Put the “Preparation” back in SF330 Proposal Preparation: 

Four strategies to implement before the solicitation issues

If your firm is anticipating the release of an A/E services solicitation, you probably aren’t twiddling your thumbs and staring at the wall waiting for it to issue. Most companies realize that preparation needs to be done ahead of time, but are you using the best strategies to stay ahead of your competition?

Follow these four key strategies for a more prepared and successful proposal:

  1. Build Your Team.  

Secure commitments from your subconsultants prior to solicitation release. Ideal partners are those that you have worked with before, especially on similar projects. Make sure their qualifications are relevant, up-to-date, and tailored to the pursuit.

  1. Test Your Section G.  

Assuming you can anticipate the required criteria for the contract or project, identify your strongest key personnel and project experience. Developing a mock Section G is a great way to analyze your proposed staff and projects in one place to determine if your team can deliver a strong, winning proposal. In this analysis, look for higher numbers of proposed staff that have worked together on your proposed projects.

  1. Check Your Data.  

Make sure your project descriptions are relevant, current, tailored to the criteria, and well-written. Your key personnel resumes should be the same quality. It is important to match up resumes and projects in an SF 330 submittal so your Section G shines, but the actual content of this material is just as important.

  1. Outline Section H.  

Review past solicitations with similar criteria that you’ve either pursued or wanted to pursue; then start to develop content for Section H by following the selection criteria listed in those RFPs. Requirements and criteria are often similar from solicitation to solicitation, especially for federal pursuits issued by the same agency.

Now that you are ready ahead of time, you are in great shape to prepare a winning SF330.

Once the solicitation drops, make sure to read it carefully and check back to the assumptions you made when preparing for the solicitation. To nail your SF330, be sure to prepare a compliance matrix first so understand all of the details that you could otherwise miss, e.g., page limits, font size, date limitations for project experience. Organize your material so it is easy for the evaluators to score your submittal. If you prepare ahead of time, you will spend more time perfecting the quality of your content and less time scrambling to develop it.