The Government contracting market is highly competitive and commoditized. To win a Government contract, your proposal must position your...

(1) Structure your proposal to ensure a compliant response – providing what the RFP instructions ask for, in the order it is asked for....

(10) Provide compelling reasons as to why the Government should award the contract to your company (win themes). Win themes provide clear...

(9) Write the response to the evaluator and address the evaluation criteria (Section M). The basis for contract award, or how proposals...

(8) Develop responses without including too much technical information or too many unimportant details. Proposals are NOT meant to be...

(7) Provide responses that are tailored to the instructions and requirements, instead of irrelevant boilerplate text. It’s easy to fall...

(6) Responses should be well written and edited. Proposals that are poorly written and unedited will not be favorably evaluated and could...

(5) Responses between sections / volumes should be consistent where the same information is presented. Lack of consistency in a proposal...

(4) Substantiate all claims with quantifiable metrics and proof points. Claims written in proposals that are not substantiated with...

(3) When asked for an approach, provide “how” the work will be performed, not just your experience performing similar work. An approach...

(2) Develop proposal responses without “parroting” the requirements. The Government often includes the following proposal instructions in...

(1) Structure your proposal to ensure a compliant response – providing what the RFP instructions ask for, in the order it is asked for....

(1) Carefully shred the RFP. (2) Conduct a bid / no bid review. (3) Develop your schedule with the end in mind. (4) Allow at least 10-15%...

(10) Conduct a lessons learned review. Lessons learned reviews provide a healthy and therapeutic outlet for members of the proposal...

(9) Request a debrief. The anticipation is brutal. Ever since the proposal was submitted you’ve been second-guessing your win strategy....

(8) Assign roles to each reviewer and conduct in-briefs / out-briefs for Color Reviews. Another Pink Team Review down, and all you have...

(7) Provide guidance / training for writers – don’t assume they know how to write proposals and/or compliant responses. A Proposal...

(6) Develop volume templates / outlines that are compliant with Section L for ease of evaluation. Proposals must be compliant with RFP....

(5) Establish and enforce ground rules for daily stand-up meetings. No matter how frequently held (daily or every other day), the...

(4) Allow at least 10-15% of the proposal response period for proposal development planning, before the proposal kick-off meeting is...