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frequently in connection with implementation. Is the consultant’s objective to design a new scheme and submit it in a report, or to help the client to implement the scheme? Who is responsible for what? Where does the consultant’s responsibility end? What does the client actually want? Does he want just a report, or is he really keen to complete a change? In designing an effective assignment these questions must be answered.

Following a detailed role definition, the consultant can determine the resources required for each phase of the assignment. These include resources to be made available:

●by the consultant (consultant time, material, clerical support, special computing, research, legal advice, and other services), including their cost;

●by the client (management and staff time, liaison arrangements, administrative support, office facilities, resources for testing, experimental work, computing, and so on).

Obviously, the client will want to know what resources provided by the consultant he or she will have to pay for. But more than that: the client will participate, too, and the inputs required from his or her organization may be high. The failure to quantify them as precisely as possible may cause considerable difficulties once work has started and the client learns that he is supposed to do something which he has not counted on.

It may be difficult to tell the client at this stage how much implementation will cost: it is the action planning phase (Chapter 9) that will generate precise figures. None the less, a preliminary assessment ought to be made in all assignments that are likely to propose costly changes (e.g. new investment or compensation to staff whose employment will be terminated). The client should have the opportunity to look into these probable financial implications before deciding whether to embark on the assignment.

The costing and pricing of an assignment are discussed in detail in section 30.7.

7.5Proposal to the client4

As a rule, the assignment proposed will be described in a document presented to the client for approval and decision. It may be given different names: survey report, technical proposal, project document, project plan, contract proposal, and the like. Some clients require the consultant to present the proposals in a predetermined format. This facilitates study by the client and evaluation of alternative proposals received from several consultants. Furthermore, the format of the proposal may correspond to the format of the consulting contract to be signed.

A proposal submitted to the client is an important selling document. It is not enough for the consultant to have a clear vision of how to execute the assignment: he or she must be able to describe this vision on paper in a way that will make it clear to other people. This may include individuals who have not met the consultant, and will be forming their opinions solely on the basis of the written proposal.

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The proposal should be of high technical quality and business-like in its presentation. Writing “winning” proposals is an art that no consultant can afford to ignore.

Sections of the proposal

In most cases, the proposal to the client will include the following four sections:

–technical aspects;

–staffing;

–consultant background;

–financial and other terms.

The technical aspects section describes the consultant’s preliminary assessment of the problem, the purpose to be pursued, the approach to be taken, and the work programme to be followed. These topics were reviewed in sections 7.2 to 7.4.

One caveat has to be entered: the consultant and the client may have a different conception of how detailed and specific this technical section should be. If it is too global, the client may feel that the consultant is not clearly explaining what he or she proposes to do. In contrast, if it is too detailed and specific, the consultant may have gone beyond assignment planning, and have already embarked on executing the assignment without having obtained the client’s agreement. This may present no problem if a cooperative relationship has already been established and the consultant is sure to get the assignment. If it is not clear who will be chosen (e.g. if several consultants were invited to submit proposals), this may prove to be a reckless approach: giving away expertise before the assignment has been approved.

The staffing section gives the names and profiles of the consultant company’s staff who will be executing the assignment. This includes the senior consultants (partners, project managers) who will be responsible for guiding and supervising the team working at the client’s organization. As a rule, the proposal guarantees the availability of particular persons for a limited period of time, say six to eight weeks. If the client delays the response, or decides to postpone the assignment, he knows that he will have to accept other consultants of a comparable profile, or renegotiate the assignment.

The consultant background section describes the experience and competence of the consulting organization as it relates to the needs of the particular client. There may be a general subsection with standard information given to all clients (including a section on ethical standards and professional practice adhered to by the consultant) and a specific subsection referring to similar work done and providing evidence that the consultant will be the right partner to choose. References to former clients should be used only with those clients’ prior agreement.

When proposals are evaluated, this section will normally be given less weight than other sections; consultants therefore often tend to underestimate it.

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Either they merely include standard documentation on the firm to every proposal, or they provide a great amount of information including irrelevant information on activities and completed projects in the belief that the potential client will be impressed by quantity. Neither of these approaches is likely to strengthen their case.

The financial and other terms section indicates the cost of the services, provisions for cost increases and contingencies, and the schedule and other indications for paying fees and reimbursing expenses, and settling all commitments. If the client applies a selection procedure, the financial section may have to be submitted separately.

If the consultant has a standard description of his or her terms of contract or business, it may be attached to the proposal. Conversely, some clients insist on using their own terms and the consultant may have to comply with these in order to obtain the contract.

Presenting the proposal

Many consultants prefer not just to mail the proposal, but to hand it over to the client in a meeting which starts with a short oral (and visual) introduction of the report’s summary. The consultant should be ready to answer questions about the start of the proposed assignment. If the client is keen and ready to begin, there are obvious advantages to doing so while the enthusiasm is there and the contacts established are fresh in people’s minds. But an early date may not be easy to meet because of existing commitments.

While the consultant would obviously like to have a decision before the end of the meeting, the client may have good reasons for not wanting to give one. He or she should not be pressed.

If the client wants to read the proposal prior to the oral presentation, or does not want an oral presentation, the consultant should hand the report over without insisting on a meeting. A formal selection procedure may even preclude an oral presentation and require the consultant to present a sealed written proposal by a set date.

The client’s reaction

A public-sector client is usually bound by rules which specify a minimum number of tenders and an internal evaluation procedure before a contract is awarded. Private-sector clients may also use a selection procedure based on the evaluation of alternative proposals, in particular for large and complex assignments. In such cases it may be several weeks or months before the client is in a position to decide.

The consultant wants to know the criteria by which he or she will be judged. As a rule, the client will inform the consultant about these criteria in the original invitation to submit a proposal. In most cases, the client will also give the names of the competitors. The consultant should be aware of the relative weight that will be assigned to the various aspects of the proposal in the selection procedure. For

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