Be Sure Your Proposal is Explicit

A recent blog stated the following:

You Can't Assume Anything When Drafting A Proposal

The best rule to follow when drafting a proposal is to check every requirement in the solicitation, and then have your work doublechecked by someone else (or another team) to ensure that all required items are included. Don’t make assumptions about what the agency wants…

A recent Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) bid protest is a good example of a proposal that was not explicit, and did not meet a solicitation requirement.  Piton Science and Technology, LLC, B-421473.5, Feb. 28, 2024.

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) sought a task order to support program management tasks and perform federal background investigation support.  The Request for Proposal (“RFP”) stated that the project manager (a key person for this work) was required to have a minimum of 8 years of “managerial experience” related to Federal Personnel Security background investigation [and] adjudication.  The RFP stated that “the resumes submitted must demonstrate key personnel possess the minimum years of experience.  When the IRS evaluated the proposal, it found that Piton’s proposed project manager did not meet the full 8 year requirement.

Piton asserted that its proposed project manager’s resume indicated that it had 8 years of relevant managerial experience. In the protest, Piton agreed that it did not initially identify relevant FBI experience because “the agency should have recognized the resume standing on its own already comprised 8 years of managerial experience.”  The GAO concluded that Piton did not clearly identify the relevant of the proposed project manager’s FBI additional experience in the proposal. The GAO noted that during the protest, Piton asserted that it could have included a statement of the relevance of the FBI experience—and this suggests that Piton did not contain the relevancy statement.  GAO denied the protest.

There were other protest grounds but they were all denied and are not discussed here.

Takeaway: You must clearly demonstrate in your proposal that the proposal meets all of the requirements in the RFP.  Leave nothing to chance.  Be explicit.  If a key person must show 8 years of experience, explain the exact positions and number of years of relevant experience in both the resume and the proposal.

For other helpful suggestions on government contracting, visit:

Richard D. Lieberman’s FAR Consulting & Training at https://www.richarddlieberman.com/, and Mistakes in Government Contracting at https://richarddlieberman.wixsite.com/mistakes.