This post was written by Kevin Jans, President and Founder of Skyway Acquisition Solutions (“Skyway”):
Requests for Proposals for government contracts can be complicated. Between all the different sections, clauses, factors and sub-factors, and detailed-ish descriptions of the requirement, they can seem frustratingly complex. There’s a lot of reasons for all this complexity, but that’s for another blog post (or another book). Given all this info, how do you cut through all the information and qualify or disqualify to target your efforts well? I was at a luncheon this month one of the attendees asked me that, given this complexity, which part of the RFP should she review first.
Without blinking, I said, “Section M.”
“Why,” she asked. “Doesn’t that ignore what the contractor will need to do [Section C] and how to write the proposal [Section L]?”
I’ve gotten this question a lot, and my answer hasn’t changed in 10 years. I thought I’d share it here on the blog too. I recommend section M because that’s where you’ll discover how you will win.
Section C is what you’ll be doing if you win. This is critical information, of course. However, if you have been tracking the requirement (you were, right?) you already know, generally, what’s in Section C. Also, if you targeted the agency (your were doing that too, right?), you know what they do already. That’s enough information that given the limited amount of time you have to review RFPs, this should not be your first stop in your review. Oh, and Section C is usually the largest section of the RFP (it’s often its own attachment), so you’ll spend the most actual time combing through it. Therefore, Section C should not be the first place you go.
Likewise, Section L should not have any huge surprises. You generally know what the agency is buying and how they buy it. While Section L is critical to your proposal and response strategy, it is mostly binary, objective instructions such as the number of pages, due date, number of evaluation factors, proposal delivery process, etc. Simply put, Section L is easier to navigate and to clarify questions. You can quickly assess it later once you understand how you’ll win.
Section M, on the other hand, is where you will discover how you can win the contract. The extent to which you understand Section M (or don’t), is the critical factor in your review. For example, you need to know how you will be evaluated, if your strengths align with how the government will select the winner. The rest of the RFP is irrelevant if you don’t understand how you will win. Section M is also usually the shortest section of the RFP. So you’re also being time-efficient. We are all looking to be time-efficient.
One of the best ways to be time-efficient is to quickly target, then quality (or disqualify) opportunities. If you don’t understand how you will win, then no amount of strategy, tactics, or a detailed reading of section C, are going to help you win. The key element is how you will win. And the answer to that question is in section M. Start there.
Author: Kevin Jans
Kevin Jans is the President and Founder of Skyway Acquisition Solutions (“Skyway”). After 16 years as a Department of Defense contracting officer, he founded the company to help middle-market firms navigate the increasingly complex process of competing for Federal contracts.
This post Understanding Section M was first published on the Skyway Acquisition Solutions blog.