To respond efficiently to a government RFP you need to prepare a carefully thought and well-written proposal. It is necessary to be objective rather than subjective, and think like a government decision maker when writing it. We all know the process is more complex than it might seem initially. It requires great expertise and extensive experience to be able to submit a product with the high potential to succeed. This article will address some of the most important elements that improve the quality of a proposal.
In order to enhance the evaluation score, you must follow some significant practices. Many businesses that participate in the competitive environment for federal contracts underestimate the importance of being compliant and fully understand the requirements of a solicitation. To give them a different approach to how things should be organized, we’ve written a few tips regarding how a federal proposal should be written.
Collect Customer Information
Everyone in the business knows how hard the government evaluators can be on weighing the contractors. Before starting to write the business proposal, even before deciding to pursue an opportunity, you should make a customer assessment. Getting as much knowledge as possible for the agency you’re trying to bid will help you in the process of proposal development. Establishing a relationship with the federal agency will allow you to show your skills on performing the project properly once you get the contract. The buyer wants to know who you are and your approach to find the right solution to their problem. You must convince them that yours is vastly superior against any of your competitors.
Plan your strategy
A team that has comprehensive knowledge of the customer is able to better plan their winning strategy. They understand how to provide their service offerings or supplies, and the requirements of the RFP solicitation to produce a document that meets and exceeds customer’s expectations. When developing your strategy do it based on your customer’s perception of their needs and pay attention to the evaluation criteria; think about their requirements when you consider the strengths, weaknesses, and discriminators of your solution; consider the solutions of your competitors based on the perception of your customer, and analyze their strengths and weaknesses to emulate and improve yours against theirs.
Be compliant
The reason most of the proposals are rejected is due to non-compliance with RFP instructions. Make sure to follow the format and the style that is required in the solicitation. If there are no specifications made prepare your proposal in the same format as the solicitation is.
Be creative
After the intelligence assessment and the strategic winning plan is developed, comes the long and complex process of writing. Besides the technical approach, the writing team should be capable of being creative. Offer a compelling solution that attracts the attention of the decision makers. Develop a structured system to prepare a comprehensive proposal outline that contains all the details of the procedures and methodologies you’re going to integrate and follow throughout the development process.
Be coherent and concise
The proposal must be written in a concise and persuasive style. Organize your writing structure to increase the clarity and coherence of your proposal. Evaluators don’t like lengthy, complex volumes and have the tendency to lower your score. Try to be relevant to the requirements for every argument you present.
Only an intelligible business proposal will improve your chances to win a federal contract award.
