Tips for writing winning proposals for defence contracts

Publication date: 2007

• Introduction
• Before You Write
• Writing the Proposal
• 5 Points for Winning Proposals

To write winning proposals for defence sector contracts, you need to follow the same principles for proposal writing as other industries with a few industry-specific considerations.

Writing a proposal is usually the result of one of two scenarios; you are responding to a Request For Proposal (RFP) which asks for a solution to a problem or; you have identified an opportunity to provide a product or service to satisfy a requirement a potential client may not even know that they need. This is usually referred to as an unsolicited proposal.

Proposals written in response to a formal RFP are easier to write than informally requested or unsolicited proposals because you are usually told what to submit and how the proposal will be evaluated.

Unsolicited or informally requested proposals often seem easier to write than formal proposals because you control the content. The complexity comes from potentially not knowing what information the customer needs to make a decision. In response to this uncertainty it is easy to provide everything you can think of in your proposal. This can quickly result in information overload for the reader. A detailed proposal plan and effective Proposal Management help to keep proposals on track.

Gathering information about the customer, your competition, and the market and using that information when identifying themes, selecting benefits, and determining costs to include in the proposal will aid in writing winning proposals. Honestly evaluating your ability to perform in comparison to the competition is critical. Turning a blind eye to your weaknesses and underestimating your competitors’ strengths results in weak proposals and wasted business development effort.

Find out your customer’s quality and operation management philosophy. If the customer is running a lean operation and you are as well, emphasize that as a benefit to doing business with you. On the other hand, if you are not using lean practices, you’ll need to acknowledge that fact and address this weakness in your proposal. To assure customers that you are a low-risk choice, clearly state and discuss the steps you will take or other programmes you have in place that will mitigate customer concerns.

If your customer is struggling to keep costs down to maintain market share, your proposal needs to play up the cost-related benefits of doing business with you. If you aren’t the lowest-priced supplier, you’ll need to find other advantages to highlight in the proposal such as consistent quality, on-time delivery, or capacity to handle changes in demand, all of which can save the customer money.

If the proposal is in response to a RFP, one approach to writing the proposal is to use the RFP requirements as the outline for your proposal. Specifically address each requirement or state why the requirement is not applicable. Be sure that you do not just restate the requirements. Confirm that you will meet the requirement and go on to describe how the requirement will be met, validated, and the benefit to the customer that your approach provides.

If you do not have a RFP specifying your proposal structure than consider this list of topics:

• Discussion of the customer’s problem
• Benefits of proposed solution
• Description of solution
• Implementation of solution
• Quality and risk
• Company track record and financial status
• Price

1. Keep the purpose in mind: The purpose for a proposal is to provide your customer with a solution. Keeping the proposal focused on this will assure the proposal message is about the customer.
2. Only you can provide this solution: Be sure that the proposal includes the characteristics that make your solution unique. Also, use descriptors showing that the proposal and solution provided are focused on the customer by including specific information regarding their business, such as delivery locations or supply needs.
3. Reduce risk: Simply ignoring risks does not make the customer think they don’t exist. Your proposal should clearly state codes and standards your product meets, provide warranty information, and discuss your quality process.
4. Provide evidence: Whenever possible use graphs, charts, and tables to support the proposal text. Provide success stories and financial data that shows you can hold up your end of any agreement.
5. Discuss implementation from start to finish: Showing that you understand and have planned for any difficulties associated with providing the customer with the products or services you propose gives the customer confidence that you will deliver.

To find out how your company can produce winning proposals for defence sector contracts, contact Jeffrey Strategic.