The Intricacies of Government Contracts
Government contracts are agreements between the federal government and private businesses to deliver a product or service. They can involve anything from information technology services, to construction work, to office supplies.
There are three major types of contracts:
Each of these contracts offer varying levels of risk for the contractor. In a fixed-price contract, the price you pay is for the entire project, which requires tight cost controls on the contractor’s end. On the other hand, the cost-reimbursable contract provides more risk for the government because the contractor may go over budget . The cost-plus contract shares the risk by providing a maximum fee that the contractor can earn, meaning that their profit stays the same as the project size increases mid-execution.
Government contracts can be beneficial for the contractor as they often set minimum performance standards to which federal agencies must adhere. Government contracts help build experience for contractors, develop their reputation, and provide the contractor with access to new and larger business opportunities. The federal government also enjoys going through the contracting process as it is seen as a simplified procurement process.
How To Research and Find Government Contracts
Once you master the process of writing proposals, so long as there is a sufficient supply of contracts available, you can spend your time and talent writing proposal after proposal for contract opportunity after contract opportunity. If you are not already familiar with government contracting, the initial challenge you will face is simply locating the appropriate contracts for which to write proposals. In today’s world, it is more important than ever to "go digital" in locating contracts. Many of the traditional, and even some of the not-so-traditional resources are still widely available but the sheer volume of available contracts has been overwhelming. While some GSA contracts are available directly through the GSA eOffer website, many of the Federal Contracts available to your company require that you look elsewhere to find them. For starters, we recommend that you first register with SAM.gov. Nearly every recognized Federal Opportunity will be posted there.
There are also a number of other databases you will want to familiarize yourself with as well. One of the most popular is FedBizOpps.gov, also known as FBO. As the name suggests, it also contains government opportunities; however, it is the point of entry for bidders and offerors looking to submit a bid/proposal. In our office, proposal writers are typically assigned opportunities from FBO. Since some of my most profitable contracts have come from "stepping outside the box" I also recommend that potential contractors search sites such as ProPublica.net which offers information, insight, and analysis of federal contracts. Normally if it is not listed via SAM.gov or FBO, it may appear on ProPublica. That is not to say that any of these websites are "non-public" sites. In my experience, the vast majority of contracts come from FBO and SAM.gov. We typically review all the above-mentioned sites for tenders.
Proposal Writing Essential Elements
The key components of a winning government contract proposal are fine-tuned by experience, yet, certain essential elements heartbeat throughout successful proposals.
In government contracts proposals, the details are frequently what decides the winner. As my client said in a recent proposal debrief, the decision already had been made. The details in our proposal only determined whether we won or not by how much. The details my client knew the procurement officer was talking about were in no particular order: technical approach, staffing plan, and pricing strategy. My client had identified these as winning proposal components at the debriefing as demanded by the solicitation.
The three requirements listed above are just some examples of the level of minutia at play. The amount of detail required in a proposal submission depends on the complexity of the proposed contract and the procurement officer’s expectation. Detailed proposal scoring sheets are available to government contracting proposal evaluators to help ensure a more objective review of proposals. In the past, I have written and been asked to score such detailed compilation of requirements.
The key components of your proposal consist of your articulation to the government of how you proposed to meet its requirements. My client described the process of developing her articulation as being like an exercise in writing a PhD dissertation. She contained a litany of requirements. I have listed the types of requirements consistently included in government contracts proposals.
The government sometimes issues proposal evaluation scoring sheets that contain a "highlight reel" of requirements. The scoring sheets are sometimes organized by section, but high level. Your competitors’ responses sometimes will be organized in that fashion so your proposal team should be able to speak to a proposal scoring sheet titled: Technical Approach; Staffing Plan; Past Performance; Quality Control Plan; Architecture; Security; Pricing Strategy; Oral Presentation, etc.
Technical Approach: A major component of government contracts proposals that are routinely required. The body of your technical approach proposal should include information relating to your ability to meet requirements (or not); how you will manage your team; and how you will ensure deliverables.
Staffing Plan: A major component of government contracts proposals that are routinely required. The body of your staffing plan proposal should include information relating to labor categories; salary ranges; and skill set staffing levels.
Past Performance: A major component of government contracts proposals that are routinely required. The body of your past performance proposal should include information relating to a brief description of past performance; Contract Manager name and/or telephone number and/or e-mail address; customer and/or agency and/or branch name; COTR name and/or telephone number and/or e-mail address; and short description of how the contract relates to the subject RFP.
Pricing Strategy: A major component of government contracts proposals that are routinely required. The body of your pricing proposal should include information relating to a pricing schedule; labor rates; extensiveness of pricing terms; subcontractor sub-tiers; product references; prices; and payment terms.
Other Requirements: You may need to respond to any of these requirements in a government contracts proposal.
Tips On Writing Good Proposals for Government Contracts
Your written proposal must be easily understood to have any hope of being persuasive. This means no industry jargon or acronyms and a writing style that is always clear and concise. Punctuation, sentence structure, paragraph organization, etc., must be flawless. Every page must appear completely organized, with neither superfluous information nor sections that are devoid of content, and it should be clear how each section relates to the others.
A government proposal-writer must be able to write a report as easily as a newsletter. He or she must also know how to incorporate compliance with guidelines into the text. Compliance with formatting and content guidelines is essential. The use of bullets, headings, titles, and numbering gives order and organization to your proposal, making the review process significantly easier and helping to ensure that the reviewers will spend time seeing how your proposal best addresses the government’s needs. Your proposal should always directly address the proposal evaluation criteria and describe what and why you are offering in response to these criteria. Revising and proofreading your proposal will then become simple, and quality control will follow organizational considerations naturally.
