A well-known country and western song is a good metaphor for deciding when and when not to write a federal proposal.

Your chips are your precious proposal-writing resources. Namely, a happy and motivated professional staff, those who produce compelling technical proposal content when asked. This critical resource loses its zest when the losses start to mount and they recall countless wasted weekends spent in the office.

Don't waste your precious chips by playing a losing hand.  Your firm really shouldn't bid if it doesn't have a real and highly probable chance of winning the contract. 

In making bidding decisions, your firm should be realistic and consider:

1. Is there an incumbent?
2. Have you sold the customer prior to the posting of the bid?
3. Does the customer even know you?
4. What are your unique capabilities?
5. Who will be competing against you and what are their capabilities? Do your competitors know the customer?
6. What are the costs of writing the proposal? How much content do you have on the shelf? Is existing content well done and compelling and what will be required of the professional staff in developing new, required content?

When in doubt, fold 'em and wait for a better hand.   

Fedmarket's Line of Proposal Services and Products
Full-Service Proposal Preparation/Full-Service Government Price Proposal Preparation
Proposal Templates and Software

Regards,
Richard White
President
Fedmarket
rjwhite@fedmarket.com
301-908-0546 (cell)