The committees which evaluate federal proposals are comprised of a cast of characters. The committees will most likely include the following:

• The manager of the end users group
• Staff members from the end user group
• Stakeholders of various types; usually individuals that will be most affected by contract performance
• Selected technical specialists

Knowing who is on the committee and why they have been selected is very valuable information. The better you know the customers, their inner workings, and office politics, the more likely it will be that you will have insights into the composition of the committee and how they may collectively come to decisions. The better you know the committee, the more likely you are to win because you will be writing to them as a collective group. Not knowing them all suggests that you should consider taking a pass on the opportunity. Add this issue to the tangled maze of issues involved in making a bid/no-bid decision.