Want to avoid last minute mistakes when submitting your business proposal? It’s easy to forget something when responding to an Request For Proposal (RFP) as there are so many activities to coordinate. One way to ensure your proposal gets delivered on time – and with all requirements covered – is to create a checklist. Here’s a sample checklist to get you started.

Click here to download the RFP Submission Checklist template

Checklist – Submitting Business Proposals

You can use this checklist when responding to RFPs, ITTs and RFIs. Please note that this checklist does not cover all areas (ie non-exhaustive) but will ensure that all information required by the Request For Proposal is provided in accordance with it provisions.

Key Deadlines

• ASAP – Confirm receipt of RFT document
• Date – First deadline for sending queries
• Date – Final deadline for sending queries
• Date – Deadline for receipt of Tenders

Tender Documents

• X printed, signed and executed copies and one electronic copy of Tender Documents.
• Tender documents in envelope marked “Formal Title of Bid – Response to Request for Tender”
• Tender documents delivered to the offices of [conform that this is the correct address] by the Closing Date for Receipt of Tenders (see paragraph X).

Confirmations and Certificates

• Confirmation that Response complies with National law (see paragraph X).
• Certificate there is no economic, legal, commercial or financial relationship with another Respondent (paragraph X).

Information

• Furnished full details and identified licences, permits, permissions, including planning permission, authorizations etc required and have been obtained.
• Provisions of details of ownership and group structures of Respondent or if joint venture or consortium, the members thereof and, the commercial and legal relationship among the members thereof and other agreements with required confirmations.

Compliance

• Compliance with the provision of Section X.
• Compliance with the minimum qualification requirements (paragraph X)

Response

• Response completed in required format (paragraph X).

Tender Documents for Lot X must include the following:

• Completed Specifications Template (ref Appendix 1)
• Completed Costs Template (ref Appendix 2)

Tender Documents for Lot Y must include the following:

• Completed Specifications Template (ref Appendix 3)
• Completed Costs Template (ref Appendix 4)

ALL Tender Documents must include:

Signed Confirmation and Compliance Statement (ref Appendix 5)

Document RFP Submission Template

Click here to download the RFP Submission Checklist template

Conclusion

Every proposal writer has different ways of organizing their bids. One thing to watch is you are responsible for delivering the response – and if you’re working with a team of writers – is to assume the something is missing.
If you have this attitude, you are more likely to spot an omission, error, or discrepancy in the final document.

Sometimes it looks trivial, for example, the footers may be different. Create checklists to capture before the leave your office.

So, if you’re working later, under pressure, and coordinating many documents, use checklists to assemble the proposal correctly and make sure it gets submitted with all the relevant information.

Related posts:

1. 34 Ways to Check Your Request For Proposal Submissions
2. Request For Proposals: Writing the Format Section
3. How Business Proposals Are (Really) Evaluated

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.

Is there anything worse than writing your Business Proposal all afternoon and then… Word crashes! If your Microsoft Word files suddenly become huge and start crashing, here’s one way to fix it. I’ve creating some very large business proposals in Microsoft Word and learnt a few ways to control these documents.

MS Word. Click top red arrow to expand/show the Style Menu.

And it’s not just business writers, in the world of technical publishing, Microsoft Word also gets a bad rap. Many feel that it’s unstable and crashing. It can also bloat in size until your operating system grinds to a halt.

the Problem with Bullet Lists & Large MS Word files

The first offender is Bullet Lists. If there is one thing that’s guaranteed to crash Microsoft Word, it’s bullet lists.

Here’s what tends to happen.

When you click a Bullet List from the Word toolbar, Word points this Bullet List to the Normal.dot file. In other words, it uses the default settings in Normal.dot and then applies these. Fine.

No problem! That’s what it’s supposed to do.

But….

If you cut and paste a Bulleted List from one business report into your working file, then Microsoft Word has a problem.

Which Bullet List is the Master Bullet List?

It can’t tell because suddenly you have two bullet lists in your document.

And…

If you add a third bullet style, maybe with nice styling or cool fonts, it has a nervous breakdown. Microsoft Word can’t tell which is which and begins to struggle.

How to stop Word Crashing & Losing your Business Proposal

Here’s what to do:

1. Open Word and create a separate Style for each type of bullet lists you need. For example create a Bullet Regular, Bullet List Indent, Bullet Square and so on.
2. When you need to use a bullet list, select the appropriate style from the Styles drop-down menu.
   This is the Home tab in Microsoft Word 2007.
3. If you want to import a bullet list from another document,
   Copy the text into a blank document.
4. Select it, and in the Style menu, select Clear All.
   NB: This removes all formatting.
5. Paste it into the working document.
6. Apply the correct style.

I know this seems like more work but it’s not. Just paste into a blank document, remove the formatting and then paste it in. Your files will stop crashing and will be easier to manage.

You can get a set of User Guide templates with pre-formatted style here.

In the next article, we’ll look at other ways to reduce large Microsoft Word files.

Let me know if you’ve any problem with this. Our Smart Business Tips page on Facebook is here.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh shares Business Planning Tips at Klariti. He also runs a Video Marketing Blog for videographers and video makers.

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