Ever wonder how your business proposal gets evaluated?

One of the problems when responding to Request For Proposals is that, unless you know how proposals are scored, you might focus your efforts on areas that have less value and win less contract awards as a result.

With that in mind, here are some guidelines on how bids are evaluated. Once you flip these around, you can write your proposal to meet these criteria.

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Request For Proposal: Scoring Objectives

The objectives of the RFP scoring guidelines are to:

• Ensure consistent
• Provide an unbiased score
• Remove subjectivity
• Achieve consensus
• Ensure value for money

How proposals are scored

The evaluation team will score all items that influence the vendor’s proposal, such as:

• Requirements
• Project Management
• Training
• Maintenance
• Costs
• Expertise
• References

How costs are calculated

The evaluation team tries not to let the fixed cost price determine the contract award.

It looks for other areas where the vendor adds value or… could be hiding costs that need to be factored in.

The factors include:

• Software presentations, prototypes, and demonstrations
• Bidder’s responsiveness to queries
• Bidder’s values and culture
• Payment schedule
• Discounts
• Guarantees
• References

They will usually exclude prior experience with the software/vendor when scoring the proposal to ensure objectivity.

Proposal Evaluation – How to setup Scoring Guidelines

How are proposals scored?

In order to score a bid, you need to setup the evaluation teams, create scoring guidelines, and develop a process to manage the contract award.

Here’s how it works:

• Setup an RFP team – The team includes members of the project from the client’s site, such as software, testing, and business units. It reports to the Evaluation Committee.

• RFP team duties – The team does most of the RFP proposal evaluation. It is not allowed to communicate in private with vendors until the evaluation process has ended. State this in the Request For Proposal so vendors know it in advance. However, after the evaluation process, the team can meet vendors to resolve queries, clarify items or view presentations.

• Setup an Evaluation Committee – This committee reviews the team’s evaluations, findings and recommendations. It approves decisions and choice of vendor.

• Setup RFP scoring guidelines – Arrange this before contacting vendors. When you receive the bids, score them as per the guidelines.

• Setup scoring and weighting schemes to evaluate your Request For Proposal. Ensure it is objective and used consistently across all bids.

• Review & Score – Review each proposal, award scores, resolve queries, seek clarifications, meet bidders and achieve consensus.

• Evaluation – The RFP team evaluates and score proposals individually. Once completed, they meet, discuss and compare findings. They agree a consensus score for each point and for the proposal.

• Resolution – During evaluation, there will be differences in scores. These must be resolved to reach consensus.

• Reaching consensus – Team members should be willing to compromise and adjust their preliminary scores if there are compelling reasons.

• Vendor Recommendation – Once queries have been resolved, items clarified, and consensus agreed, the assessment team prepares the results and presents these to the Evaluation Committee for discussion and agreement.

• Progress Reports – Team members must attend progress review/evaluation meetings.

Scoring Sheets

How do you calculate the (true) cost of the bid?

Use scoring sheets to calculate the award and totaling of points. Scoring sheets usually include the following information:

• Preliminary scores for each criteria/proposal
• Average scores
• Above or below scores
• Total scores
• Variances
• Weighted scores
• Consensus scores
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Lists of issues and queries
• Recommendations

Conclusion

The team members reviews and evaluates all proposals and their contents. Each member contributes to the final consensus scores for each proposal.

To ensure transparency, setup the evaluation guidelines before you publish the Request For Proposal. This streamlines the award process and allows you to evaluate and award the contract as quickly as possible.

Related posts:

1. 7 Request For Proposal Evaluation Guidelines
2. How Business Proposals Are (Really) Evaluated

Use the Supervision section to identify who will monitor (i.e. supervise) the consultant. This person is responsible for ensuring that the consultant meets their objectives and performs their activities in line with the Work Breakdown Structure.

In most projects, the supervisor will also work as the government agency’s Project Manager, coordinating communications, budget controls and report generation activities.

