There are many factors that contribute to a winning government contract proposal. And even though the following elements are really critical (and should be non-negotiable), it is amazing how many companies fail to understand their importance.
Proposals should be:
- Compliant with and traceable to every RFP requirement
- Responsive to the customer’s needs and concerns
- Understandable by the average reader (not just agency subject matter experts)
- Credible— based on substantiated claims
- Tell a story (as opposed to a disjointed treatise written by several people)
- Supported by professional graphics (minimize too many text-only pages)
- Consistent among management, technical and pricing volumes
- Carefully edited (in the client’s mind, this often reflects the quality of future deliverables)
- Michael Lisagor is a co-founder of GovFlex and contributor to the GovFlex Academy