Find the Wining 03 Tips to Federal Proposal Writing

Just like any company, government organizations have needs that they find hard to fulfill on their own.
Hence, they send out RFPs in the open market and make public announcements seeking any prospective
bidders. Usually, government RFPs have fixed budgets, and hence, projects awarded are fixed-price
contracts. Unlike commercial RFPs, government RFPs are usually hard to read and have complex jargon and
legal terminology layered in nearly every single section.
In this article, we give you three tips (and a bonus tip) to help you respond well to a federal RFP and be
compliant.
Tip 1: Know what is in each section
 Section A contains the most basic information such as contact information, important addresses,
solicitation number, guidelines and deadlines for submission, specific submission instructions, and even
information on current incumbents.
 Section B requires you to enter information on billing. You will need to enter in detail line by line on
various billable expenses such as travel, labor, supplies, etc
 Section C gives you the Statement of Work (SOW). The SOW forms the essence of what services are
required and how they are expected to be delivered. It is crucial that this chapter must be thoroughly
studied and analyzed by the delivery teams.
 Section L gives you details on formatting, organizing and laying out of content. It may also contain
additional submission requirements- such as a maximum page count, margin, spacing, font, etc.
 Section M gives you details on how you will be scored and what are the scoring criteria. Focusing on
this will help you evolve a strategy that will enable you to have a high likelihood of winning the deal.
Reading section M and C together will enhance your ability to create a sound winning strategy and value
proposition.
 Section K has information on representations or certifications that you need to provide. This is
especially important if the RFP requires only a specific type of a bidder, such as a US Firm, a minority
bidder, a woman-led enterprise, etc.
Step 2: Ensure 100% compliance with a compliance matrix
Often, proposal writers and managers avoid creating compliance matrices because they may take much time
to prepare. They feel that they would be more productive if they directly spend their time in responding to
the RFP. However, industry studies have shown that creating a compliance matrix before writing an RFP
response actually saves more time than they take to prepare.
Even if your font size does not match the compliance criteria mentioned in section L, your proposal will be
instantly dismissed. It is crucial therefore that each compliance factor is captured well and adhered to by the
proposal writers and contributors. We strongly recommend using a good capture management tool to auto-
fetch the compliance factors, or to note down the compliance factors in a spreadsheet
manually. Zbizlink provides a capture management tool that will fetch all relevant compliance factors for you
so that you can focus on what is more important: strategy.
Tip 3: Read and Ask, Don’t Assume
Proposal writers who work on federal RFPs end up being either too complacent or too worked up while
responding to a federal RFP. They either overthink of the RFP or too little. While you can use the above
guidelines to find the information you need, depending only on the above guidelines may cause you to miss
out on some important guidelines that may be hidden in other sections of the RFP. Hence, it is a good
practice to glance through the entire RFP once to ensure that you have not missed anything before the kick-
off call. During the kickoff call, allocate specific chapters to be re-read by a specific date by specific
accountable proposal contributors. Since federal RFPs have long response times, ensure that the entire RFP is
read thoroughly before responding.
Just like how proposals contain much boilerplate content, RFPs also contain much boilerplate content.
Contradictions and confusions are commonplace. If you are not sure what the RFP’s intention is in-regard-to
a specific matter, ensure that you ask about it. You can usually find guidelines for queries on the RFP and how
they can be addressed in section L of the federal RFP. Ensure that the RFP is thoroughly read, and all queries
are noted and sent to the customer by the date mentioned in section L.
Bonus Tip: Use a proposal management software.
Good proposal management software will help you organize and prepare the proposal better. Instead of
wasting time on mundane tasks such as finding compliance factors, getting approvals and developing and
maintaining proposal schedules, a good proposal management software will help you do the same, with a lot
less effort. Consider using Zbizlink, a proposal management software built by proposal managers for proposal
managers.
Zbizlink is entirely online, ensuring that all communication regarding a proposal is available in one place. It
also helps you with scheduling, getting approvals, ensuring compliance, finding resumes and teaming with
partners who have relevant resources, among other things. Save time. Don’t bid to respond. Bid to win,
with Zbizlink.