Here is sample text for this section of the proposal:

‘A Consultant is required to prepare a Strategic Plan under the supervision of the Operational Group responsible for the implementation of the Waste Management Plan.

[Name of County Council], being the lead authority for the implementation of the Waste Management Plan, shall be the contracting authority for the proposed service.’

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to write the Deliverables.

Related posts:

1. How To Guarantee Consultants Meet Their Goals
2. How To Write a Consultancy Services Proposal
3. Four-Step Strategy for Better Business Proposals

Use the introduction to place the proposal in context. This section should be one or two pages max. Don’t over-whelm the reader with background material. They can find more details about your organization on your website and in press releases.

So, what goes into the introduction?

1. Identify the Government bodies involved in this procurement process, for example.

The Health Department encompasses five counties in the greater London region. These are…

2. Identify any strategic plans that relate to the success of this project

The London Region, which encompasses the administrative areas of counties X, Y, Z, adopted a Strategic Management Plan in 2002.

3. Identify significant data that the bidder must be made aware of, for example,

The administrative area of this region has a combined population of 500,000 and covers 10000 sq Kilometres.

4. Next, outline your goal:

We now wish to review and replace 2002 Strategic Management Plan in compliance with the Waste Management Act 2003 and the Waste Management Regulations, 2005.

5. Identify other preliminary work that has been performed:

The new plan shall make reference to the existing Waste Management Plan, existing preparatory work, the recently commissioned Waste Management Study, EPA National Waste Database, EU Waste Management Plans and all other relevant documentation and legislation.

6. Close with reference to legal documents and supporting materials.

The new Plan should take account the Government policy statements:
• Changing our Ways
• Recycling Waste
• Waste Management Moving Forward

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to write the Supervision section.

Related posts:

1. 6 Ways To Write a Better Executive Summary
2. Consultancy Proposal – How to Define the Table of Contents

Over the coming weeks, we’ll look at how to write a proposal for Consultancy Services. This will be of use to government agencies or other bodies that want to procure the services of a consultancy firm, for example, an advertising agency, a PR or HR firm or another type of company that provides specialist services.
This type of proposal differs from contracts where, for example, you want to use a specific product, piece of equipment or have very exact specifications in mind.

In a proposal for Consultancy Services, you want to determine the most appropriate firm based on their expertise and capacity of deliver based on your needs.

There are several ways to do this.

To get started, I will create a table of contents for each of the main sections and then drill-down into each section.

Here is the table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Supervision
3. Deliverables
4. Consultation – Meetings schedule
5. Reports & Presentations
6. Programme
7. Award Criteria
8. Information to be submitted
9. Fee Proposal
10. Conflict of Interest
11. Terms of appointment
12. Ownership of Documents and Copyright
13. Termination of appointment
14. Dispute Resolution
15. Tax Clearance Certificate
16. Withholding Tax
17. Professional Indemnity
18. Confidentiality
19. Submission of proposal

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to write the Introduction.

Related posts:

1. Why The Table of Contents Is The Heart of Your Business Proposal?

Philip Koopman, at Carnegie Mellon University, reminds us that, “Writing an efficient abstract is hard work, but will repay you with increased impact on the world by enticing people to read your publications. Make sure that all the components of a good abstract are included in the next one you write.”

Let’s look at how to write headlines, summaries and abstracts. Before we start, what is an Abstract? 

Photo Credit Pjern 

Why We Read Abstracts and Summaries?

When you open your inbox every Monday morning and see a stream of emails crying for attention. Which do you choose? I’d guess it’s the ones with the snappiest headlines, like these:

• Zen and the Art of Remarkable Blogging
• A Simple Four-Step Strategy for Developing Content That Connects
• The Benjamin Franklin Guide to Marketing Your Business Online
• Five Common Headline Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Become a Master of Metaphor and Multiply Your Blogging Effectiveness
• Metaphor, Simile and Analogy: What’s the Difference?

