The Proposal Project Order Formula

The other day the question came up about whether we should give our staff guidance on the order projects should appear in proposal resumes and experience sections.

The ultimate answer was, “I hope not.” To some respect, it’s a gut decision.

But then I thought, maybe it’s not. Maybe there is a formula to picking the order of projects. So I went through, in my head, the process I use to order projects.

Using an example for design (in the private sector) and an example of specialty services (owners rep in the public sector), I tested my formula on paper.

I wondered why nobody has ever done this before. I’m now convinced that a formula can be used to pick project order.

This is really a formula for project relevance. Your project must match each one of these criteria:

• Client: It’s the same client
• Service: You performed the same service
• Market Sector: The client was in the same market sector. For example transportation or pharmaceutical.
• Facility: The project type is the same. For example, bridge or lab.
• Attributes: Special attributes, requirements, or situations are the same. For example, the project must be LEED silver or BSL-3.
• Location: The project is in the same location (city, county, state, region).

I feel this formula will be very helpful to people in our industry. Here it is.

1. Client, service, market sector, facility, attributes, location
2. Client, service, market sector, facility, attributes
3. Client, service, market sector, attributes
4. Service, market sector, facility, attributes, location
5. Service, market sector, facility, attributes
6. Service, market sector, attributes
7. Client, service, market sector, facility, location
8. Client, service, market sector, facility
9. Service, market sector, facility, location
10. Service, market sector, facility
11. Service, market sector
12. Service, location
13. Service

Is this a stroke of insanity or a stroke of genius. You decide. Leave a comment!