Writing the Approach Section
By Dan Safford

If you are proposing services to a client, the approach sections are the heart of your proposal. This is where you tell the evaluator what you will do during the project and how you will do it. But you must go beyond that if you want to win.

The evaluator will judge your fitness to perform the work based on these sections. But you must remember this as well: All competitors for this project will be able to do the job at virtually the same level of competence.

One way to differentiate yourself from the others is to go into more detail about the work you will do. You can do this by addressing, specifically, each of the following questions:

What will we do during each task? This is straightforward enough; you need to say exactly what you will do during each aspect of the project. Be specific. Start off each task section with, "During this task we will," and go on to give details. Most proposers will do this; it's what the evaluator will expect.

How will we do it? This is also a basic requirement. You need to tell the evaluator how you will do what you say you'll do. This gives the evaluator a feeling for your technical competence. Go into enough detail. Once again, however, all offerors will likely go this far.

What are the critical issues involved in doing this work? Now you are getting above and beyond the norm.   Every task has potential bottlenecks to successful completion. Think hard about what obstacles might prevent you from bringing this task to closure. You can be sure the client will. But don't stop there; you need to show how you will resolve that potential show stopper.

What are the benefits of doing the task in this way? You need to spell out the direct benefits your approach will bring to the client. Do not assume the evaluators will automatically see these benefits. You must hit readers over the head with them.

Why will we do it this way? Many offerors will not go into why we have selected this approach. This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your competence by going into more detail. You can cite your past experience in this kind of work, and explain that you are approaching it in this manner because you have been successful doing work in this way before.

Use this formula for all your technical sections. In fact, you can use it in the management sections as well, when you describe how you will manage the project. (Note: In the example below the bolded text indicates each of the above elements. Do not include them in the actual write-up.)