Not-For-Profit Research and Development Company Automatically Aggregates Proposal Costs

SRC, Inc., a not-for-profit research and development company, combines information, science, technology and ingenuity to solve “impossible” problems in the areas of defense, environment and intelligence. Across its family of companies, SRC applies bright minds, fresh thinking and relentless determination to deliver innovative products and services that are redefining possible^® for the challenges faced by America and its allies. For more information, visit www.srcinc.com.

The Challenges

How can you constantly achieve excellence under the gun? Since SRC consistently develops proposals for the U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, the 501 c3 is under constant pressure to meet deadlines, yet also work at the requisite quality level expected by government agencies. SRC’s proposal regimen using ProPricer has allowed the contractor to soar way beyond Excel’s capabilities. But this wasn’t always the case.

Prior to adopting the platform, an obstacle during each proposal build-up was the process of time-phasing hours and non-labor costs in different months, and then overlaying SRC’s rates against these figures. “This could be very difficult and time-consuming in Excel,” says Kevin Gagnier, Manager of Cost and Pricing.

Another challenge, customizing Excel and then collecting all of the costing inputs to generate a specific report, then generating ancillary reports through a variety of different lenses. “Our manual effort required to summarize reports in different ways for clients was substantial.”

Finally, using Excel to aggregate costs—without a database that includes libraries and rate tables—forced Gagnier and his team to create individual files, rates and reports for each proposal, without the option to re-use standard information in future efforts.

The Solution

“We have a dedicated team of six people that collects all information related to estimates and loads it into the Contractor Edition of ProPricer^™,” says Gagnier. Then, SRC’s Financial Analyst Groups monitor the team’s contract execution using ProPricer Estimator licenses, enabling those associates to pull specific proposals and run analyses— something they never had the luxury of doing when Excel was their platform.

Continues Gagnier, “Having pre-reviewed rate tables to apply to different scenarios is a huge time-saver for us and gives us the benefit of much more accurate rate application.” And reporting? “ProPricer’s reports are best in class. We looked at the reporting function of several other products out there and none even came close.”

SRC can also now collect all costs in one place. Since the ProPricer framework is so flexible, it can embrace the variety of SRC’s Work Breakdown Structures from department to department. It can also deliver cost reporting to agencies in one consistent, preferred format.

The Results

“We’ve grown tremendously over the last five years,” says Gagnier.

ProPricer has met SRC’s needs every step of the way, scaling with them as they sprouted from a small business to the midsized defense contractor they are now. “We are able to maintain compliance with our reporting requirements just fine. Pricing accuracy, too. And (ProPricer) has definitely helped us win new business.”

In short, ProPricer is government-recognized software that lets SRC consistently deliver high-quality proposals and actually make time for reporting analysis. The cherry on top, “I know almost everyone at ProPricer now,” concludes Gagnier. “People reach out to me. I get the same level of customer service as the big guys – such as the Lockheeds of the world.”