Government contracting provides numerous opportunities for small businesses to grow and succeed. In Fiscal Year 2022, the federal government committed about $694 billion to contracts, an increase of about $3.6 billion from FY 2021. The Federal government awarded $158.7 billion directly to small businesses in the government fiscal year 2022, an increase of 3% over 2021.
Securing a federal contract can bring substantial financial gains, valuable experience, and expanded capabilities to small businesses. However, winning in the realm of federal contracting requires more than mere writing skills in the proposal response. It demands a significant investment of effort before putting pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard. Understanding the essential elements of a winning proposal can simplify and streamline the process. In this blog, we explore some fundamental strategies involved in crafting a compelling and winning proposal.
Things to Consider Before Writing a Proposal
Before you start writing the response, spare some time to understand your audience; this will help you ensure that your proposal is as effective as possible and save you time during the later stages of proposal development. Before writing a proposal, it is essential to ask yourself a few questions, such as:
- Consider the official role or designation of the person or group that will be evaluating your proposal
- Determine who the decision-maker is
- Analyze your competition – who else is competing for this work?
- Find out who the incumbent is
- Understand the customer’s main concerns and what support or resources they already have
How to Write a Proposal That Will Win Over Your Customer
Once you’ve gathered all the information you need for a customer agency, you can start drafting your proposal. Here are some steps to drafting a proposal that wins over your customer. The following proven strategies will help you write an effective proposal:
1. Begin to Cultivate Responsiveness Long Before RFP Release:
- Start Early: If you’re considering responsiveness at the RFP release, you’re too late. The customer’s important concerns are often not explicitly mentioned in the solicitation. To be responsive, you need to deeply understand your customer beyond what is written in the requirements.
- Establish Trust: Starting early can influence the RFP to align with your specific response. It takes time to establish trust and understand the underlying concerns of your customer.
- Gather Intel: You should gather customer intelligence early in the business development process and continuously strengthen the relationship leading to the RFP release. Successful contractors develop their entire approach and winning strategies by effectively addressing these concerns.
2. Thoroughly Review and Understand the Customer’s Bid Request:
- Review Thoroughly: One of the most common and detrimental mistakes proposal teams make is not thoroughly reading and comprehending the entire RFP. Instead, many teams hastily create an outline based on the instructions and immediately start writing. How can you guarantee complete adherence to an RFP if you haven’t read it in its entirety? Prior to the kick-off meeting, find a quiet place, sit down, and carefully read the RFP.
- Seek Clarity: After reading the RFP, make sure you have a clear understanding of what is required. Identify any unclear aspects that could affect your response. It may be necessary to seek clarification from the customer/agency, but follow the instructions for submitting RFP questions.
3. Understand the Buyers’ Goals:
- Understand Agency Goals: The key is to prioritize understanding the objectives of the customer/agency. The objective is to determine what they aim to accomplish and how your solution can assist in achieving that.
- Address the Agency’s Desired Outcomes: Once you have identified their goals, modify the content of your proposal to address their desired outcome. The updated proposal should convey a more positive, optimistic, and hopeful tone. Ideally, you want readers to feel inspired to collaborate with you because you get what they want.
4. Compliance and Responsiveness:
- Stick to the Requirements: To maximize your chances of winning, it is crucial to ensure that your proposal aligns with all the requirements stated in the Request for Proposal (RFP) and provides comprehensive responses to each evaluation criterion. Neglecting any information or leaving it incomplete could potentially minimize your prospects for success.
- Pay Attention to Detail: Paying close attention to detail and meticulously addressing all aspects of the RFP can significantly enhance your chances of emerging victorious.
5. Perform Constructive Reviews:
- Build, Don’t Break: When conducting reviews, it is crucial to shift the focus towards strengthening the proposal rather than tearing it apart. A comprehensive review should not only critique but also provide valuable recommendations to enhance the winning strategy.
- Involve Multiple Reviewers: It is equally important to involve reviewers from different hierarchical levels within the organizations to consider and address all the critical elements of the proposal, ensuring a thorough and holistic evaluation process that promotes continual improvement.
6. Team Up if You Need To – Don’t Do It Alone:
- Collaborate Across Teams: Consider collaborating with other teams to increase your capacity and the range of opportunities available. Small or new contractors should seek partners who share their business values and culture. This approach helps mitigate risks, expand experience, and access a wider talent pool.
- Partner With Others for Added Strength: Forming teams can help mitigate any weaknesses in capabilities like technical expertise, past experience, etc.
7. Focus on Discriminators:
- Know Your Differentiators: It is essential to thoroughly research and identify these discriminators so that you can showcase them in your proposal.
- Highlight What Sets You Apart: Your proposal needs to highlight the qualities that set you apart and make you stand out in the eyes of the customer. These qualities, known as discriminators, are unique capabilities only you possess and the customer requires.
8. Leverage your Strengths and Mitigate Your Weaknesses:
- Demonstrate Where You Excel: Utilize your strengths in your proposal by incorporating theme statements, callout boxes, and relevant graphics. Even if you are highly skilled, there may still be areas for improvement in your solution or past performance.
- Mitigate Where You Lack: Show how you have improved your performance or capabilities, and do not overlook weaknesses in your proposal, as the customer will notice them.
9. Strong Technical Approach:
- Spell Out Your Solution Clearly: Clearly define your technical strategy and how it corresponds with the agency’s requirements.
- Underline Your Capacity To Deliver: Present a comprehensive plan to showcase your thorough comprehension of the intricacies of the project and your ability to complete it on schedule and within the allocated budget.
10. Quality Writing and Formatting:
- Minimize Jargon: Make sure your proposal is written effectively, is brief, and readable. Use simple language and avoid technical terms.
- Enhance Visual Appeal: Incorporate headings, bullet points, and visuals to enhance the visual appeal and ease of navigation of the proposal.
11. Strong Cost Proposal:
- Be Transparent: To achieve the goal of creating a cost proposal that is both competitive and well-organized, it is crucial to emphasize the importance of being honest and transparent about your pricing. By providing detailed information that aligns with the project’s scope and requirements, you can build trust and credibility with your potential clients.
- Be Detailed: it is beneficial to present a comprehensive breakdown of costs, outlining all the factors that contribute to the final pricing. This level of detail not only demonstrates professionalism but also helps clients understand the value they will receive from your services.
What to Avoid
Contractors must follow all the instructions of the RFP, or else it can lead to a negative evaluation of their proposal. Rather than simply reiterating or summarizing the Government’s requirements, provide a comprehensive explanation of how you intend to meet them. Please note that elaborate brochures, excessive documentation, binding, intricate artwork, or unnecessary embellishments are discouraged and not preferred.
Crafting a successful federal proposal requires meticulous preparation, investigation, and implementation. iQuasar excels in providing expert assistance in Proposal Development and Government Contracting Consulting to small businesses in the government contracting sector. Let us accelerate your journey to success in the highly competitive realm of Federal Government contracting!
