Proposal Writing Blog Series, Day 5: Cost and Past Performance

Aug 13, 10 • proposal writing, technical writing • 1 Comment • Read More »

This is part of a five-day blog series on how to write a winning proposal. It will go discuss actually writing the proposal. If you want to get more in-depth information, examples, and what to do before the proposal, check out my “How to Write a Winning Proposal” handbook.

Cost Section

During the Reviewing the RFP Process section, I mentioned that usually the RFP has a Section B, which details the way the organization wants the cost information to be shown. There are times where they just want you to copy and paste your cost schedule. Other times, they want your cost broken down by a timeline that they specify, or they want you to.

Past Performance

Like resumes, having a Past Performance template will help in having uniformity in the proposal, and make it easier to add the information. Usually, an organization wants the following information to be covered in a past performance:

Company/Division Name
Period of Performance
Title
Contracting Agency
Point of Contact
Contracting Number
Type of Contract
Task Requirements
Level of Effort (Labor Hours)
Total Cost of Contract $ Value
Original Completion Date
Current Completion Date
Program Director/Manager

In the majority of the RFPs I have seen, they usually will tell you what information they want in a past performance, and how many of them they want in the proposal.

However, if they don’t specify, ensure that you have at least three past performances where the work was of similar scope and size. The Past Performance section is usually in the body of the proposal. However, if the organization doesn’t want it to be part of it, you can usually place it as an appendix.

End of Blog Series

We have come to the end of the Proposal Writing Blog Series:

I hope that you were able to learn a thing or two. Please check out the handbook that is filled with examples and more tips.

Written by: Shevonne on August 13, 2010.
Last revised by: Shevonne on August 9, 2010.

Tags: proposal, proposal cost, proposal past performance, proposal writing handbook

Jonny

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