Like many people working in a densely populated metropolitan area, I spend a great deal of time languishing in traffic and often wonder how I could better put that time to use. Audio books and informative radio stations help pass the time however I always feel that my lenghty commute is a loss of valuable time that could be spent completing my workload or just being more productive. I am a government contracting professional working within the Federal Sector of a large Government Contractor in the DC Metro Area. My job requires significant amounts of reading and attention to detail since I work in a new business capture capacity. My idea came to me as a possible solution of how I could optimize this otherwise non-productive spent each day driving to and from work.

After years of listening to various audio publications with my commute, it dawned on me that the level of retention and comprehension I was experiencing was far greater than my reading of text. For example, I could start an audio book and listen half way, and finish the story by reading the actual book. It was quite clear that my understanding and retention of the audio component far exceeded the portion I actually read. I reasoned that I must be one of those individuals that learn and retain more from listening rather than reading. Since reading government request for proposals (RFPs) and other Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) text is a significant part of my work day, my idea took form in my mind. What if the Government Agencies could issue their Request for Proposals in both textual and audio format. This could include all aspects of the procurement life cycle to include even questions and answers. Paper copies would of course govern in the event of discrepancy however the audio would be verbatim of the written words.

Taking this further, I could envision that separate audio tracks would punctuate the various sections of an RFP much like one selects a particular song on an MP3 or IPOD player. I have thought this through to include version control, amendments to the RFP documents and descriptive explanations of RFP sections that are not text centric such as Pricing Tables or forms that must be completed.

I recognize there are constraints and that challenges would need to be overcome. However, if properly developed and matured, I believe the benefits to Government Contracting and Proposal professionals would prove worth while through the efficient use of otherwise unproductive time. Imagine having to drive an hour and a half to a proposal kickoff meeting and spending that in a concentrated preparation mode via an audio session with the material! Oh the time that could be saved!

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