Judgement Day: A Look Inside The Evaluation Process
By Dan Safford

Michael Asner is a proposal consultant I've met through the web.  He has some interesting perspectives on proposal development, in part because he also helps his clients write the RFPs you might respond to. This is one of his articles. You can visit him at his website http://proposalsthatwin.com

You just spent untold hours hammering out a response to a 100-page RFP for a government project. You submitted your proposal, and now you're waiting. How will your response be judged? Most evaluation processes are similar.

First, the project manager or RFP officer determines whether the proposal complies with each of the mandatory terms and conditions in the RFP. In some jurisdictions, proposals that fail to comply must be eliminated from further consideration. In other jurisdictions, they may be eliminated at the discretion of the procurement officer.

Proposals that are difficult to follow may be scored lower, even if they contain the required information. If following a prescribed format was a mandatory condition of the RFP, and you deviated from it, your proposal may be judged as "non-compliant" and eliminated from consideration.

If the organization is handling cost as a separate issue, the cost proposal is separated from the technical proposal. If technical experts are used to evaluate certain features, they receive only those proposal sections dealing with their issues.

Proposals are then evaluated and scores are computed for each of the predefined criteria. Proposals may be ranked, and only those capable of providing an acceptable solution receive further evaluation.

Scoring The Proposal: The Inside Story

Evaluators are supposed to score your proposal against a set of predefined criteria. This approach is intended to ensure that each proposal is handled in a similar manner. But does it work?

Evaluation is a complex process. Evaluators are human and influenced by their own experiences and expectations. They can't help bringing their own world view to the process. Therefore, while the entire process is designed to promote objectivity, evaluators are not always objective. With this in mind, let's look at ways to promote a good score.

Tip No.1.  Evaluators are influenced by past experience with your company and its people. They will remember if the last proposal you submitted was the worst they had ever seen. They will remember if your company provided excellent service and helped solved a critical problem on the last project. They will remember if you threatened to complain to senior management during a contract dispute. And they will remember your embarrassing comment at the suppliers’ meeting about the quality of the technical specifications.

Each of these events may cause an evaluator to score you higher or lower than your proposal actually deserves.

Tip No. 2.  Evaluators compare proposals; they can't help but compare proposals. Say, for example, the RFP requires a project plan and the third proposal the evaluator reviews contains a detailed project plan and a five-page analysis of risks associated with the work. If the evaluator likes that proposal’s write-up, he or she will look for a similar section in your proposal and in all the others.

In spite of the evaluation criteria, evaluators now recognize that proposal number three is superior and that the company understands the project. That vendor has succeeded in altering the evaluation process and having its proposal adopted as the standard.

Tip No. 3.  Evaluators don't like promises without a description of how you plan to keep them. Make sure your proposals are specific, the plan is detailed and the deliverables are described.

In the ideal proposal, every feature, function or requirement identified in the RFP is described and followed with a "proof" statement, such as "We implemented this feature 12 months ago and it is currently installed at 10 sites. The reference section includes names and addresses.”

Tip No. 4.  Easy to follow, well-written proposals receive higher scores. Make sure your proposal is easily understood by a typical evaluator.

Evaluating 10 or 12 proposals is tedious. By the 10th proposal, the evaluator is tired, bored and finding it hard to follow the text. Anything that you can do to help the evaluator understand your proposal will promote a better score. Headings, diagrams, checklists and summaries all promote understanding.