The Executive Summary should drive the proposal writing effort. It should be written before the Proposal Kick-off Meeting so that the selling points made in the draft Summary can be stressed throughout the proposal. It should be written by a senior person who best understands the customer and was involved in the customer relationship building effort.
The person writing the draft Summary should work with the Proposal Manager to make sure that the points made in the draft Summary are distributed throughout the proposal outline.
The Executive Summary should be rewritten several times during proposal development and re-circulated among the proposal writing team. Selling points should be refined in the proposal as it is written and then rewritten in the Executive Summary and vice versa.
Writing a convincing Executive Summary is an art. It provides you with a unique opportunity to succinctly outline your case for why your company should be chosen.
The executive summary may be the only part of your proposal read by the customer’s senior management and the only part read by all of the evaluators. Yet many firms don't understand the significance of this key section. A poorly written summary immediately erects a barrier to winning. Conversely, an exciting, captivating summary sets the stage for victory. Most importantly, an Executive Summary is what the evaluators and your potential customer read first. A good one should:
- Be brief, terse and designed to hold the reader's attention.
- Provide the reader with an introduction to your company.
- Present the customer’s value proposition based on the presentation of provable facts.
- Focus on the salient features of your proposal and of your company.
- Present the critical aspects of your solution.
- Present the innovative features of your solution and the beneficial outcomes your solution will provide to the customer.
- Explain what distinguishes your proposal from the rest.
Circulating the Executive Summary to members of the proposal team and company management and soliciting comments is likely to improve the final document. It may even show management that they should be more involved in the proposal effort.
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Example Executive Summary
______, ______, and _____ (The Team) propose to combine their individual corporate experience and capabilities to provide information technology (IT) services to the _____ (agency). The Team recognizes the challenges involved in this contract, and we are committed to providing ______ (agency) with high-quality IT support while at the same time providing the continuity of in-place, experienced staff.
Our proposed Program Manager, _______, (name of person) has worked closely with members of the proposed team and has a long history of professional affiliation with the firms on the team. ______, ______, and _____ (The Team) have successfully performed as team members on other Federal contracts.
Relevant Capabilities and Experience
The Team has the following relevant capabilities and experience:
| Team Member |
General Capabilities and Experience |
Specific XXX Experience |
| (name) |
IT project management and large-scale contract management infrastructure
IT consulting services |
|
| (name) |
IT consulting and development
IT project management |
|
| (name) |
Network Engineering
Worldwide hardware and software deployment
IT consulting services |
|
| (name) |
IT network deployment nationwide for Federal agancies
24/7 network monitoring |
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Contract Risk Aversion
The successful small business contractor must balance the need to perform 50% of the contract services with ______’s (agency) need to retain the experienced people already in place under existing IT contracts. Our proposed team and staffing plan satisfy both of these objectives. Our proposed contract staffing plan retains the core of ______’s (agency) current IT contractors. The Team has more than half of the proposed staff currently working at the _______ (agency). These employees will be in place at contract award, which will eliminate contract start-up risks and will ensure that we continue to provide IT services to _______ (agency).
Our approach ensures that IT services will be consolidated effectively under the newly formed Office of ______ (agency). Specifically, our team:
- Is proposing a Program Manager known and trusted by ______ (agency).
- Has signed exclusive teaming agreements with all of the major incumbent contractors.
- Has the corporate structure in place to manage large-scale Federal contracts.
- Will establish a Project Management Office specifically to support the ______ (agency) contract.
- Has integrated project management principles into all aspects of the proposal to provide ______ (agency) with a tested and proven method to accomplish its IT mission.
Government-wide Model for IT Services
We propose to build on our IT service capabilities throughout the contract with a focus on improving ______ ‘s (agency) business processes. Our ______ (agency) specific capabilities and experience put us in an ideal position to make ______ (agency) a government-wide model for effective IT services. With the core of our team already in place, we will focus on performance improvement immediately upon contract award. Specific performance enhancement initiatives will include:
(list initiatives)
In summary, the Team will rely on our combined capabilities already in place at ______ (agency) to ensure that IT services will continue to operate and perform at their current level. At contract award, we will begin to implement performance enhancements focused on improving ______ ‘s (agency) business processes and on making the ______ (agency) IT program a government-wide model for superior IT services.
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