Managing Compliance from Bid through Execution

Holly MeyerKarin Olson Held

Jill Hebl

Introduction

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Presenters

• Holly Meyer – Director, Business Development

• Karin Olson Held – Proposal Coordinator, Business Development

• Jill Hebl – Senior Contract Specialist, Contract Administration

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Noridian Healthcare Solutions

• 48 years, 50 states• Federal and state presence• Wholly-owned subsidiary of Noridian

Mutual Insurance Company (dba Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota)

• Health care-focused

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National Presence

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Introductions, continued

• How about you?– Industry?– Departments?

• What does compliance mean to you?

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Focus on Compliance

RFP Response •Compliance matrix•Credible strong writing

Bid Award •Implementation success•Successful performance

Continued Growth•Contract renewal•Contract extensions•Award Fee

Lifecycle of Compliance

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Different CustomersFederal State/Local Commercial

• RFP requirements are very prescriptive

• Expect strict adherence to RFP requirements

• Response must be compliant to withstand (or lodge) protests

• Often prescribe solution and performance requirements

• RFP requirements may have differing levels of definition

• Often interested in innovation

• RFP expectations may not all be specifically prescribed

• Levels of clarity differ around performance expectations

• RFP requirements may be vague

• Often less prescriptive in response format

• More often expect innovation; therefore, include less prescriptive requirements

• Performance expectations are key

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Bid Compliance• Review RFP• Identify requirements

– Visible Thread: Key words/phrases such as should/shall

• Respond to requirements– Visible Thread: Confirm presence of key words in

response• Develop compliance matrix

– Visible Thread: Starter matrix– Add assignments and evaluation factors

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After AwardFederal State/Local Commercial

Successful implementation Positive performance Customer service Enhanced employee/customer satisfaction Improved perception with public Cost savings

= “Squishy” expectations

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After Bid

• From bid team to delivery team– RFP responses are often incorporated as part

of the contract– Visible Thread: Compliance/response matrix

is the foundation for preparing for solution implementation

– Creates a mechanism to ease handoff between teams

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Contract• Regardless of level of specificity in the

RFP, all customers expect you to perform!• All customer types issue a contract

– Contract should outline performance expectations

– Define any expectations that weren’t clear– May incorporate RFP response– Visible Thread: Create a compliance matrix

from the contract

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Corporate Purchasing

• Future uses: – Purchasing or procurement

• When issuing an RFP and selecting a vendor, a compliance matrix corresponding to RFP requirements can assist in evaluating responses.

– Subcontractor and vendor management• After selection, we keep scorecards of vendor

performance. A matrix developed from the contract is ideal to track performance.

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Benefits

• Consistency from bid cycle through hand -off to implementation through the operational delivery

• Mechanism to self-assess performance• Opportunity to course-correct early• Visibility throughout operation • Minimizes chance of sales promising but

operations being unaware

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VisibleThread – Proposal Development

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The Matrix

• Create after RFP release– Track for both compliance and assignments

• Tailor VisibleThread starter compliance matrix– Shred the RFP first, then format to Noridian’s

template– Create matrix in about 50% less time

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Starter Matrix

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Final Matrix

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Reviews – Readability Checkpoint

• Build readability assessment into color team reviews– Offer authors early feedback to improve text

• Run Clear Language and Quality analyses– “To-be” state – currently revising our proposal

process

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Editing – Final Polishing

• Focus on one voice, tense, and consistency among proposal sections

• Run Clear Language and Quality analyses– Identify “low-hanging fruit,” address, and

move on

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Case Study – Proposal A

• Compared clarity scores for original and edited proposal sections

• Sections edited by same person using the Clear Language reports – Long sentences– Average sentence length– Passive language – Readability

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Original Version Clarity Scores

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Proposal A – Original Version

Long Sentences Average Sentence Length

Passive Language Readability

Section 1 87 sentences18.75% 15 59 sentences

12.72% 20

Section 2 54 sentences9.06% 7 17 sentences

2.85% 47

Section 3 91 sentences18.65% 14 45 sentences

9.22% 32

Section 4 116 sentences30.05% 19 35 sentences

9.07% 24

goal Fewer Fewer Fewer Higher – above 30; 50 is best

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Edited Version Clarity Scores

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Proposal A – EDITED Version

Long Sentences Average Sentence Length

Passive Language Readability

Section 1 77 sentences16.14% 14 40 sentences

8.39% 21

Section 2 44 sentences7.25% 7 14 sentences

2.31% 47

Section 3 90 sentences18.29% 14 43 sentences

8.74% 32

Section 4 101 sentences24.75% 17 18 sentences

4.66% 26

goal Fewer Fewer Fewer Higher – above 30; 50 is best

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Measurable Improvements

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Proposal A – EDITED Version

Long Sentences Average Sentence Length

Passive Language Readability

Section 1 # and % reducedRed to Yellow

ReducedYellow to Green

# and % reduced Increased

Section 2# and % reduced No change # and %

reduced No change

Section 3# and % reduced No change # and %

reduced No change

Section 4# and % reduced Reduced

Red to Yellow# and % reduced Increased

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Next Steps…• Build readability checkpoints into the

proposal process• Consider that proposal content is often

technical and contains medical terminology– Readability is an even greater challenge —and

likely even more important.– What are OUR goals for readability? – Do we accept lower scores in those page-

constrained, highly-technical sections?

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VisibleThread – Contract Administration

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Benefits for Contract Monitoring

• Use VisibleThread to monitor both prime contracts and subcontracts– Should/shall statements

• Requirements– Terms and conditions– SOWs– Responsible party/owner– Comments and action items

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Should/Shall Organization

• Depends on type of contract– Contract section– Content– Responsible party– Specific owner– Met/unmet– Follow-up/comments

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Example Subcontract SOW

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Requirements Compliance Matrix for Example Subcontract Statement of Work

Section Content Requirement Met/Unmet

Your comments here...

1.5a Goal 1.5a Identify the business processes, operational activities

and systems within the Appeals group with the highest potential for productivity improvement by way of and use of Project 1.5b activities.

MetA/B/DME would agree that these were identified.

1.5a Business Benefits 1.5a Validates and prepares Project 1.5b activities so as to

powerfully initiate productivity gains with particular emphasis on Appeals MRE and MRS staff.

Unmet Preparation to initiate the productivity is not an "apples to apples" comparison so cannot validate the increases to be accurate.

1.5a Provides a high level overview of Appeals' business processes, pain points and strengths.

Met These are pain points we provided them.

1.5a Identifies root causes of major pain points, lower-than-desired productivity, and operational redundancies

Unmet Root causes not identified with this group.

1.5a Sets the foundation for Future State development. Met Recommendations received.

What questions do you have?

Thank you!

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