Previous installments presented information on the proposal writing process. This installment summarizes the key points made in these installments. Winning proposals are sales driven and emanate from relationship-based sales. Management should integrate the sales and proposal writing processes. Great emphasis should be placed on (i) making the correct decision as to whether a bid should be submitted on a particular Request for Proposal (RFP), and (ii) assembling your best proposal writing team.

Your corporate deliberations concerning whether to submit a bid should begin the day that a RFP is publicly announced. The final decision should be made within forty-eight (48) hours of the RFP’s publication. By following this suggested course of action, you will allow the maximum amount of time for proposal development.

In deciding whether to submit a bid, management should be particularly wary of spending critical proposal resources on opportunities that have not been pre-sold and situations where there is an incumbent contractor. Opportunities involving an incumbent contractor should not be pursued without early and aggressive pre-selling. Your advance research and pre-selling must demonstrate that the government does not want the incumbent back.

Other specific proposal writing recommendations are:

• Write defensively and make sure that each and every requirement in the RFP is covered.
  
• Invest in off-the-shelf proposal writing resources.
  
• Hire or develop a proposal manager.
  
• Assign the proposal to those who can best develop the critical subject matter content. This is the single most important aspect of writing winning proposals.
  
• Provide your proposal writing team with outlines of what management thinks should be covered in the proposal.
  
• Also provide the content writers with templates and examples of past proposals your company has written.
  
• Once the outlines are complete, the proposal writing team should immediately get to work. In starting early, you will be able to identify and address the proposal’s weaknesses without an impending deadline looming.
  
• Assign the editing task to one individual in order to ensure that the final product is presented in a single voice.
  
• Finish at least two days earlier than the proposal due date to avoid last minute crises.

In short, it is better to write fewer, higher quality proposals. Winning proposals are those based on pre-sales and a working knowledge of the customer’s needs. Find the creative writers in your organization and make sure that they have the time and resources to produce customer-centric proposal content.