Strategies for developing compliant and compelling responses to Government RFPs

1. How to Develop
Winning
Federal
PROPOSALS
by Regina Lapierre

2. FEDERAL PROPOSAL WRITING –
REMEMBER THE 12 Essential Cs
• Customer-focused
• Committed
• Customized
• Compelling
• Creative
• Candid
• Consistent
• Concise
• Correct
• Complete
• Compliant
• Clean

4. Customer-Focused
Put Customer’s needs first, then describe your
capabilities. Articulate:
• Customer’s objectives
• Customer’s perceptions
• Customer’s concerns and biases (research!)
Then…
• Your discriminators! RESULTS – capabilities
and accolades

5. The “Understanding” Section
• State the mission to be accomplished
• Explain your understanding of the Customer’s requirements and
viewpoint
• Describe what the Customer is trying to achieve
• Shorten the “sob story”
Finish with “that’s why you need us….!” Sell yourself throughout the
proposal, even in this section which is primarily about the customer.

6. Committed
• Link the Customer to
us in joint ownership
of the project –
“together we can…”
Infuse this into the
exec summary
(introducing your
company) and then
throughout.

7. Customized
• Beware best practices. Instead, blend outstanding
practices with innovative solutions that fit the client's
needs.
• Identify the Customer’s culture. Is this Customer
military, EPA, Commerce? Sing from their songbook
(e.g., patriotism, environmental stewardship, enabling
free commerce and trade).
• Read the RFP, read into the RFP and use their
language.
• Tease out major themes in the RFP (for example,
helping returning veterans and their families) and
repeat them throughout the proposal.
• Remember context. ATM has different meanings to
bankers, the general public, people in
telecommunications, and air traffic management
professionals.

8. Compelling
• Write for a busy reader (bullets,
graphics, flow, logical easy-to-follow
outline)
• Active voice, for the most part
• Action captions
• Eliminate statements that evoke a “So
what?” or an “I should hope so!”
response
• Emphasize “how we’ve done it before
with great results, and we can do it
again – for the you!”
Passive vs. Active
Eh: The benefits of these
systems will be recognized
by more government
agencies as the technology
matures.
Better: More government
agencies will recognize the
benefits of these systems as
the technology
matures.

9. • Substantiate with metrics results, number of
years of experience, award fees, CPAR ratings,
cost savings, accolades from customers.
• Promote value when introducing a process, tool
or best practice; emphasize TCO and ROI.
• State the solution by answering the “so what”
question – describe the tools we will use to
achieve the Customer’s goals.
• Describe deliverables and provide specific
relevant examples and how you have provided
them in the past.
• Substantiate your approach by referring to
experience.

10. Creative
• Personalize. Let your personality shine through - three guys
in a garage story – convey your company’s culture and its
style of working
• Pictures. People buy from people – group shot? Portraits of
key people? Or not… but illustrations just the same.
• Graphics. Use them to illustrate concepts throughout the
proposal; work with graphic artists to ensure figures are
readable and meet proposal font and size constraint.
• Action captions. These are more informative than labels for
figures and tables.
• Provide a good transition from text to figures.
• For oral presentations, use posters and visual props.

11. Candid
• Don’t say you can if you can’t
• No exaggerated claims – they nullify your
capabilities
• No meaningless self-aggrandizement – its
boring and cliché

12. Speaking of Clichés… avoid them
people are numb to them –
here are some examples
• Innovative (as opposed to outdated)
• At the end of the day (time for Taps?)
• Best-of-breed (arf?)
• Food for thought (exactly what foods are best for thinking?)
• Raising the bar (time for hurdles)
• Set the table/turn the table (china or everyday ware?)
• Get everyone on the same page (that‘s an odd picture)
• Pushing the envelope (another odd picture)
• Fertile ground (ew – don’t wear heels)
• Value-added (if you don’t see it as clearly as I do – then you’re not as smart as I am)
• Core competencies (as opposed to core incompetencies)
• Interface with (are you going to call then, write or kiss?)
• On a regular basis (How is this priced?)
• Thought leaders (kind of conceited)
• Leverage (way overused)
• Impactful (ouch)
• Thinking outside the box (vs. thinking while sitting inside a box)
• Under the bus (and over the fence, for that matter)

13. Consistent
Use a logical, consistent pattern
throughout the proposal:
• Resounding themes that
repeat throughout each
section.
• Consistent terms. Decide if it‘s
a bicycle, bike, cycle, two-
wheeler, velocipede, or an
MTB. If you use bicycle in one
sentence, and then bike in
another, some people think a
bike is a motorcycle
• Call the customer the same
name throughout.
• Refer to your company or your
team in the same way. Not the
Happyheart Team and then
Team Happyheart, for example
• Capitalize the same words –
don’t use “Government” then
“government” (with
exceptions).
• Check headings, lists, and
tables for style consistency and
parallel construction.

