Bob Kucharuk, LTC-USA (ret)

Anyone reading this knows the importance of compliance to a winning proposal. Here are some advanced tactics to increase your company’s pWin when preparing compliance matrices:

1. Create a compliance matrix table that includes the RFP’s requirements. Beyond including the Instructions typically found in Section L, and Evaluation Criteria from Section M, include “will” or “shall” statements from other sections as well. While the Statement of Work (SOW)/Performance Work Statement (PWS) typically found in Section C almost always describes performance requirements, don’t stop there! Often you will find will or shall statements in other sections of the RFP or attachments that might cover key personnel requirements, labor category definitions, personnel security mandates, or other unique special requirements that may be easily overlooked if one is not careful to identify them.

When creating the compliance matrix, be sure to include a column for the proposal reference as an aid to color team reviewers — or to aid Government reviewers if a cross reference matrix must be submitted with the proposal.

2. Revise the compliance matrix based on amended RFPs. The Government almost always makes updates to RFP documents after questions or requests for clarification are received. Remember to update the compliance matrix accordingly. A good practice is to label the compliance matrix based on which version of amended RFP that it pertains to (i.e., through Amendment 0001, for example).

3. Process Questions and Answers (Q&A) Efficiently. Not all questions result in corrections and/or updated RFP files, and larger proposal efforts are typically supported by teams of professionals who care most about the impacts on their assigned volumes or sections (i.e., technical/management; past performance; pricing etc.). Some Q&A have the effect of providing additional information without needing to revise the RFP documents. To ensure that personnel have all pertinent Q&A for their assigned volume or section of the proposal, convert the Q&A file to an excel spreadsheet, and add a sortable column that categorizes the Q&A, if the file is not otherwise organized in such a way. For example, Q&A categories might include labels such as “Pricing”, “Technical Approach”, “Resumes”, etc. Some Q&A might best be labeled as “General Info”, for example, in a case where clarification is provided regarding the use of different font sizes applicable to all volumes. Including a sortable column to the Q&A excel file facilitates efforts of specialized proposal team members to find the exact information they need quickly.

Sorting Q&A by categories allows the pricing lead, for example, to quickly see all Q&A that have pricing impacts without having to sift through multiple pages of clarifications, which can potentially result in missing something that is important for preparing the final proposal.

4. Assign at Least One Color Team Reviewer to Focus on Compliance. In a perfect world, all color team reviewers would focus on whether the proposal section reviewed is compliant and compelling. More often than not, however, reviewers tend to focus on the quality of the proposal instead of compliance details. To ensure that compliance is checked, assign at least one person to check compliance. The ideal compliance reviewer is a professional with a knack for checking details. Allow as much time as needed for this special review since this effort requires a 100% check of content against requirements.