Proposal Writing Mistakes to Avoid
Some of the first things that will be eliminated in the initial evaluation are non-compliance factors. It is imperative that you read the solicitation thoroughly prior to writing to see if there are any formatting requirements, page limits, font size, margin size, etc. One obvious example is being late. If your response is not in the hand or on the screen of the government official by the specified time, then you’re out. Even if the submission requirement is to send your proposal by U.S. mail, it’s not unheard of for a procurement officer to go back and check the time when it actually got to their office.
Another common mistake that a lot of companies make is that they don’t limit their response to the specifications. It’s often assumed that the more you say, the stronger the application. Sometimes, that’s true, but often, that’s not the case. If you can afford to cut out some of the proposal and make a cleaner document , then do it. You want to make it easy for the reviewer to award the contract.
Then, there’s the whole question of punctuation. Some people really overdo the exclamation point (or as I call it, the annoying point). Use it sparingly. The same goes for all caps. Equally annoying. Of course with all of this, there is a degree of subjectivity – who knows what each reviewer may think? Again, just to keep in mind, read the whole solicitation, including the page limit requirements and formatting requirements.
Finally, don’t do an end run around some of the systems that you’re expected to use. Federal agencies, in particular, have developed a number of automated systems to make the procurement process more accountable to both sides. Some of those systems that are in place include FedBizOps (FBO) and the Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code, which is now being used for multiple purposes.
The Use of Government Contract Proposal Templates and Tools
Effective proposal writing for government contracts requires the use of industry tools and resources. Having a proposal template is one such tool that can significantly simplify and streamline the proposal process. Proposal templates are sets of samples and best practices from which a proposal writer can borrow.
Proposal templates can save proposal writers and proposal management professionals time and money. Whether you have a team of writers or you are a one-person show, nothing instills panic in writers and managers like passing around a new requirement. Having a template allows you to reuse the same component and go to work on modifying the sample to reflect the new requirements. Proposal templates are extremely helpful when the requirement involves a familiar subject matter.
A proposal template will typically contain the following components of your government proposal:
Not all proposal templates will contain all of these sections, but the universal components are those references which are inescapably reusable across most government proposals. Proposal professionals should begin by developing at least a couple of standard templates – the cover letter template and the technical proposal template.
Proposal templates are the foundation of a proposal development library. Proposal professionals and managers should begin earmarking good proposal samples for their proposal library. All proposal samples should be saved and filed according to the components of the Notice and the source of the proposal. Even when a proposal has been rejected, the components are still valuable for re-use in other proposals. Consonantly, whether the proposal won or lost, it is important to include it in your library so you can learn from it.
Many government contractors use industry software tools for developing proposals. Just as having a proposal template is good practice, using proposal automation tools is also recommended. Proposal automation tools help proposal managers and proposal writers save time and improve the quality of proposals. Not all proposal automation tools are appropriate for every proposal, but these types of tools are typically must-haves on RFPs that are anticipated to be large in size, complex in subject-matter, and that have multiple authors.
Proposal automation tools allow proposal writers to manage the proposal by assigning responsibilities and deadlines. Proposal automation tools also allow proposal managers to search the work of all proposal writers to find information and content needed to develop other components of the proposal. For this reason, some contractors prefer to grant all proposal writers access to the proposal automation tool from the onset of the proposal, while they may give others access only after the writer submits their first draft.
Proposal automation tools are typically easy to access and collaborate from and they also offer some significant cost-savings. With a proposal automation tool, you do not have to worry about tracking down documents in email or managing a version control nightmare. Another feature that government contracting proposal automation tools often have is the ability to generate a compliance matrix to keep track of what the proposal must include.
Using templates and automation tools are good ways for government contractors to streamline their proposal efforts and focus more of their time on developing comprehensive responses. Proposal writers who leverage templates and proposal automation tools will be able to use less time on administrative tasks and focus more on the proposal content.
Where and How to Submit (Submit & Follow-Up) a Proposal
When your proposal is ready (whether it’s a one-off RFP, or your government contractor "marketing proposal"), submit it immediately. Contracting agencies often pull proposals to review them far before the stated deadline. They don’t want to be stuck in a last minute review situation when they are perhaps not getting the offers they anticipated. Don’t lose your opportunity by waiting too long to submit.
If you have submitted your proposal at least several days prior to a proposal deadline it is perfectly acceptable to follow up with the contracting officer. You do not stop working just because a proposal is submitted.
First, confirm that your proposal has been received and is in process. Talk with the contracting officer to see if there are any questions. Ask for clarification and feedback about your proposal. If you don’t get satisfactory answers consider telling them you’ll be following up with written questions if necessary.
And always – always – follow up on the phone. Proposals submitted through an e-procurement portal are notorious for being lost. In the old days we used FedEx overnight and fax confirmations. Today, use the systems that are in place but then follow up with a voice call to confirm the receipt of your proposal .
If you are submitting a proposal for a no-bid contract in response to a sources sought notice or a reverse auction site. Often, the contracting officer is just getting names to put on a bidders list. Even so, your need to follow up the same way – with a phone call or email to the contracting officer. You will want to discuss how you can help.
When you submit proposals to a contracting agency (for either a bid or a no bid) you are offering your services. Many government contractors assume the contracting officer knows all there is to know about their company and their capabilities. That assumption is false and usually leads to missed opportunities. If you really want the government procurement agent as a client, you need to train them.
The contracting office doesn’t know everything; they especially don’t know everything about your company. Follow up with phone calls and emails. If there isn’t a bid opportunity for you, ask what would it take to get into the running.
The more the agency knows about your company and your experience, the more likely you are to be selected as a contractor. Sometimes it’s just a lack of knowledge about your company that keeps you from being selected. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there to get the work.