Stress Less: Take These First Steps to Organize Your Proposal Process
Rather watch the video? Here it is.
So you’ve found an RFP that you want to bid on and its finally been released by the government. But, you’re not sure where to start and feel overwhelmed thinking of all the things to do? I’m sharing my go to strategy for getting organized before you start writing. These tips will ensure an efficient proposal process so you and your team can focus on writing.
1. Review the RFP
First, review the RFP to make sure you can meet all the requirements for the instructions and evaluation criteria (this one is the most important), Statement of Work (SOW), terms and conditions, set-asides (like women-owned or 8a), and the pricing structure. Doing this will help you make a go/no go decision which means if you can meet all the requirements and have the resources and times to put in a quality proposal then you should move forward with bidding. However, if there are requirements you absolutely can’t meet and don’t have a partner to fill in the gaps, then you should not bid. Another reason you may not want to bid on an RFP is if you know there is an incumbent that the government agency is happy with and likely to award the contract to again. In addition to doing research, another sign that there is an incumbent is if the response time for the proposal is very short. This means that likey the RFP is just being put out, because, well it has to be to maintain fair competition.
2. Create Compliance Matrix
Once you’ve done the initial RFP review and have decided to bid, it’s time to create a compliance matrix that pulls out all the RFP requirements into separate line items. This will help you develop your writer’s outline and ultimately your response. The compliance matrix should also be used as a checklist throughout the writing process and prior to submission to ensure you haven’t missed anything. I personally like to create my matrices in Word since the columns are easier to manipulate, but you can also create them in Excel.
3. Create Proposal Calendar
The proposal calendar should include all major deadlines like when questions are due to the government; writing deadlines; formatting/editing days; and of course when the proposal is due. The best way to create a schedule is to start with the proposal due date and work backwards to the current day.
4. Develop a Writing Template & Outline
This one will take some time and is based on the RFP requirements. The writing template should have a cover page,table of contents, and the font/margin requirements from the RFP. If this is not something you already have created, its good practice to develop a general template then just update it for each proposal you bid on. Once the basic font and margin requirements are updated in the template, then it’s time to add the outline based on the order of the RFP instructions and evaluation criteria.
5. Have a Kickoff Meeting
This one is for businesses that have a team of people that will help with a response, even if its just one other person. Having a kickoff meeting will get everyone on the same page in terms of the requirements, timeline, and what needs to be submitted. During the meeting you should go through the high level items of the RFP like the SOW, instructions, and evaluation criteria; and have writing assignments ready along with the calendar, compliance matrix, writing template, and links to find the RFP documents. Even if you are bidding a contract as a solopreneur, you should still take some time to get organized with all this info and see if you’ll need to bring on any contractors.