Evaluating an RFP

Evaluating a Government Request for Proposal (RFP)

RFPs issued by the government have a tendency to be very complicated, and highly regulated.  As such, they can be a daunting task for someone unfamiliar with proposal writing to tackle.  Although completing a solicitation for an RFP can be very tasking at times, they all mostly follow the same criteria, and understanding how to fill these criteria make proposal writing a much more manageable task. 

The first thing to examine in an RFP is the “statement of work” which is contained in the RFP.  The statement of work describes what needs to be included in the proposal, how to format and submit the proposal, and evaluation criteria which explains how it will be examined, and ultimately be decided upon.  Included also is a due date, which is absolute, and non-negotiable.  It is of the utmost importance that all of the criteria provided in the RFP are met, as this is usually what determines the difference between a winning proposal, and another loser. 

Preparing To Write Your Proposal

In order to win, you first must ensure that you meet the needs addressed in the RFP.  This means that you must first determine what those needs are.  You must identify not only what the customer wants, but why they want it.  This includes what is important to them, what they want to get done, and why they need this fulfilled.  In addition to addressing what you can do for them, you also need to explain why they want you to do it for them over the competition. 

Proposal Formula

• Who: Parties responsible for completing the work, who manages, who is the contact person, who is ultimately responsible for what?
• What: What needs to be completed, what is required, what is expected, what is the cost?
• Where: Where is the work to be completed, where is it sent to?
• How: How is everything managed, deployed, completed, how will satisfaction be delivered, how are risks managed, how long will it take, how are you the best choice?
• When: When will work begin, when are deliverables scheduled, when is everything to be finished, when is payment going to occur?
• Why: Why have you chosen this route, why are you the best option?

Having a thorough plan for your proposal allows for much easier completion.  Your proposal needs specific goals and should address client requirements brought in the RFP.  Documenting a proposal plan is of the utmost importance, so that it can be validated before production begins.  Once you have validated your plan, it can be used as a guiding blueprint for the completion of the document, or utilized as a checklist.  This can provide guidance to authors, and be used to future reviews.

Using Themes and Discriminators

In a proposal, you want to suggest why you are the best option for the job, and how you best benefit the customer.  A well-written proposal should be able to be digested by simply flipping through the pages, and examining the themes apparent throughout.  From this, the message you are trying to convey should be immediately apparent.  The best way to accomplish this is to minimize the amount that needs to be read.  There are numerous techniques that can be employed to do this:

•          Discriminators: Explain why your business is ideally-suited for the task, and how you are unique or special.
•          Summaries: Round-up statements that detail your proposal.
•          Conclusions: Message that tells reader what you want them to conclude about a particular section of a proposal.
•          Ghosts: Subtle messaging that illustrates why your company or organization is the best to fulfill this contract, and why the others are inferior.
•          Action captions: An illustration caption that states the conclusion you wish them to reach. 
•          Win themes: Drives home the point of why your company should be chosen above the others.

Reviewing your proposal

Reviewing your completed proposal ensures that your product is of the highest caliber.  Ideally, this is done by a party not involved in the writing of the proposal, as they have a clean-slate with the project, and are better equipped for giving criticism.  Having clear goals in place when you are conducting a review is very important: you may for example want to try and score it how the criteria of the RFP suggests, and fix areas that need improvement.  Utilizing “track changes” and leaving comments in word processing software allow for team-members working on the proposal to get in-depth information on how to improve the document. There are numerous things to examine when reviewing: 

• Proposed solution:  Will your proposal work?  Are risks mitigated well enough?  Is your price adequate?  Do you have a good value?  Have all features been sufficiently tied to the evaluation criteria?
• RFP compliance: Ensure all requirements are addressed, particularly those that might conflict with relevant requirements.  Call attention to anything that might contradict RFP criteria. 
• Score: Give your paper a score based on the evaluation criteria.  Act as though you are the client.
• Additions and deletions: Ensure that all the information you have presented is necessary, and fulfills requirements.  Take out fluff and potentially patronizing wording.  Ensure there are no redundancies.
• Changes/corrections: Grammatical, spelling, etc.
• Experience: Mention all relevant experience. 
• Themes: Make sure themes are well-highlighted, and they are easily distinguishable. 
• Graphics/illustrations: Are there sufficient pieces of graphical design?  Are there too many?