Technical Bid Proposal Writing
Avoid Costly Mistakes With the Technical Proposal Writing Nuances in Government Contracts
When you engage in technical proposal writing for federal bids, one of the first things to consider is that federal procurement law requires that an agency’s evaluation of proposals must show a reasonable
assessment of contractors’ ability to successfully perform the contract requirements.
Also, the source selection decision must be adequately documented in the file. As compared to commercial bidding, technical writing nuances in federal bids carry so many risks that companies should take the time to thoroughly understand them.
To increase the likelihood of success, companies should, at least, know the basics of writing technical proposals. They include:
- Knowing how the government evaluates your specialized writing and developing a process that works;
- Knowing the issues that can arise with past performance and how to overcome them;
- Knowing how to propose key personnel and staffing approaches; and
- Understanding how to align stronger technical procedures with your pricing bids.
Hurdles
Many technical proposal writing companies often prepare RFP responses without understanding the various legal issues that arise during a bid protest. Merely writing to the very basic solicitation requirements does not put your bid in the winning pile. Even if you are the successful offeror, you still have to worry about your competitor challenging the award. See our article on hiring incumbent employees and filing a bid protest when challenging technical evaluation scores as an incumbent contractor.
Technical proposals are often the most heavily weighted section in government bids: In negotiated procurements, agency source selection officials have great latitude when deciding how they evaluate bids. Therefore, you must not only meet the solicitation requirements. Your technical proposals should aim higher than what the proposals ask for. Your team wants to make sure that:
- Your technical bid proposals can withstand scrutiny if it follows the “HOW” details required in the solicitation. You want to avoid conclusive statements.
- Your key personnel or employees meet the required education and experience levels. This is critical for your technical proposal.
- Even if your price is lower, in a negotiated bid, weak technical content can cost you the award because your competition may challenge it by filing a bid protest.
- Your approach should focus on offering more than the basic solicitation requirements. This increases strengths and the possibility of a more superior package.
- Find out more about our technical proposal writing training services.
SIGN UP FOR OUR GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL WRITING TRAINING WORKSHOPS TODAY.
For help with overcoming the nuances involved with technical bid proposal writing and RFPs for federal government contracts, call our training consultants at 1-866-601-5518.

17 comments on “Technical Bid Proposal Writing”
[…] common practice in technical proposal writing for large contractors is to highlight their ability to “reach back” through other subsidiaries. […]
[…] writing your proposal, restrictive solicitation can impact your ability to submit a strong technical proposal. Therefore, decreasing your chances of high evaluation scores and […]
[…] issue that comes up in technical proposal writing for government contracts is your proposed staffing and potentially using incumbent personnel. […]
[…] stated criteria. A substantial amount of government contractors make this huge mistake in their technical proposal writing efforts. The agency looks at common issues to decide whether your technical evaluation presents […]
[…] proposal means understanding the evaluation criteria and how the process works, how to submit solid technical proposals and the nuances of developing competitive federal proposals. Most companies are busy with the […]
[…] example, if the Agency asks about a specific part of your technical proposal, it must show during a GAO protest that there was actually a point of discussing that portion of […]
[…] offerors’ proposed direct labor rates. To reach its conclusion on meaningful evaluation of the technical proposal, GAO looked the fact that the contract was largely a labor-intensive contract. Therefore, the […]
[…] if the Agency is discussing material flaws in your technical proposal and any other aspect, then you should be allowed to revise your […]
[…] mistake of looking at the agency’s technical evaluation as improper because the competition’s technical proposal was less superior. This will more than likely get your protest […]
[…] goes directly to the risk of successfully performing the upcoming project. See also, information on technical proposal writing and joint […]
[…] offerors in government bids, you want to make sure that your technical proposals cover at least the above […]
[…] between your proposal and that of the competition. For example, if your competitor has a superior technical proposal and a higher price, there is nothing stopping the source selection team from going to the […]
[…] have seen time and time again where bidders generalize their technical proposal approach to how they will perform the Statement of Work requirements. This is a fatal mistake when […]
[…] that your technical proposal is one of the highest evaluated sections of your […]
[…] Technical proposal writing for government contract is one of the most difficult tasks for government contractors to overcome when responding to an Agency’s Request for Proposal. Although you might meet the solicitation requirements, your bid often may not reach either the competitive range or final award stage. Since technical ratings carry the most weight, you should align your technical proposal writing efforts with the weighted non-price factors often seen in negotiated procurements. Technical proposal writers should consider the below points when bidding on government contracts. […]
[…] Technical Proposal Writing Nuances in Government Contracts […]
[…] weak proposals, there is usually no room to negotiate. Alternatively, if companies submit strong technical proposals, or proposals that provide better value to the government, the the impact of contracting by […]
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