Monday Morning Contracting Tips
by Dannie E. James Sr
JE Group LLC
www.jegroupllc.com
The first thing to
realize when reading a Federal Government RFP is that you don’t have to
read the whole thing to determine if you’re going to pursue it. You do
have to read it several times to ensure you understand what you’re
pursuing and how you’re going to respond.
It’s
easy to feel intimidated when you look at a printed copy of an RFP
that’s at least an inch thick (or even much, much larger). When you
realize how much of it is content you have to read vs. how much it is
boilerplate that’s there because regulations say it has to be there,
it’s not nearly as bad.
The
format for most Government RFPs is fixed by the Federal Acquisition
Regulation (FAR). The FAR mandates that Government RFPs be divided into
sections A through M. Each of these sections has a certain purpose and
must contain certain information. But only a few of these sections
relate to what to bid and how to prepare your proposal.
Of the lettered sections, the key ones to focus on are:
•Section L. Where you’ll find the instructions for formatting, organizing, and submitting your proposal
•Section M. Where you’ll find the criteria and scoring system that will be used to determine whether your proposal wins.
•Section C. This is where they say what it is they want you to propose (often called the "Statement of Work").
•Section B. This is where they tell you how to format your pricing.
•And sometimes, Section J. Sometimes they hide important stuff (like the Statement of Work) in Section J, attachments.
This
doesn’t mean that the other sections are not necessary. Some may have
things that you must respond to, like Section K, where they put the
“Certifications and Representations” (Where you may have to “Certify” or
“Represent” things like whether you are a U.S. firm, a minority firm,
that you haven’t defaulted on previous contracts, etc.). But the others
are part of the legal form or contract boilerplate, and you won’t have
to read them the same way you will the Statement of Work and Evaluation
Criteria.
The
best approach to reading a Government RFP isn’t necessary to read it
sequentially from start to finish the way you would a book. Instead,
first look at Section A (usually the cover page). In a box on this page
is the due date. Now you know how much time you have to prepare your
response. Next jump to Section L and focus on how they want the proposal
organized. Whether you think it makes sense or not, you absolutely must
follow their outline. Then go to Section M and find out how you will be
graded and what they think is important. Now go back to Section C and
find out what you have to propose doing or supplying. To really
understand how and what to offer, you'll also need to look at Section B,
so you can see whether they want it priced by the hour, in fixed price
units, or some other way.
Keep
in mind that how you present the proposal will be bound by the
instructions in Section L and how you will be graded is in Section M.
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