14. Concise
• Break up long sentences into smaller easier to digest
sentences.
• Use simple, short words, especially since English may not
be the reviewer’s first language (use vs. utilize).
• Use graphics throughout, to break up text and explain
things effectively.
• List bullet points (grouped according to similarities).
• Eliminate redundancies and unnecessary wording.

15. An example of
Gobbledygook
BEFORE
“Our wealth of data management experience gives us a unique vantage point in the market and
allows us to build an understanding of both the challenges and the opportunities you and your
various operating units face as you embark on reviewing data processing procedures and
capabilities. Our aim is to leverage our enterprise, experience and expertise to focus upon the key
operational requirements and to go far beyond them to deliver. We are confident that we will be
able to provide you with innovative services and solutions that will provide the opportunity to
reduce costs and enhance operational performance across all areas of your business.
AFTER
“By combining our insight into retail operations with our data processing expertise, we will
deliver a system that meets your technical requirements and delivers bottom-line performance.
You can expect reduced costs, improved operational performance, and a more integrated
business environment.”

16. ELIMINATE REDUNDANCY
• actual experience (experience)
• past experience (experience)
• close proximity (near)
• have the ability to (can)
• plan in advance (plan)
• qualified expert (expert)
• Separate out (separate)
SIMPLIFY SENTENCES
• at a later date in time (later)
• be cognizant of (know)
• by virtue of the fact that
(because)
• To keep it from sounding
choppy, vary sentence length
and mix in passive voice
where appropriate
• Passive voice - when the
actor isn’t important and for
a break

17. Correct - Politically
• Avoid “he” vs. “she” and gender
assignment to roles (“chairman”) unless
naming names.
• Avoid references that might be
culturally specific or offensive : sacred
cow, holy cow, sacrificial lamb, magic
carpet, magic genie, open the kimono,
losing face, Holy Grail, rule of thumb, off
the reservation, divide and conquer,
cannibalize, canonize, crucify, hang on a
cross, tar baby (and all Briar Patch
imagery), anything “Nazi” (e.g.,
“environazi”) gestapo, lock-step, storm
troopers, drink the Kool Aid, storm the
Bastille, heads will roll, and natural
disasters “tsunami,” – also sports
references “slam dunk” etc.
One of the Knights of Nii

18. Correct - Technically
“You'll risk turning a winning proposal into a loser if you present
inaccurate data to the client,” – a wise person.
• Only pursue work for which you have capabilities
and expertise unless you partner with another
vendor who can infill the gaps.
• If you use client data to support aspects of the
proposal, double-check and triple-check that
information. It's easy for facts to be
misunderstood and misused in a proposal.
• Get to know and build trust with partners.

19. Complete
Create Your Own Doc Checklist
• Cover Letter
• TOC
• All required
copy elements
(e.g., acronym
list)
• All volumes
• Binders – CDs
• Covers
• Extra forms,
certs and reps,
etc.

20. Compliant
“Complete compliance with every requirement of the RFP is critical - any
compliance flaw in your proposal or missed compliance requirement, however
small, can relegate you to the reject pile.” -- a wise person
• Create a compliance matrix; for major efforts,
designate a compliance manager
• Update matrix with each amendment
• Remember - font size and style - in text, tables,
and graphics
• Page limits
• Margins
• Acronym list if required

21. Clean
• Sweat every detail: Watch for typos, use
high-quality materials, and make sure that
the right people receive the proposal on
time.
• Conduct a white-glove review: Gather a
group to look through all copies and to
make sure all pages begin and end where
they should, no splotches.
• Double check contents: In addition to
reviewing for cleanliness and order, ensure
each binder has every required element;
ensure CDs are labeled and contain all the
requisite content.

22. The Boring Details Can Kick You Out
So Maintain a Style Guide
Set rules for such things as:
• Serial comma – I use it so that the last two objects do not seem to be a set
• Spaces after sentences – two or one? Proposals usually have a page count
• Courtesy title plus name because many names are gender ambiguous; “Mr.
Stacey Keach” later “Mr. Keach”
• Action captions, consistent format
• Initial caps for bullets (or not)
• Punctuation after bullets (or not – make a rule)
• Group like bullets (theme)
• Judicious use of passive voice
• Use of “you” – I like it – do YOU?