These are from CopyBlogger .com and show how smart headlines can tickle your fancy. So, when you read, ‘Are You Leaving Your Readers Out of the Conversation?’ you can’t help but start to answer the question in your mind. And when you do that, you open the article and start to read.

So, good headlines act like hooks bringing you into the story.

Abstracts are also important. We have an ever-increasing need for quick access to information we rely on abstracts and summaries to provide a snapshot of what’s in the article.

If you visualize it as a pyramid, on the top is headlines, then summaries, and then the body of the article. You can see how one leads to the other.

How To Write An Abstract

You have two options. Write it before you start on the main document or after you’ve finished writing, take a break and explore:

• What is the main subject in this article?
• What conclusion has the writer made?
• What message does the writer want to convey?
• What do you want the reader to do after reading the document?

Analyze this and define it in one sentence – this is your ‘topic’ sentence.

Write one topic sentence that covers the entire document, regardless of whether the document is a five page letter or a hundred page annual report.

1. Getting Ideas

Then, look at the recommendations, conclusions, summaries, and results in the final document. When abstracting a technical manual, look at the tutorials and see if these help form the topic sentence.

2. Don’t Use the Document’s Title

Avoid using the formal name of the document as this can be misleading and may not help you write the topic sentence. Chances are the ‘working title’ will be too vague. Parts of the title might serve as modifiers in your topic sentence, but you’ll probably need to go beyond the title.

3. Be Specific

Make the topic sentence as specific as possible.

Avoid writing

"This report describes [document title]."

Instead, write something like

"The results of this [subject] study show that [result]."

4. Use Supporting Sentences

After you identify your topic sentence, write supporting sentences. Make each of these supply specific details about the ideas in the topic sentence. Think of what supports the topic sentence.

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How? and
• How much?

Give statistics, results, conclusions, or recommendations that back up the topic sentence. Only use two or three major supporting ideas. Include the less important evidence as subordinate clauses and modifiers.

5. Use Transitions

Arrange the supporting sentences in a logical sequence after the topic sentence. Add whatever transition is needed to connect the supporting sentences to the topic sentence and to connect ideas within the sentences to each other.

Re-write the sentences to improve the connections.

10 Other Ways to Write a Better Abstract

1. Write the abstract only when the document is finished. Abstracts written before then are just previews.
2. If you are forced to write an abstract before the document is completed, think about its purpose and write a topic sentence. Keep in mind that you’ll need to rewrite the abstract when the document is finished because it will no longer accurately reflect the contents of the document.
3. Before starting the abstract, list your thoughts on the document. Group related items together.
4. Prioritize the list and put the most important group first. The first few groups form the core of the topic sentence. The rest lead to supporting sentences.
5. If you can’t create a topic sentence, write the supporting sentences first. The topic sentence may then become obvious.
6. Write for an audience not necessarily up to speed in your subject area. This is important because you never know who will read your abstract.
7. Choose acronyms, abbreviations, and technical terms carefully as they may confuse many readers.
8. Define the scope of the project in the abstract.
9. Re-read your abstract after several days have passed and remove superfluous information and padding.

This technique works for documents of any length from a couple of pages to multi-volumes.

Using Keywords in Abstracts

I’ve added this in as many business documents are published directly to the web. This tip applies to writing abstracts, headlines and summaries.

Use keywords in your Titles, Abstracts, Headlines are documents are file electronically. As users search for documents by keywords, write the documents headings with these keywords in mind.

Likewise, your abstract must contain keywords that about the article, proposal, or report so readers can retrieve it quickly.

What other ways can we improve our business documents?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides Business Tips for Smart People on Klariti.com. His also runs the popular Business Planning Blog at http://www.ivanwalsh.com

Related posts:

1. Kate Winslet’s 7 Smart Ways to Read Business Proposals
2. What Warren Buffett Taught Me About Writing Executive Summaries
3. How to Write a Concise Executive Summary for your Business Proposal

What I like about Warren Buffets Annual Reports is that he says so much with so few words. And loses nothing in the process. For those of us who make a living writing business documents there are a few lessons to be learnt here.

