We have a fairly academic background, so we know how to write these grant proposals and have been doing it for a while. It's definitely a specialized skill, but there's no magic to it. You have to know how to do the paperwork and budgets though. This particular one was an extreme fast track program, so there were 30 days between each of program announcement, proposal due date, performer selection and final contract negotiation date. Nothing in government usually happens that fast - I was quite shocked that it actually happened in the stated time frame.