Kristin J. Bales Bio

Ms. Kristin Bales has been working with Fedmarket’s proposal writing team since 2010. Ms. Bales has 20 years of experience in technical writing and editing for the commercial and government sectors. She has written and managed more than 75 federal proposals for DoD (all branches of service), Department of Energy, EPA, DHS, USDA, DOI, GSA and NASA to include Construction Management, Remediation and Engineering Services, Technical Support Services, Program and Administrative Management, IT Services, Cybersecurity, Logistics Support, Public Affairs, Risk Management, Personnel Services, Manufacturing, and Real Estate Services that have won over $1B. Ms. Bales has expertise in analyzing federal proposals, preparing proposal responses, communicating with federal contracting officers and managing the proposal process from newly released RFP to final proposal. She is Shipley Certified and has expert level knowledge of MS Word, Acrobat, MS Teams, MS PowerPoint, MS Outlook, SharePoint and functional knowledge of Illustrator, Photoshop, and MS Excel.

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

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:
S&K Technologies, Inc., August 2021 – May 2025
Senior Bid/Proposal Manager

  • Manage and direct the proposal lifecycle from pre-RFP solutioning to final delivery of proposal files, including interactions with subcontractors, project managers, SMEs, and executives
  • Run meetings on MS Teams to include solutioning, kick-off, tag-ups, Red Team and Gold Team reviews and craft PowerPoint slide presentations to support
  • Edit and format proposal volumes and RFIs
  • Develop, edit, and manage capability statements, RFIs, ENs, FPRs
  • Track and review RFPs, amendments, Q&A to ensure compliant proposal documents
  • Organize and maintain proposal documents, RFP materials, post-proposal correspondence, cost materials, and other documentation on corporate SharePoint site
  • Perform quality checks and compliance reviews for other proposal managers
  • Develop, edit, and collaborate with proposal team on boilerplate material and content templates

KJB Writing Services, LLC, June 2011 – 2021, June 2025 - 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

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,/ul>

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

CERTIFICATIONS: Shipley Certified, May 2025

ADDITIONAL TRAINING: Shipley Winning Executive Summaries, February 2025; Shipley Qualifying to Win and Pricing to Win, March 2023; Shipley Capturing Federal Business, March 2022; Shipley Proposal Writing & Management Courses, July 2010 & March 2022; Beginning and Advanced InDesign Courses, November 2010; RoboHelp Basic and Intermediate Course, December 2002; Basic & Intermediate Russian Language Courses, Defense Language Institute, March 1996

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