Gary Everett

Obviously, many proposals lose on price. Reasons, other than price, given below, are from a GSA study.  It lists, in the order of occurrence, the most prominent reasons why proposals lose.

  1. Noncompliance with Solicitation’s specifications and requirements
  2. Insufficient understanding of contract’s requirements
  3. Poor proposal organization
  4. Wordiness or unclear writing style or format
  5. Unsubstantiated rationale or claims for proposed approach or information
  6. Insufficient resources to accomplish contract requirements
  7. Cannot find, or is an incomplete, response to Solicitation requirements
  8. Resumes and Past Performance do not match work requirements
  9. Parroting back Solicitation requirements without answering how

Many errors can be eliminated by better performance of the proposal manager.  Other problems can be eliminated by using proven development processes including an effective set of in-progress reviews (color teams) of the written material.  Our OCI Proposal Management two-day workshop, with seven hands-on practical exercises, will cement learning and help your proposal management team deliver more winning proposals.