We are frequently asked what source selection officials are looking for when evaluating different offerors.  We came across an article we wrote that was based on an article from an obscure journal written for contracting personnel by a very experienced source selection official.  We can’t remember why we did not publish this but we think it would be a good idea to summarize what the government is teaching their acquisition people.  The source article was written by Deanna J. Bennett, in Acquisition Review Quarterly (Vol. 4, No. 4) entitled “What Contractors Should Know” and seeks to identify “what contractors do wrong”.

Face time doesn’t count.  In spite of industry perceptions, presenting informal briefing and getting “face time” with project managers, source selection officials or anyone else provides little advantage.  It is your proposal, not your marketing personnel or project managers that talk.

Play by the rules.  Attempts to get additional or insider information usually get back to source selection personnel which often hurts offerors.

Get as much information as possible.  In spite of the warnings above, have project managers not just marketing personnel attend all presolicitation conferences or pre-proposal conferences, regularly access the agency’s web page for updated information and ask questions at whatever forum is available.
 
Understand Section L.  Avoid simple mistakes commonly made by not reading Section L (proposal instructions) thoroughly.  Common mistakes include:

1.  Exceeding page limits – common strategies such as alluding to other pages do not work because evaluation teams will usually evaluate only the specified pages in their assigned section

2. Putting information in the wrong place – strategies that use footnotes, for example, in the cost section that clarify technical or management points will have no effect on those sections
 
3.  Assume evaluation team “osmosis” – for example, assuming a new process that affects both the management and technical sections that is described only in one section often means the other evaluation team will be unaware of it

4.  Not addressing all proposal requirements – preparing a matrix of all requirements should be referenced against the proposal to make sure everything is there
 
5.  Ignoring personnel qualification requirements – though actual contract performance may allow for waiving certain requirements in education or experience, the proposal is not the place to ignore any requirement for each category.

Don’t pass oversight along with tasking to subcontractors.  Though it may be effective to assign certain parts (e.g. tasks) of the proposal to subcontractors, make sure that as the prime contractor their product is put to the same rigorous review (e.g. management, “red team”) as the prime contractor’s sections.

Plan on working during the holidays.  Funding authorization requirements make the March to June time frame the most common time to award contracts so a high percentage of solicitations are issued in the September to December time frame.

Understand Section M.  A thorough understanding of Section M (evaluation criteria) will allow you to invest your time and effort in the sections that count most if, for example, time gets unexpectedly short.

Respond fully to questions.  Questions are usually intended to clarify your proposal or enter into formal discussions to amend or correct deficiencies so evaluators can clearly evaluate your proposal.

Give yourself flexibility at orals.  Use your oral presentation for details while you provide the government higher level advanced information beforehand.  For example, pre-oral advance slides might say “large personnel database” while at orals you can specify the number that may have subsequently changed after you prepared the slides.

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