Federal proposal evaluators do not pick a winner. They eliminate proposals until there is only the winner left.
A defensive proposal is designed not to lose. Ideally, you have established a strong relationship with the customer and the customer would like to buy your solution. But what about all of those other pesky competitors who elect to bid against you.
Your customer just can’t select you. You have to provide them with reasons on paper that will justify them selecting you. The proposal has to stand up to intense scrutiny on the part of the official Contracting Officer (the person whose job it is to keep the playing field level). There will always be one or more detractors on the evaluation committee who will want to down score you for any reason they can find. The detractors are the people that have relationships with a competitor.
A defensive proposal is written to win every point that it can when evaluated against the written criteria in the Request for Proposal (RFP). No stone is unturned. Each and every requirement in the RFP is met. No detail is too small. No sales puffery is used. No extraneous information is provided. It just is one hundred percent compliant with the RFP, no more and no less. On top of that, the solution presented in the technical approach is exactly what the customer wants because you determined that during the sales process.
In a defensive proposal you must think like the customer, develop your persuasive arguments for the customer’s perspective, and present customer-centered insights up front. Present the insights in the Executive Summary. Count how many times your name appears in the Executive Summary versus the customers. The customer’s name should predominate. Focus on the customer’s problem, their needs and desired outcomes and how your solution matches their expectations.
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