Government Contracting: The Necessities of Proposal Writing
When it comes to government contracting, there are an endless number of variables to be considered. There is a limited amount of contracting available to small businesses, making it an extremely competitive and precarious market to navigate. Crest Security Assurance has worked in the government sector for decades now, and has learned a thing or two about how to narrow down the best opportunities for your business, while perfecting the proposal writing process to cater to the niche needs of each agency. In this article you will learn Crest’s necessary steps every small business should take to maximize their potential of success through delegation of preparation, time, and energy.
Step 1: Allocate the right proposals for your company.
Finding the right proposals that fit the expertise of your company is crucial in raising your odds of winning that contract. Knowing the timeline of release can be helpful in this area. Requests for Information (RFI), are usually released in Q1 (1 Jan. - 31 Mar.) and Q2 (1 Apr. - 30 Jun.) of the fiscal year. This is the best time to look into what will be available to your company for the coming year, and understand the requirements and regulations the agency will be looking for. When it comes to choosing a RFI to respond to, finding an offer that fits exactly into your company’s services is your best shot at being moved forward to the actual proposal process. If your company is smaller and may not be able to meet every requirement for the desired agency, partnering with another business that can enhance your range of services may be the best option for gaining government interest. If you don’t have experience with other businesses or contacts that you can partner with, government contracting network events are a very helpful tool in meeting peers in your field (despite them being advertised as government events, they tend to not offer much networking success with government officials themselves). SAM.gov; SBA.gov; and GSA.gov are perfect websites to find contracts and subcontracts that your business is well suited for. Their information comes straight from the government and offers endless options for your choosing.
Step 2: Writing that RFI
Alright so you've found the right proposal for you, now what?
It's time to start writing that Request for Information, essentially marketing your business to the government and raising interest and awareness of what your business does. This step is a preliminary in the proposal process and the goal is to stand out from your many competitors filling out that very same RFI.
What is going to get you that interest though?
Since RFIs have a small response limit, it's crucial to only include 1. Detailed answers to the offer’s questions and 2. Showcase the expertise your business has in your field. This is the moment to give them nuggets of uniqueness, show the agency you are the best person to fill that position: including past performance reviews, alluding to unique solutions to specific problems that agency may encounter consistently, showing them you’ve done your homework and are fit for the task THEY SPECIFICALLY are asking of you.
At the end of the day there are people behind the scenes reading these RFI’s, if your company makes an impression on them, shows them you have their agency’s best interest at heart, a Request for Proposal is in your future.
Step 3: All Hands on Deck- Making a Plan
A Request for Proposal has been made, it's time to assemble your proposal writing team.
You're going to want to delegate what questions are addressed and by who by dividing them out into three groups: Technical, Management, and Administrative.
Technical: Technical questions are the area of the proposal that answer the services you will provide to the agency, this includes: going into detail about how you will solve potential problems for the agency, the day to day processes, resources required, and the products you will bring to the table in order to address every requirement asked of you. This part of the proposal will be written mainly by the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). These are the people that know all of the technical information and service aspects that make your company what it is. For Crest this would be someone who knows the ins-and outs of cybersecurity and the services required to maintain the cyber health of an agency’s critical technologies.
Management: Management questions are the area of the proposal that discusses how and by whom the potential project will be managed. This will include answering the questions of how many employees must be staffed upon award, how often check-ins and reports are made to the agency, the main decision makers that will be responsible for the success of the project on your end, it is essentially telling the agency, “we have qualified leaders that will make awarding us a contract beneficial.” This portion of the proposal is written by the Program or Project Manager (PM). These are the people assigned by the awarded business to represent the company and serve as a bridge between the business and the agency, ensuring tasks are being run smoothly and requirements are being met.
Administrative: The administrative questions are elementally the questions of how the entry and exit of the awarded business will run. How many people will be transitioning into these positions for the agency? How long will it take to staff these positions? How long will it take for everyone required to be in place and be completing the tasks asked of them? Things of this nature. Conversely, what is the timeframe that your business will take to complete said job? When will the exiting procedures begin? How will those exiting procedures be carried out and who will be the lead person tasked with making sure transition is done with fluency. This portion of the proposal is also charged to the PM, as stated before in the management section, they are the connection between business and agency, making this administrative function a part of their repertoire of expertise.
Everyone is assigned their tasks, and the proposal is written!
Step 4: Review and Submittal
This, in Crest’s eyes, is the most important stage of the proposal process, making sure every question is answered, the proposal reads intelligently and grammatically, and overall the proposal is a perfect reflection of what your business has to offer. Here is where the review teams step in, color coded for simplicity; the three most important ones you're going to want to set in place are Pink, Red, and Gold.
Pink Team- those that check the content’s relevance and accuracy, they make sure every question is answered wholly and to the best of the team's ability. They fill any gaps in the content that were missed beforehand, add graphics, charts and graphs pertaining to any important data or complicated processes that are easier simplified through visuals. The Pink Team is a key player, making sure the proposal is going out to do what the business intends: inform, engage, and win the contract.
Red Team- The Red Team's job is to think like the decision makers, asking “are our answers, graphics, and charts clear and concise?” “Does the flow of the document make sense?” “Does the proposal declare the benefits our business will provide?” “Is the price asking up to general market standards?” They are there to make sure the ones reading the document are aware the professionalism and expertise the business has to offer is conveyed through the proposal. This is also where grammatical accuracy, misspellings, and sentence structure are evaluated. Yes the proposal answers the necessary questions, but does it read sensibly?
Gold Team- They are the nay or yay sayers of the proposal, usually composed of high level decision makers in the business that decide whether this proposal is ready for submission and likely to win. They focus on the broader question of “is this proposal an accurate reflection of the business, the services we provide, and the expertise we contribute to this agency.” Once they give the go ahead the proposal is off to your chosen agency.
I just spent months working on this proposal, what should I do?
Sit back, congratulate yourself on the tireless work and many hours you’ve put into perfecting your proposal, and wait for the response. This could take weeks, even months, but trust in your gut and follow the steps laid out in this article and you're on your way to winning a contract with the federal government!
