Proposal Development

Proposal Content

Proposal Volumes

The proposal volumes and the page allocations should be listed in the Request for Proposal (RFP).  An example is below:

  • Executive Summary: not to exceed 10 pages,
  • Technical Volumes not to exceed 200 pages each volume,
  • Management Volumes: not to exceed 200 pages each volume,
  • Cost Volume: not to exceed 50 pages.

Proposal content structure includes the following:

  • Cover Page
  • Table of Content
  • Volume Detailed Index
  • Volume Title Page
  • Volume Table of Contents
  • Volume Document
  • Volume Compliance Matrix
  • Abbreviations and Acronyms
  • Glossary of Terms
  • References
  • Volume Appendix Enclosure

Proprietary Information

The words “Proprietary Information” should appear in the footers of all proposal material — draft and final formats. All working papers should be shredded and properly disposed. Page Numbering All pages preceding the body of the text should be numbered with lower case roman numerals. The first page of the body of the proposal should be 1. New sections should start on the right-hand side of the page. The volume pages should be printed on both sides with odd-numbered pages on the right-hand side, and even-numbered pages on the left-hand side. Allow a page number for left-hand blank pages, even though the page number should not appear on the page. The back of foldouts should be left blank; however, left-hand pages before foldouts should not be blank. Appendices should be numbered by the letter “A” designation followed by the appropriate number (e.g., A-1, A-2.). Glossaries and bibliographies should also be numbered using a letter designation (e.g., G-1, B-1).

Covers and Title Pages

The following information should be shown on covers and title pages:

  • Proposal title,
  • Customer name,
  • Volume number and title,
  • Proposal request number,
  • Company name and logo,
  • Date.

Page Layout

All proposal materials should be prepared on 8 1/2×11-inch paper or as directed in the RFP. Where the inclusion of charts, drawings, tables, or other graphics requires larger format, foldouts should be employed. The proposal should be laid-out in double column, single-spaced lines with integrated graphics. Special care must be taken to justify the right side of each column and to review each line of the text and hyphenation to ensure that there are not any long white spaces between words on a line.

The proposal should be prepared using Times New Roman 12-point font. Boldfacing should be reserved for section and sub-section titles. Use boldface for special emphasis, but use it sparingly. Use Underlining for sub-section titles where the sub-sections are not numbered. Section and sub-section numbering should be done using legal numbering (e.g., 1.2.3.4.1). All text should be typed in Microsoft Word.

Proposal Compliance Matrix

The purpose of the Proposal Compliance Matrix is to ensure that the proposal responds to and complies with all the Proposal Request requirements. A Compliance Matrix should form part of each proposal volume. The matrix should be started at the beginning of the writing assignments and should list all the requirements contained in the Annotated Proposal Outline for each volume. The Compliance Matrix should include the elements for both the Proposal Request and the proposal response.

AcqLinks and References:

Updated: 7/29/2021

Rank: G

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