Most responses to Government solicitations have three components; Technical, Past Performance and Price.  “Best-value” selections frequently devolve to price as the critical factor among proposals deemed “technically acceptable”.  So how do you differentiate your technical response and stand out?

Government statement(s) of requirements are sometimes poorly written, evaluation criteria can be vague and, in spite of earnest efforts by procurement personnel to ensure objectivity, Source Selection evaluations can be very subjective.   Always assume that your competition is every bit as smart as you, and will submit a compliant technical response.  A “winning” technical response is ultimately more than what you say; it’s how you say it -- proposal composition.  Certainly you have to be compliant and provide a viable solution -- but “packaging” is important.  Your proposal should be:

1)     Well written – accurate; easy to read and understand

2)     Logically organized and easy to navigate – catch and hold the reader’s attention; easy to evaluate; quickly and accurately conveys your key solution elements

3)     Focused on your discriminators – solution elements that provide specific value to the customer (addresses customer hot buttons) and (potentially) sets your proposal apart from others.

Final Comment – read/review your own proposal from the customer’s perspective.  Forget for a minute who you are – Would you would award a contract (and pay with your money) to the organization who submitted this proposal?  If the honest, unbiased answer is yes, you likely have a proposal that will stand out in a group of those deemed “technically acceptable”.

Comments

Write a comment

Name:
Email:
Website:
Comment: *

Help prevent spam - enter security code above: