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Build your confidence and success in responding to government opportunities.

RFP Workshops

ASPECT is offering a series of interactive workshops designed to demystify the government procurement process and help your organization develop stronger, more competitive proposals.

Whether you’re new to government contracting, looking to sharpen your proposal-writing skills, or seeking a deeper understanding of how bids are evaluated, these workshops provide practical, insider knowledge to help you navigate the full procurement lifecycle—from opportunity to award.

Participants will gain a clear understanding of what government buyers look for, how to avoid common pitfalls, and how to position their organization for success.

Each session focuses on a specific stage of the process and offers real-world examples, hands-on exercises, and valuable takeaways you can immediately apply to your work. Participants may register for individual sessions or take the full series for a comprehensive learning experience.

ASPECT members receive preferred pricing, with additional discounts available for groups of three or more from the same member organization. Not a member, join us!

Procurement 101

This workshop is intended for those who have little to no experience responding to government solicitations, or who feel that they need a refresher course on how procurement works within the BC Government. This course provides introductory information on how government procurement works. Topics covered will be:

Types of Opportunities
Mandatory Requirements
Price-based Solicitations
Scored Solicitations
Asking Questions
Contract Award and Debriefs

Dates offered:

January 6, 2026 @ 9:00am - noon

Proposal Writing

Procurement 101 is a suggested pre-requisite for this workshop.

This workshop is intended for those who are responsible to write proposals on behalf of their organization for government scored solicitations. It will be particularly useful to those who are new to this role or have not been as successful as they expected in the proposals written to date. Topics covered will be:

Structure of the Proposal
What to Include
What to Avoid
Practice Writing a Proposal
Debrief the Proposals
Information Available in a Debrief

Dates offered:

January 8, 2026 @1:30 - 3:30pm

How Government Evaluates Proposals

This workshop is intended for those who are experienced in writing proposals but are unclear what happens after closing. It gives a “behind the scenes” glimpse into what Government does with proposals to determine the successful vendor. Topics covered will be:

Government’s Evaluation Process
Evaluation “Rules”
Practice Evaluating Proposals
Which Proposal is Successful? Why?

Dates offered:

January 13, 2026 @1:30 - 3:30pm

What Executives Need to Know About Procurement

This workshop is intended for those in leadership roles who make the decisions on the opportunities that the organization responds to, and who sign-off on the submissions. This course explains the procurement framework that applies to how Government selects its contractors. Topics covered will be:

Overall Procurement Framework
Legal Environment
Trade Agreements
Policy & Legislative Environment
Identify Procurement Risks
Debrief Procurement Risks
Remedies for Disagreement

Dates offered:

January 15, 2026 @1:30 - 3:30pm

About the Presenter

Liz Busch has 25 years experience in Canadian public sector procurement, most of which as an employee of the Province of British Columbia. She left government to start her own consulting practice in 2019, where she now assists both public sector entities and vendors with their procurement projects, policies, guidance and training needs.

Liz has considerable experience in managing Canadian procurement solicitations and has been a major participant in many innovative procurement changes within the Province of BC, as described in the 2018 BC Procurement Strategy.

As a private consultant, Liz has experience developing and updating procurement policy and solicitation templates and has written considerable guidance for both vendors and public sector staff on procurement. She has assisted many clients to improve their procurement practice through in-depth analysis of the current situation, presenting options and recommendations, and actioning those activities her clients approved to implement. She has been a major member of her client’s contract negotiation teams, providing advice on how to structure service descriptions for clarity and ease of management.

Liz is also an accomplished facilitator and speaker, having developed and delivered many procurement workshops and presentations for public sector buyers and vendors specific to the full procurement lifecycle – from planning to contract close out and everything in between.