7 Proposal Tips for Subcontractors – What to Do When the Prime Doesn’t Tell You How They Want It

Remember that old rule of thumb, “Garbage in, garbage out”? In these “do more with less” times we’re seeing more and more garbage, aren’t we? It’s not an excuse, but the cubicle farms are being stretched to their limit and people have less time to get it right the first time.

And that definitely applies to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) where you’ve likely seen corners being cut.

Maybe you’ve responded to dozens of requests from this company and you have a good feel for what they expect and what they don’t. That’s the good side of this equation. But, what if you haven’t. And what if the buyer or subcontracts administrator has gone silent while the due date approaches?

Here are some tips to consider when there are limited instructions. They’re based on past observation and some best practices for not the best situation.

1. Follow whatever instructions they gave you to the letter. Almost any request for proposal will have an almost universal statement that gives them the right to disqualify or exclude any proposal that doesn’t follow the instructions, regardless of how vague or incomplete they may be. Take that to heart.
2. If you’re given a template, use it! Never, ever modify it unless they tell you it’s allowed. That means don’t add to it either. Templates aren’t provided for your convenience, even though having one may help you significantly. The primary reason is to make the evaluation of competitive proposals much easier. It’s for them first, then for you.
3. When you’re the only bidder and you know you’re the only bidder, you can assume more flexibility. But, when you’re in a competitive situation, you don’t want to get thrown out over a poorly written RFP.
4. Format your proposal to mirror the RFP as much as possible. Respond to the various parts and topics in the order they were addressed in the RFP. Don’t mix things up either. Any time you have to deviate, tell them why. If you think about it, the level of detail included in the RFP is one of the best clues on the level of detail they’re expecting.
5. Also keep in mind it’s not uncommon for an “evaluator” not to completely understand what she’s evaluating. Or he may be evaluating his tiny little subpart from his perspective as a member of a team of evaluators. Ask yourself, “If I were evaluating this thing, what would I want to see?”
6. How long should your response be? Under any page or wordcount limitations, but no longer than necessary. There is no correlation between wordcount and probability of winning. Making their eyes glaze over from reading more and more words is not an effective strategy. Nobody ever won because their proposal weighed more. (Okay, I could be wrong about that).
7. Resist assuming anything. You’ve got to ask when you don’t know what’s expected. At the very least go on record by asking your questions in writing. That will give you something to go back to when you make it to the next round (if there is one).

Remember, it’s your time, money and resources going into submitting a proposal. You’ve got to make it count. Make your bet a good one.

Oh, and nobody likes this option… but, don’t be afraid to walk away either.

What other practices do you make sure you follow?

What do you do when the only option is to guess?

What ‘secrets’ for winning proposals are you willing to share?