Kristin Bales

Kristin Bales is the co-author of The Proposal Recipe.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

KJB Writing Services, LLC, June 2011 - Present

Proposal Consultant (remote worker)

  • Provide federal proposal management, writing & editing services to clients for multiple industries
  • Manage proposal lifecycle from RFP to shipment, including outlines, templates, boilerplate material.
  • Tracked and reviewed RFPs, amendments, Q&A to provide updated proposal documents to clients
  • Interact with partnering firms and SMEs to write complete and compliant proposals
  • Provide proposal materials in MS Word and Acrobat PDF formats
  • Edit and create graphics using Illustrator and Photoshop

Recent successful contract awards include:

- Customer wins a sport on OASIS SB
- Two customers were awarded a spot on the HHS 10-year NQIIC IDIQ contract
- Customer wins a spot on the $17.5B DISA ENCORE III IT Support contract.
- Customer was awarded FLYREEL contract for the National Cryptologic School.
- 29 customers won a spot on STARS II vehicle
- Customer wins spot on $10B DLITE II
- Customer wins Field Communications contract for Dept. of Interior
- Customer wins a spot on ALLIANT 2 vehicle
- Client awarded a spot on Human Capital & Training Solutions (HCaTS) - over $11B in value over 10 years, only 37 small businesses were awarded a contract
- Client awarded a spot on the Program Management, Administrative, Operations and Technical Support Services (PACTS II) IDIQ contract - more than $1.5B to be awarded to SDVOSB businesses only.
- Client awarded a spot on the USN's SeaPort-e contract - more than $5.3B to be awarded under that vehicle
- Several clients were awarded spots on the GSA One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) small business pool (2013) with a potential for billions of dollars in business over 10 years.
- Several clients received awards for the 5-year HHS/CMS Quality Innovation Network (QIN) Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) contract.

Proxy Personnel, February 2012 – 2015
Business Development Associate (part-time)

  • Track, target and pursue federal personnel contracts
  • Arrange partnerships and subcontracting opportunities with other firms
  • Manage, write and edit proposals by working with SMEs and partnering firms
  • Provide pricing documents in Excel

NASCO, March 2010 – June 2011
Proposal Manager

  • Analyzed RFPs for government requirements
  • Built outlines and drafted proposals based on RFPs
  • Produced multi-volume proposals for contracts with values from $40M to $100M
  • Managed all aspects of proposal lifecycle
  • Interviewed SMEs for technical information
  • Wrote Sources Sought documents, Evaluation Notice responses
  • Interacted with government contracting officers, construction management experts
  • Used MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop

UXB International, Inc., June 2009 – February 2010
Technical Writer

  • Edited and formatted proposals for government and private contractor work under strict deadlines
  • Edited co-worker resumes, project descriptions, contract-required documents written by partner firms with limited English knowledge

May 2004 – June 2009
Freelance Writer/Editor

  • Edited 200-page non-fiction book, two novels, and multiple short stories for publication
  • Created and edited documentation for Collaborate, BowTieXP and Investigator3 software
  • Edited and wrote copy for websites; wrote and designed brochures

May 2004 – December 2009
Business Owner/Innkeeper/Property Manager

Group 1 Software, October 2000 – April 2004
Technical Writer/Editor

  • Maintained and edited documentation for mailing management and data cleansing software
  • Interacted with SMEs and software developers to create accurate and user-friendly documentation
  • Prepared detailed documentation plans & edited co-worker documentation

Booz-Allen & Hamilton, February 2000 – October 2000
Technical Writer/Analyst

  • Edited technical manuals for content, clarity and grammar
  • Conducted research and analysis and produced survey and white paper to solicit client business

U.S. Navy, December 1996 – February 2000
Russian Linguist

  • Analyzed highly technical documents in foreign language
  • Wrote detailed reports based on analysis and translation of classified materials
  • Held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (TS/SCI) Security Clearance

EDUCATION:
M.A. Latin American Studies, March 1994
University of California, Santa Barbara B.A. English and Spanish, May 1992
Valparaiso University, IN

ADDITIONAL TRAINING:
Beginning and Advanced InDesign Courses, November 2010
Shipley Proposal Writing & Management Courses, July 2010
RoboHelp Basic and Intermediate Course, December 2002
Basic & Intermediate Russian Language Courses, Defense Language Institute, March 1996

COMPUTER SKILLS:
MS Word, Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, PowerPoint, Outlook, MS Excel