Proposal Writing

14 proposal writing terms defined for government contractors, with plain-English explanations and answers to the questions contractors actually ask.

BAFO (Best and Final Offer)
A contractor's final revised proposal submitted after discussions with the government, incorporating any technical or price revisions in response to the agency's requests.
Bid/No-Bid Decision
The formal process by which a contractor evaluates whether to invest resources in pursuing a specific government contract opportunity.
Capture Management
The structured process of identifying, qualifying, and pursuing specific government contract opportunities before a formal RFP is released.
Color Team Review
A series of structured proposal reviews at defined developmental stages, each named by a color, that assess compliance, strategy, content quality, and readiness for submission.
Evaluation Criteria
The published standards and factors that government evaluators use to assess and score contractor proposals.
Executive Summary
An opening section of a government proposal that concisely presents the contractor's win themes, key differentiators, and understanding of the requirement for evaluators who read only highlights.
Management Volume
The proposal section covering program management approach, staffing plan, key personnel, organizational structure, and quality control methods.
Oral Proposals
A proposal format where contractors present their technical approach, qualifications, and solutions verbally to a government evaluation panel rather than submitting written volumes.
Past Performance
A proposal evaluation factor that assesses a contractor's track record on previous government and commercial contracts.
Price to Win (PTW)
A competitive pricing analysis process that models likely competitor costs to determine the price point needed to win a contract while remaining profitable.
PWIN (Probability of Win)
A percentage estimate of how likely a contractor is to win a specific government opportunity, used to make disciplined decisions about where to invest BD and proposal resources.
Statement of Work (SOW)
A formal document within an RFP that describes the specific tasks, deliverables, and performance standards required by the government.
Technical Volume
The section of a government proposal that describes how the contractor will perform the work, demonstrating understanding of requirements and a sound technical approach.
Win Themes
Concise, customer-focused statements that explain why your team is the best choice for a specific contract, woven consistently throughout every section of the proposal.

Other categories

🤖 /llms.txt