1. Karen Ethelston
Professional Proposal Management Support Services
Tel: +44 (0) 7836 225776
uk.linkedin.com/in/karenethelston/en
karen.ethelston@virgin.net
KAREN ETHELSTON – PROPOSAL MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES
OBJECTIVE The Proposal Manager will assist your company/sales team in coordinating and
producing a high quality and customer compliant proposal (RFI, ITT, RFP BAFO)
response document. Responsibilities include introduction and implementation of
all necessary proposal procedures and processes. This is a highly networked role
that requires an ability to work under pressure and to demanding deadlines.
CORE
RESPONSIBILITIES &
AREAS OF SUPPORT
• Development/creation and maintenance of pre-formatted templates from
customer RFX in consistent template styles that meet customer’s
specifications
• Ensuring proposal deliverables meet customer’s instructions
• Responsibility for the look and feel of the document, ensuring that it is
produced to the expected quality on-time
• Analysing customer's RFP for 'document' requirements (e.g. printing/layout/
packaging/delivery requirements)
• Liaison with the bid team in regards to specific instructions and distribution
of Document Management guidelines where appropriate
• Populate proposal with content provided by various contributors
• Acting as a single point of contact for content collection from Subject Matter
Experts (SMEs) and incorporating into the master document, dynamically
monitoring the collection process
• Reviewing and revising, where required, RFP responses provided by the
Subject Matter Expert (SME) proposal content and responses to improve
readability, including spelling, punctuation, grammar, voice and flow
• Proofread sections of the document as required
• Ensuring proposal is professionally laid-out and formatted, working with
external designers and printers on occasion as required for specific
opportunities
• Helping to develop responses to generic company information questions
• Maintaining version control as proposal is put together (i.e. able to provide a
draft copy at any point; maintain a register of content 'status' at any point &
identify missing content)
• Helping to ensure adherence to your writing standards and adoption of
industry best practices in written communication
• Participating in bid team kick-off meetings
• Ensuring deliverables meet sales team expectations

2. Page 2
• Identifying required deliverables, defining document structure, and
creating/maintaining the bid plan
• Ensuring SMEs understand the RFx requirements and meet proposal
deadlines
• Ensuring the bid team understands the proposal process, deliverables, and
due dates
• Ensuring bid plan is current if required and published if no Bid Manager
• Coordinating the customer question and answer process and requirements
• Ensuring language consistency, as dictated by the customer and agreed with
the team by creating a dedicated proposal editing convention list to be shared
with the bid team in addition to the your style guide
• Performing spelling and grammar checks in all proposal documents
• Editing the proposal for clarity, your own and proposal style conventions,
grammar/punctuation, content and language consistency, tone, style,
structure, and flow in line with the customer’s instructions
• Responsibility for reconciling tables, graphics and appendices documents
with cross-references in the response document
• Issuing drafts incorporating changes into the master document and updating
into future document versions as per the agreed schedule
• Ensuring availability of live proposal as a back-up from updated version
always available in non-SharePoint environment
• Initiating and managing the pursuit-specific collaboration tool (e.g.
SharePoint)
• Supporting the Proposal Manager in monitoring SharePoint usage and
customising it to ensure that members have appropriate access and
understanding of SharePoint content
• Ensuring the archiving of the final proposal documents and internal approvals
based on your standard records management processes and in-country
agreements (all business control evidence for future reference, etc.)
• Collecting content providing generic information (FAQs, data from generic
repository such as your Proposal Content Repository, etc.)
• Supporting/working with the Proposal Manager/Bid Owner to develop
milestones
• Providing direction to account teams regarding content delivery
responsibilities and timescales where no Bid Manager is in place
• Collaborating closely with the Resource Manager and others in the proposal
teams following HP defined processes and status updates of activities as part
of the team working towards the assigned tasks
• Responding to and supporting the Proposal Manager in executing the bid
process

3. Page 3
• Performing a quality check of final documents including images and styles
• Creating electronic copies of proposal (e.g. on CD, memory stick, customer’s
websites, etc. as required)
• Ensuring document response delivery is in line with customer requests
• Leading print production, assembly, packaging, and shipping either in the
document centre, or coordinating with appropriate resources in accordance
with country requirements
• Ensure contingency arrangements are in place and tested for
print/production, using off-site / external resources as required
• Printing final documents, in terms of time and appropriate materials or if
necessary coordinating with the external document centre
• Responsibility of ensuring page-turn quality checks are completed once the
documents are in the binders in case of errors
• Preparing, where required, professional packaging documentation, such as
shipping label, packing slips, receipt acknowledgements of delivery boxes for
final proposal shipment
• Liaising with the Proposal Manager/Sales Lead to get final document out the
door
• Determining, where valid, best shipping method to ensure the proposal
response arrives on time and making the arrangements for pickup of final
boxes
• Ensure the proposal is delivered on time, arranging and managing courier
services as required
• Ensuring receipt of a Proof of Delivery (POD) from shipping/courier is
received and forwarded to interested parties
• Provide administrative support for the proposal effort (e.g. meeting co-
ordination, minute-taking and action progressing, etc.
• If required, reviewing Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) on a daily basis to
identify appropriate Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)
opportunities

4. Page 4
KAREN’S
EXPERIENCE
Karen is a highly experienced professional Bid Manager/Proposal Manager/Document
Manager who joined Hewlett-Packard in 1986 and implemented HP's Strategic Proposal
Centre in 1995. In addition to Karen's BM/DM role, she has been responsible for the
Proposal Centre's resourcing stats, records management and reporting using a variety of
applications, including ERM/TRIM, Siebel, salesforce, BWA+ and HP's OJEU/GPS process.
In addition to her excellent writing and grammatical skills, Karen is a power user/expert in
the MS Office Suite and has strong administration, organisation and presentation skills;
being goal and detail driven, Karen enjoys a challenge. Karen is a responsible,
conscientious, trustworthy individual, having the ability to communicate, negotiate and
make decisions effectively at all levels, she also works well under pressure and to tight
deadlines whilst keeping a professional sense of humour.
Karen has an excellent work ethic, being a proactive and confident individual who can
work on her own or as an active member of a team, she consistently demonstrates a
positive professional approach and flexible “can-do” attitude in her role and transactions at
all levels, having experience of working as Bid Centre Manager and also at director level in
the capacity of PA and at Senior Partner level, as a Legal Executive; Karen therefore has a
good understanding of processes, people management and proposal, contractual and legal
documentation.
EXPERIENCE,
RECOMMENDATIONS
& REFERENCES
Please refer to Karen Ethelston’s LinkedIn page for recommendations.