What’s the quickest way to evaluate responses to your Request For Proposals? One way to speed up the evaluation and award process is to create a Format section in your RFP document.

RFP Template – Sample Costs Format

Understanding the RFP Format section

Most format Request For Proposals (RFP) includes a Format section which explains to the bidder how the Business Proposal should be written. After you have written the Request For Proposal and published it, the next step is to wait for contractors to submit bids.

If you’re working on a large tender, you can get many bids for suppliers. One way to evaluate these bids quickly is to include a “Format of Proposal” section at the end of the Request for Proposal.

Request For Proposals: How to Write the Format section

Remind the bidders that they must follow the “Format of Proposal” criteria as otherwise they risk disqualification. In general, the criteria will mirror the main sections of the Request For Proposal itself.

Note: an Request For Proposal is also called an Invitation To Tender or ITT.

The following section provides a suggested “Format of Proposal” outline:

General Information

• Name
• Address
• Telephone
• Fax
• Email

Terms and Conditions

• Acceptance of the Terms and Conditions as described in the request for proposal by the bidder and third parties.
• Statement from the bidder that none of the excluding circumstances listed in section <> are applicable.
• Confirmation that the bidder understands the requirements and scope of the project
• Recommendation that the bidder should provide any other information that may be relevant to the proposal.

samples Format For Bids

Proposals should respond under the headings set out in “Section X” of the main RFP:

Introduction

• Details of Bidding Company
• Details of Key Personnel

Proposed Solution

• Understanding of Requirements
• Scalability
• Performance
• Deliverables
• Audit Requirements
• Testing
• Skills Transfer
• User Training
• Reporting Requirements
• Development Environment
• Testing Environments
• Maintainability
• Development Support
• Project Management
• Quality Management

Costs

The costs section should provide the following:

• Total Costs
• Consulting costs
• Software costs
• Training costs
• Implementation costs
• Indicative costs (e.g. hardware)
• Schedule of costs (costs associated with deliverables)
• Validity period of costs

By mandating that these criteria need to be followed, your Evaluation Team will be able to review the responses much quicker and, in turn, speed up the procurement process.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.

Related posts:

1. Kate Winslet’s 7 Smart Ways to Read Business Proposals
2. How to Analyze the Buyer’s Mindset When Writing Proposals

This is Part 1 of a 20 part series on writing Business Proposals. What we’ll look in this course is how to get started, format the proposal, and submit it. Once we’ve done this, we’ll look at how to improve your chances of getting the bid accepted, for example, by giving presentations to the Assessors. I’ll also show you how to improve your business writing techniques.

And before you say I HATE GRAMMAR, I can guarantee you it’s not about grammar.

Ok, some parts will be, but they’ll be painless.

Instead I’ll show you how to use psychological tricks to get into the reviewers mind. To close the gap between what they need and what you offer. It’s very interesting. If you want to stay one step ahead of me, read Chip and Dan Heath’s Switch. That will get you started.

Example of Consultancy Proposal

There are different types of business proposals. Each type has its own requirements.

In this course, I’ll look at how to write a consultancy proposal and how to avoid the most common mistakes proposal writers make.

• For example, this will be of use to government agencies or other bodies that want to procure the services of a consultancy firm, such as an advertising agency, Public Relations or Recruitment 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.

Define the Table of Contents First

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

That’s it for today. No homework! You get the weekend off.

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

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a Proposal Writer who develops Business Proposal Plans. He also shares Business Planning Strategies on IvanWalsh.com. Follow him on Twitter & Facebook.

Related posts:

1. Four-Step Strategy for Better Business Proposals
2. Warren Buffet Guide to Plain English Business Writing

Post written by Ivan Walsh. Follow me on Twitter

Sandra wants to know where is the Styles menu option in Microsoft Word 2007. She wants to update her new business plan and add Notes, Messages, Quotes and other pre-formatted styles. The Styles in Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 seem to be different.

He’s right. The Microsoft Word user interface in 2003 and 2007 is very different.

1. The best way to add Styles, such as Notes etc (2007) is to go to the Home tab. It’s the default.

2. Click the little arrow button under Change Styles.

3. This opens the Styles menu along the right-hand side of the page.

4. Select the text you want to change.

5. Scroll down and find the Note style, for example.

6. Change the text.

Does it work?

<styles would be saved but in my “styles” drop down menu, I do not see these styles.

Do you see the little arrow under Change Styles. Click this and the Styles will appear! If not, drop me a line.

PS – if you’re looking for tips on writing user guides, then check out I Heart Technical Writing.

Related posts:

1. How to Stop Your Business Proposal Files From Crashing – Part 1
2. Kate Winslet’s 7 Smart Ways to Read Business Proposals

Post by Ivan Walsh. Follow me on Twitter.

What can Kate Winslet teach you about proof-reading Business Proposals? Watch the movie The Reader and it will make sense. If she was writing this blog, she’d probably say: “Don’t do it all at once! One of the biggest mistakes you can make when revising any business proposal, is to do it all in one go. You can’t!” And she’d be right.

7 Ways to Check User Guides

Make it easy on yourself and focus on one area at a time. Instead of revising the document in one session, break out the tasks and revise the document by task. For example, start with checking the facts, then the spelling, how the document flows, cross-references, footers, index entries and so on.

Seven Ways to Read Business Proposals.

1. Overview – In the opening section, do you have a statement, a sentence or two that states the main point or argument of your document? Likewise, is there a conclusion that ties together all the points made in your document?
2. Tasks – Does your user guide address the user’s requirements? Check the document to see if you addressed each task and provided enough information for the user to perform the task.
3. Structure – Does the document flow? Make sure each topic connects clearly and logically. Do the topic sentences of each paragraph relate to the subject matter?
4. Accuracy – Is the information correct? Is it adequately documented? Have you tested the document so that it helps the reader to perform their tasks?
5. Language – Do you use specific language? Avoid vague terms such as in the event of, thing, factors, and over reliance on unclear pronouns like “this” and “it.”
6. Drafts – Technical Writing involves writing multiple drafts. This means that after each draft, you need to check that the edits have been included in the correct draft.
7. Read Aloud – Get into the habit of reading your documents aloud. If you have trouble reading a sentence clearly and smoothly, it probably needs to be rewritten. And if it sounds wrong to your ear, then that’s a warning sign that something needs to be corrected.

PS – I also use a checklist to check off the different tasks as I revise technical document. This is especially helpful if you’re working late or are revising several documents in succession.

One mistake to avoid is to focus on one area, for example spelling, and overlook other areas, for example, the accuracy of the material. While the reader may forgive you for the occasional spelling mistake, they won’t be impressed if the material itself is incorrect.

How do you revise your documents? What mistakes do you see most often?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a 40-something technical writer with a weakness for documentation plan guides. His other obsession is video marketing at http://www.videocameraschool.com/

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