Government Bid Proposal Writer: A Tool for Success in Business

Securing a qualified bid proposal writer when responding to Federal Government RFPs can be a great investment if they understand the procurement process and what it takes to actually win. 

As many small to medium-sized companies look into securing government contracts, they do so without the benefit of a capture management or bid proposal division.  So company owners research opportunities on their own and when they find potential opportunities they have to find external talent resources to help them manage, develop and write the bid proposals.

Qualify Your Bid Proposal Writer

 Government contract proposal writers  can benefit companies by writing competitive bid proposals that make it past the initial agency review.  A strong bid puts offerors in a good position for Agency consideration.  A qualified proposal writer must understand the mandatory essentials of how the government conducts its evaluation. In other words, writers must know their audience and the rules for the audience to follow.

• A proposal writer must know the do’s and don’ts of the submission and evaluation phases.
• Substantive knowledge about the evaluation process is essential.

A professional bid proposal writer must not only tell a good story. It must also pass the tough initial compliance test.  

• Non-compliant proposals will be thrown out.
•   Each RFP (Request for Proposal)  has very unique requirements for formatting and complex technical evaluation criteria.

Your Bid Proposal is a Marketing Tool

In a very meaningful way the bid proposal is a marketing tool.  Professional bid proposal authors will also have an understanding of how to persuasively communicate the company’s strengths and abilities.  Your bid proposal writer has to balance the requirements of the RFP with helping you to effectively describe how you are the best choice, with the least risk, for the government to fulfill its goals.

Understand Proposal Development Stages 

In general, a government contract bid will go through several different stages during proposal development. Depending on the size and complexity of a bid proposal, the tasks involved will become increasingly complicated.  A general approach to writing a bid proposal includes these stages:

• The project must be identified and defined
• The government agency will be identified, along with their guidelines and deadlines
• The preliminary material for all sections must be gathered
• The first draft of the complete proposal will be written that includes all the sections required
• Any graphics will be developed and formatted within the report
• More details are added to the proposal
• Review teams ensure the accuracy of the Technical Volume and the Price Volume (and any others), as well the required certifications, etc, are added to complete the proposal

Don’t Just Write, Persuade!

A professional government bid proposal writer understands that in addition to the basic rules and format requirements, know how to write a proposal means making your company’s proposal stand out.  Your response needs to be written such that it defines the criteria by which the source selection team needs to make its decision for award.  To do this the bid proposal needs to be written in such a manner that it:

• Captures the attention of the reviewers and decision makers on the source selection board,
• Holds that attention and
• Leads the reviewers to important points in the proposal.

Some of the basic tips for accomplishing this include:

• Structure your content appropriately,
• Use direct and accurate language,
• Don’t go on and on, be concise in your language,
• Don’t be too brief, never assume that they will know what you are talking about,
• Make sure your spelling and grammar usage is correct,
• Use visual aids such as graphs, pie charts, and photos as appropriate, and
• Make sure that your revisions and reviews are thorough and completed.

Even the development of titles and subtitles are an important detail that a bid proposal writer must attend to professionally.  For example,

• The name of a title,
• The format of a title,
• When to use a subtitle and how it is formatted.

If you would like to know more about our government proposal writing consulting services, Call a bid proposal writer Watson & Associates, LLC, toll-free at 1-866-601-5518.