Don't Rely on Your People to Cover for a Broken Process

Shipley codifies what your best people do and makes it repeatable across the organization

When your best capture manager runs a pursuit, the process works. When they don’t, it doesn’t. That is not a process. That is a dependency. Shipley designs the playbooks, workflows, and operating models that convert institutional knowledge into institutional capability, so performance is driven by how the organization operates, not by who is in the room.

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Successful Organizations Often Outgrow the Very Model That Made Them Successful

The organization is winning despite its process, not because of it. Great products and skilled people carry the business early. But as teams expand and deals become more complex, the absence of a consistent process creates problems that talent alone cannot solve. Pursuits are managed inconsistently. Quality varies by leader, by team, by region. New hires lack guidance and take months to become productive. Leaders spend their time refereeing disorder instead of driving growth.

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The Solution

Shipley creates and manages BD, capture, and proposal processes to make winning consistent and scalable. We apply our globally recognized methodology and tailor it to your organization’s needs.

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A typical engagement includes:

Assess and Benchmark

Evaluate existing processes against industry best practices. Establish where you are, identify the gaps, and define the baseline for improvement.

Design Playbooks, Templates, and Tools

Define how pursuits are managed from opportunity identification through submission. Capture your organization’s best practices in formats any team member can follow.

Build Capture Discipline Into the Process

Market and opportunity identification, competitive assessment, and price-to-win become defined steps in the capture process, not things that happen when someone remembers to do them.

Define Roles, Responsibilities, and Operating Models

Eliminate the ambiguity that slows pursuits and causes rework. Everyone knows who does what, when, and to what standard.

Integrate AI Into Workflows Where It Adds Real Value

Process first. AI amplifies it. Shipley integrates AI at specific points where it accelerates outcomes, not as a layer on top of what’s broken.

Enable Teams So the Process Sticks

Coaching, training, and feedback loops ensure the process takes hold after Shipley leaves and improves over time.

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Operate and Scale Alongside Your Team

Some organizations need more than a defined process. They need execution support while it takes hold. Shipley can remain embedded through implementation and beyond, providing the capacity and expertise to run pursuits while your team builds the capability to own them.

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The Benchmark for BD Performance

Shipley is the global standard in BD and capture process. When organizations want to know what best-in-class looks like, they come to us. Shipley doesn't hand over a process document. We assess, design, implement, and enable so the process takes hold.

Shipley's BD methodology is used by organizations across every major sector and geography. But methodology alone doesn't change how teams work. Shipley stays through implementation and enablement to make sure the process becomes how your organization actually operates.

We have helped Fortune 100 companies and leading contractors develop processes, templates, defined roles, and AI integration to support multiple billion-dollar pursuits simultaneously.

outcomes

What Changes When Process Replaces Heroics:

 Repeatable processes that hold up as volume and complexity increase.
New hires contributing in weeks, not quarters.
Leaders focused on strategy, not firefighting.
Capacity to pursue more without adding proportional headcount.
A process foundation ready for AI.
Start winning more

Great people deserve a great process.
Let’s build one.

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Other Strategic Services

Managed Services

When proposal demand has outpaced your team's ability to manage it, Shipley steps in as a fully embedded operation. Not a staffing solution. A delivery model.Win Rate Diagnostic & Performance Benchmarking

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Win Rate Diagnostic & Performance Benchmarking

Shipley's win rate diagnostic removes the guesswork and the politics. You get a scored performance assessment benchmarked against top performers, with root causes identified and priorities ranked.

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Global BD Expansion

Global competition requires more than a methodology. It requires an operation built for it. Shipley partners with global BD leaders to design the processes, build the teams, and develop the capability to win consistently across regions.

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Frequently asked questions

About the Methodology

What methodology does Shipley use?
Shipley’s BD methodology is used by organizations across every major sector and geography, covering the full lifecycle from opportunity identification through proposal submission. We tailor it to fit how your organization actually works.
Will this replace our existing processes or build on what we have?
We start by assessing and benchmarking what exists. The goal is to close gaps and build on strengths. The result is a process your teams recognize and adopt because it reflects how your organization operates at its best.
What do the playbooks and templates include?
 Playbooks are practical guides covering the activities, tasks, and milestones that set the groundwork for success — scalable and flexible based on your resources and opportunity complexity. Each is accompanied by a set of simple, industry-tested Microsoft Office tools, fully customizable to your organization.

About the Engagement

How long does a typical process design engagement take?
Most engagements complete in a quarter. Timeline depends on scope, organization size, and whether we're building from scratch or refining existing process. Stakeholder availability is also a factor — collaboration and co-creation are central to how we work. We'll size it accurately during discovery.
How involved does our team need to be?
We do the heavy lifting, but this is collaborative work. During assessment, the client project sponsor meets with us weekly. Once we move into design, we form a working group and run facilitated sessions together, then take that input away to build and refine. We come back, you react, we iterate. It's structured to protect your team's time while keeping the work grounded in your reality.
What happens after Shipley leaves?
Shipley enables teams through coaching, training, and feedback loops so the process takes hold and improves over time. We design for adoption, not dependency.

About AI Integration

How does Shipley integrate AI into BD processes?
AI is built into workflows at specific points where it accelerates outcomes. Process comes first. AI amplifies it.
 Process comes first. AI amplifies it. Where and how we integrate AI depends on what you're trying to accomplish and whether you're working with general-purpose tools or a bespoke solution. Common integration points include first-draft generation, content reuse and library management, compliance and requirements checking, and competitive intelligence synthesis. We design the AI touchpoints to fit your workflow.
Do we need AI tools in place before engaging Shipley?
 No. We meet you where you are. Whether you have AI tools in place, are evaluating options, or haven't started yet, we can work with it. Getting the process right first is what makes any AI investment pay off.

About Capture Discipline

What does “building capture discipline into the process” mean?
Market and opportunity identification, competitive assessment, and price-to-win become defined steps in the capture process. They happen consistently on every pursuit because the process requires them, not because someone remembers to do them.
We already have a capture process. Can Shipley refine rather than replace it?
Yes. Shipley starts by assessing what you have. If your capture process has strong elements, we build on them. The goal is refinement and consistency, not replacement for its own sake.

About Fit

What types of organizations is this for?
Organizations that have succeeded through strong offerings and talented people but need scalable, repeatable processes to sustain performance as volume and complexity increase. Also serves global companies centralizing BD operations and established organizations modernizing existing processes or incorporating AI.
Can this be scoped to a single business unit?
 Many clients start with a single business unit to prove the model before scaling. It's a practical way to build internal momentum and demonstrate results before a broader rollout.
How does process design relate to Shipley’s training programs?
Process design defines how work gets done. Training builds the skills to do it. A new process without training risks low adoption. Training without a defined process gives people skills but no system to apply them in. Shipley delivers both, and they reinforce each other.