Last night I got around to looking at the RFP for one of the re-competed contracts. Many people, when they first get their hands on an RFP or RFA, begin reading from the first page. They start with the cover sheet/cover letter, go on to the pricing forms in Section B, the scope-of-work in Section C, the Representations and Certifications, the incomprehensible list of government contract clauses, and so forth. By the time they get to the end, they often have no idea of what they have just read.
This isn't the way that I do it. Whenever I get an RFP or RFP, I immediately go to the back of the document. I don't even care what the subject matter of the RFP is. The first thing that I read is the Instructions to Offerors (bidders), which is often in Section L. This tells me a lot about the work that will need to be done -- how many pages the proposal will be, the type and extent of information that will be required in the technical and cost volumes, how that information should be organized, the deadline for submitting questions, whether the proposal will need to be submitted electronically or via mail or courier service, etc. Even after reading this stuff, I still don't know what the RFP/RFA is about. But at this point, I don't care.
After reading the Instructions, I immediately go to the Evaluation Criteria which often follows the Instructions. This tells me how the proposal will be evaluated by the government -- the number of points will be given to each section of the proposal, what the most important elements of the proposal will be, and any further elaborations on the Instructions that I just read.
Next, I go to Section H, which is sometimes called "Special Requirements" or something similar. Section H is often overlooked. But it shouldn't be, because this is where the government often hides important stuff. Things like insurance requirements, special security requirements, and the like.
Finally, finally, finally, I am ready to read the Scope-of-Work in Section C and to look at the pricing forms in Section B. All the stuff in the other sections can wait until later...
Try this technique in the next RFP or RFA that you receive and see if it doesn't give you a better sense of what's going on and what you'll have to do to prepare.
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