The Win
Mathews Media Group (MMG), a healthcare PR firm in Rockville, Md., was awarded a five-year, $6.3 million contract in June to support the Office of Communications arm of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID).
NIAID's core research areas are HIV, asthma and allergic and sexually transmitted diseases.
Main Competition
MMG guesstimates that it competed with at least six other agencies for the sizeable government contract. But its biggest threat was JBS, the PR firm that held the contract prior to MMG and would be re-submitting a proposal.
Pitch Team
MMG: Molly Matthews, president; Frances Heilig, VP; Beatrice Wolman, VP and Ruth Jordan, PR director; UIS Web Design Firm: Patricia Downey, senior VP and Barbara Logan, VP.
Assignment
To win the NIAID contract, MMG had to sell the government agency on its ability to:
- respond to the hundreds of public inquiries NIAID generates for information about its core research areas;
- create and distribute public education materials to support a variety of research subjects, such as immunizations and allergies;
- develop a new Web site for NIAID which last year received a million hits;
- design NIAID's 50th Anniversary trade show exhibit and Web site; and
- support the Office of Communications initiatives targeting press and non-press audiences and developing newsletters and promotional literature.
Homework
MMG got a heads-up on the NIAID opportunity through its existing communications ties with the National Institutes of Health (MMG currently has another NIH contract).
This connection didn't make MMG a shoo-in because of the impartial competitive rules of the government, says Frances Heilig, an MMG VP.
By the end of 1997, NIAID posted its RFP in the Commerce & Business Daily, a publication that lists government procurement needs. In preparing for the RFP, MMG:
- analyzed its current communication assignments which had specific application to NIAID's needs;
- developed strategies for handling the thousands of public inquiry requests NIAID generates, including a plan for centralizing its database; and
- developed a communications budget.
Presentation
Using a "3Cs" strategy to establish trust, MMG's proposal focused on convincing NIAID of its Competence, Capability and Capacity, according to Ruth Jordan, MMG's public affairs specialist. "Government RFPs require that you clearly demonstrate what you can do; they don't allow you to wax poetic on what you might do if only the client were interested," says Jordan.
The proposal highlighted MMG's:
- expertise with other government accounts, specifically the National Institute for Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI);
- staffing experience and commitments from talented consultants, including UIS, a full service Web design firm in Bethesda, Md.; and
- cost/benefit analysis involving various communications initiatives.
Pitch Tips
More and more "new kids on the block" are pursuing healthcare government contracts, according to Heilig, who says MMG is a relative newcomer with clients like the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in the last five years.
Unlike private sector new business pitches, government contracts require highly technical written proposals that demonstrate how your agency will meet the demands of the assignment - from your staffing expertise and communications savvy to financial responsibility and technical proficiency. In addition, RFPs are "scored" by how well the agency demonstrates its corporate capabilities in these areas.
To develop a winning government proposal, Heilig suggests:
- doing your homework on the culture, priorities, staffing and communications needs of the government agency;
- assessing your firm's capabilities in meeting the demands of the assignment and effectively demonstrating how your team can tackle the assignment; and
- being prepared for governmental bureaucracy - slower decision-making and conservative strategic approaches.
(MMG, Ruth Jordan, Frances Heilig, 301/984-7191)
Matthews Media Group
Headquarters: Rockville, Md.
Founded: 1993
Revenues: $3.4 million
# Employees: 70
Healthcare Clients: National Institute for Diabetes and Kidney Diseases, National Cancer Institute, The George Washington University Biostatistics Center and Children's National Medical Center.
Web site: http://www.matthewsgroup.com