Proposal Writing for Government Evaluation Criteria
18.07.2023
-5 min
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Kris Sæther
18.07.2023
-5 min
A government agency’s decision to buy, and who to buy from, is never trivial. The stakes are high; tax dollars are in play, citizen services are in the spotlight, people’s careers are on the line, and the media is watching. To reach their goals, and mitigate risk, agencies are transparent, defining proposal evaluation criteria which outlines exactly how they plan to balance the right vendor selection with a fair vendor selection.
How do you write for these evaluation criteria? How do you clearly demonstrate you are the right and fair selection? With this blog, I share tips on amplifying your response to evaluation criteria and making it easier for evaluators to choose, and defend, you.
A significant opportunity is likely to attract at least three to five competing vendors, each with proposals ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 pages. That is a lot of information to process, digest and evaluate. So agencies define weighted evaluation criteria. This way they agree on exactly how they’ll evaluate proposals, especially on things that are not easily quantifiable, such as “soundness.”
For example, here is how one agency defines criteria and scores your proposal:
Evaluation criteria is a systematic decision-making tool for agencies.
Evaluation results in an assessment of your ability to successfully accomplish the contract based on these criteria. Just remember, not all evaluators are decision-makers. So the evaluator’s ability to communicate and defend their assessment is critical, especially if the vendor selected was not unanimous.
Evaluation criteria is also a roadmap for proposal teams. To get the points to add up in your favor, every single thing you write must consider these criteria and be written for the sole reason of benefitting the agency. For example, the criteria and weighting above describes how your overall proposal score might be achieved.
Yet, far too often, responses to these criteria requirements are lifted from your past proposals or your content library and used “as is.” They are not tailored to scope and are far too generic for evaluators to relate to their specific project. They miss the scoring mark and the details an evaluator needs to defend their selection.
Proposal evaluation is all about perceived value. Whether you’re offering commercial off-the-shelf-software, a custom-build, a sample task order, or a seed project on an IDIQ contract, you must communicate superior value, capability and maturity. In other words, you must invest time in tailoring to differentiate.
Technical Understanding and Competency. Focus on the what and the why.
Innovation and Demonstration through Past Experience. Demonstrate how you are proactive.
Past Performance. Focus on how you have performed against customer expectations..
Management Approach and Key Personnel. Focus on what you bring to the table.
Details make your proposal clear and compelling. They are a bridge between what you are offering and why you are the right and fair vendor selection. Using details to write to the evaluation criteria aligns your proposal with what evaluators are looking for to maximize your scoring potential.
Getting to that level of proposal maturity, however, takes time. That’s why today’s proposal teams are shifting to a more agile iterative approach to stay competitive.
This consistent focus on improvement and quality control prioritizes content over process, which feeds directly into evaluation criteria. And your goals to deliver value at volume with the same staff.
Learn how XaitPorter helps teams iterate rapidly to clearly demonstrate how they address evaluation criteria, as well as requirements, up to 70% faster.
Related article: How Xait Helps Companies Respond to 65% More Bids
Kris Sæther
Kris Sæther is Chief Commercial Officer of Xait. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Media Studies, and has worked in financial communication in London and Frankfurt prior to joining Xait. He has 20+ years experience from the information management industry. Kris is an avid runner and skier, and a passionate fan of the world’s coolest soccer team, Tottenham. If he is not working or running you will find him cheering for his two daughters on the handball court.