Writing a compelling and persuasive proposal can significantly improve your chances of winning. In this series we will provide some tips professional proposal writers use to make sure their proposal has the best chance of winning the contract.
Will your proposal be given the highest possible score in each area? No matter how important you think something is, if it’s not addressed in the evaluation criteria established in the RFP, it won’t get you any points.
Think about how you might buy a car. You’ve already decided that you want a brand new car. So, what’s important to you? Sleek lines and a powerful engine? Capacity to carry people or things? Economical operation and maintenance? Is it vehicle price? Did you make a list (at least mentally) of the things you absolutely had to have, and some things you wanted, but were willing to trade off if necessary? Did you establish what your budget was for buying your new car?
Well, that’s how most organizations (including the government) begin their search for the product or service that will best meet their needs. They make a list of attributes that they require and some things that they’d like to have, but would be willing to trade them off. The “list” is called a “Source Selection Plan.”
They tell all of the potential offerors what is important to them by making each required or desired attribute an “evaluation criteria” in the solicitation. They even tell you how important that particular criteria is to them in comparison to the other evaluation criteria. In some cases, price is the most important thing. In another, maybe the proposed approach, or maybe the experience of the provider, might be more important than the price (within reason) to that agency.
So, what would you think of a car dealership that tried to sell you an economical family vehicle when you told them you are interested in sports cars? You’d think the car dealership didn’t get it, right? That’s what the government thinks when they receive a proposal that doesn’t try its best to provide the product or service that the government has already told them that they want.
Before you submit your proposal, study the evaluation criteria then read your proposal to make sure what you have written will get the highest score. Use the terminology that the government has used in its evaluation criteria as closely as possible. Finally, make it as easy as possible for the government evaluators to see that your proposed price is the best, or that your product or service offers them the best value.
Coming next in Part 2 of the series: Use the Key Words and Terminology in the RFP.