opportunities to capture
• Streamline the bid process 
• Minimize the amount of time they spend sifting through opportunities 
• Never again waste time answering an RFP for a government contract that wouldn’t be a good fit for their business

Small businesses will learn how to clearly articulate their value, capabilities, and deliverables to minimize the chances of overselling themselves and taking on contracts they cannot perform.

Designing a winning proposal starts with having an outline that not only follows the instructions in the RFP, but also fulfills the agency's evaluation criteria.

Four courses in this training deal specifically with researching, writing, editing and submitting a phenomenal proposal, so your small business partners know: 

• How to analyze the RFP
• How to spot the red flags and words that tell them whether or not they are eligible to bid
• How to dig up background information on prime contractors, agencies and RFPs 
• How to correctly format a proposal so it gets accepted 
• How primes and agencies evaluate proposals to determine winners and losers
• How to navigate the submission process so their proposal gets to the right person 

Small businesses learn how to structure their prices for seamless execution of services and delivery of products. This will keep them from losing the subcontract, and keep you from losing time and money recruiting a second company into an active project to fulfill the subcontract. 

Believe it or not, pricing is an issue that trips up even well-established businesses. Most new subcontractors don't realize the government doesn't buy the way the average customer buys. So, the pricing strategy they use for commercial contracts may actually end up losing them money and slowing down projects because they find they can't deliver at their quoted price. 

This training will walk them through the steps they need to take to develop and incorporate a solid pricing strategy. It will help them identify the direct and indirect costs associated with selling you their product or service, and help them understand their costs at each stage of production in their business.  

They also learn how to apply a methodology that allows them to develop a Cost Narrative to account for spending on:  

• Personnel 
• Fringe benefits 
• Travel 
• Contracts 
• Equipment 
• Materials/Supplies 
• Capital Expenses

Individual team members only need to complete training in the areas where they lack proficiency.

Contracts & Grants, LLC is a Metro Atlanta-based consulting firm that provides program management, acquisition, proposal, and contract support for government contracts. The company has been responsible for more than $12. 2 billion in government contract negotiations and awards.  

Linda Chatmon is the founder and CEO of Contracts and Grants, LLC. Since launching the firm in 1995, Linda has worked as a government contracting Subject Matter Expert. She is the founder of C&G Federal and The App Diva, and creator of The Institute of Contracts & Grants.

Our areas of expertise include:

• Small Business Program Management
• Proposal support 
• Identifying and vetting qualified businesses  
• Procurement / acquisition  
• Bid process  
• Negotiating teaming agreements  
• Contract administration  
• Contract management  
• Subcontractor agreements  
• Subcontract management, including flow-down clauses  
• Performance reviews  
• Ensuring compliance with local ordinances

The Institute of Contracts and Grants is a division of Contracts & Grants, LLC. 

Register Your Key Personnel, Subcontractors, Protégés, and Teaming Partners 

We encourage prime contractors to enroll their subcontractors, protégés, and teaming partners as part of the onboarding process. This is a great way to ensure that each of your partners begins your project with a clear understanding of the fundamentals of both the project and of successfully working in the government space. 

Prime contractors and government agencies can choose multiple teaming partners and subcontractors to go through the training at once. This is a good opportunity for you to assess whether your selected partners and protégés are a good fit for your company during both the bidding process and in fulfilling the contract requirements once a federal contract has been awarded.  

We encourage you to consider this option when your budget and/or workforce reaches its capacity. 

Tuition for Web-Based Training

Prime contractors can enroll unlimited team members into The Institute of Contracts. We offer the following options: 

• 12-Week Fast Track is $5,000 per subcontractor, or team. This training is best suited for experienced commercial or local/state government providers that are looking to transition into federal government contracting. This training is one hour per week, with the remainder of the time spent on actual projects as homework. Participants will have access to our team of Subject Matter Experts throughout the course.  
• 14-Day Readiness Training is $7,500 per subcontractor. This training is best suited for Subcontractors, Protégés, and Teaming partners of Prime contractors, OR current government contractors that need to win more awards. This training is the Fast Track curriculum accelerated, and includes daily training, and take home exercises with access to SME throughout the course.
• 5-Day Readiness Training is $5,000 per Subcontractor. This training is solicitation -specific and is best suited for subcontractors (or new Primes) that have been awarded a contract or IDIQ. This training focuses on mobilization/ramp-up, and task order management. These are full-day sessions, with take home assignments, and can be either web-based, onsite, or resident (hotel or retreat) training.

Tuition for Onsite Training  

Prime contractors can schedule up to 5 subcontractors, protégés, or teaming partners for the 5-day Onsite Readiness Training for flat rate of $10,000 per scheduled 5-day session.  

How Payment Plans Work

Before teams begin training at ICG, a minimum payment of 50% of tuition must be received. The remaining balance is due within 3 days of the start of training.

Most teams have been able to successfully go through ICG training in just 14 days. 

If you and your team have been struggling to help subcontractors make a successful transition into the federal arena, ICG is your solution. 

Use our team of Subject Matter Experts, and our proven readiness training to get results. 

To learn more about Mentor-Protégé Program Management and services for Prime Government Contractors at The Institute of Contracts & Grants, click the button below to schedule a call.

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