Why The Executive Summary is Important

The Executive Summary of any business document is the first impression you make on the reader. If your business plan’s executive summary is poorly written, dull, or cut/pasted together it will hardly get noticed and the effort you put into the rest of the document won’t be seen.

Instead, set aside two or three hours and write the best Executive Summary you can. Challenge yourself to write three hundred words that excite you, generate interest, and paint a picture of your company. People want to read about other people. Don’t forget the power of human interest. In the end, they’re going to do business with you – not your product.

‘The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.’ Warren Buffett

How to Write an Executive Summary that generates interest

Your Executive Summary should excite the reader and help them understand the key results and conclusions in your business document, whether it’s your business proposal, business plan, annual report, case study or white paper.

Looking for inspiration?

Read the Annual Reports written by Warren Buffett and you’ll see how he does it. You know he has confidence in his company. He highlights the goods news in a nice understated way and delivers the less pleasant results with the same even tone.

Executive Summary Definition

Here’s one definition from The Handbook of Technical Writing, “An executive summary is to consolidate the principal points of a report in one place. It must cover the information in the report in enough detail to reflect accurately its content but concisely enough to permit an executive to digest the significance of the report without having to read it in full…."

Characteristics of a Well-Written Executive Summary

While this is a business document in the tradition sense, you must still find ways to stimulate the reader’s interest, make them want to turn the page and take some action.

• Executive summaries must be original.
• Executive summaries must not be cut-and-pastes extracts from the main document.
• Executive Summary should provide unique information not contained anywhere else.
• Executive summaries are standalone documents. The reader, for example, an investor, should be able to grasp your over-arching aims without having to read the entire document.

Documents That Require Executive Summaries

Some business documents require summaries, others don’t. Write an executive summary for the following types of documents:

• Grant Applications
• Standards
• System Design Documents
• Technical Reports
• Training Plans
• White Papers

Documents That Do Not Require Executive Summaries

You do NOT need to write an Executive Summary for shorter documents or certain technical publications, such as:

• Functional Specifications
• Meeting minutes
• Release Notes
• Status Reports
• User Manuals
• Workshop reports

Executive Summary Format & Guidelines

These are guidelines for your Executive Summary. They’re not set in stone, so adjust where necessary. The summary should cover the:

• Purpose
• Scope
• Methodology
• Results
• Conclusions

In general, you can write it as follows:

• First paragraph answers: "What is this document about?"
• Summary answers "How did you get the information?"
• Expand on the Software Development process (if applicable)
• Facts
• Results
• Conclusions
• Findings Note: present facts in tabular format.
• Recommendations

What doesn’t go in the Executive Summary?

Other information that doesn’t go in the Executive Summary includes:

• Acknowledgments
• Background data
• Cross-references
• Footnotes
• Industry updates
• Justifications
• Objectives
• Project history
• References

Remember to close your executive summary will a strong summary statement. This must persuade the reader that your business is a winner and the only way to do this is to turn the page and learn more about your company.

Final Tips for Writing the Business Plan’s Executive Summary

Provide a summary. The business plan itself gives the financial details.

• Use strong and positive language.
• No more two pages long. Don’t pad your business plan’s executive summary with fluff.
• Generate interest by enticing your reader to read the rest of the business plan, not tell him everything.
• Read it aloud. Does it read well or sound artificial? Is it clear and succinct?
• Adjust the executive summary for your respective audience. For example, if you want to attract investors, focus on the opportunity your business provides investors and why this opportunity is so special.
• Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Does the executive summary really make you feel excited? If not, why?

The final word goes on Warren. Here’s his take on gold, “It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”

Make sense?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides Business Tips for Smart People on Klariti.com. His also runs the Business Planning Blog at http://www.ivanwalsh.com

PS: The Business Plan Template is available from our partner here.

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