Wasted billable time in writing the technical solution for federal proposals is one of the mortal sins of federal contractors. Why?

• Subject matter experts don't really want to write in the first place so they circle, procrastinate, and postpone. At proposal time you will find them at the customer, on vacation, or swamped with work.
  
  
• They are not given a detailed outline for their piece of the proposal.
  
  
• When they are provided with an outline, it doesn't include writing guidelines to drive their approach to writing. One writer starts with purpose and ends with results; the next writer does exactly the opposite. Giving them a section title is not enough.
  
  
• The Executive Summary is not written early enough so they write whatever comes to mind rather than hitting customer hot buttons.

The billable time lost can be cut in half or more by simply starting tech writers with a detailed outline of precisely what is expected of them. A detailed and highly structured outline eliminates "start overs" and rewrites. It also reduces editor and reviewer time and ensures that RFP compliance is maximized.