How to Write a Proposal for a Service Business

By Lanee’ Blunt

A proposal for a service businessis used for bidding on a RFP, asking for funding, or used to persuade potentialclients or customers to support the proposal financially. Write from an outline.Deconstruct the request for proposal (RFP) to develop an outline. Servicebusinesses need to summarize their concerns and begin planning early before writingthe proposal.  Collect all of theinformation on your company from service brochures, and ensure that graphs thatwill be included are relevant.

Difficulty

Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need

Company brochures

Graphs

Charts

Write a project summary orexecutive summary which is a brief summary of the project. Tell the evaluatorsor client why your service is best for the contract.

Start the next section with “qualifications”information. Write about the number of similar types of contracts. State thesize of each plan and the number of participants, or amount of assets.  Give references from similar types of contractsthat you have done.

Start the third section“Personnel information” and the responsibilities of key employees in your company,and subcontractors that are named in the proposal.

Start the forth section“Cost estimate” and explain the price you are proposing. List a project price.  Include each service that is proposed with adetailed fee schedule.

Address expected completiondates in the fifth section. Address major topics in the request for proposal(RFP) and address them in the order that they appear in the RFP. 

Avoid typos that will makeyour proposal look unprofessional.

Eliminate all errors byproofreading the proposal. Rewrite sections that are too vague and don’texplain the full meaning of what you are proposing. 

Tips

Make sure that your proposalhas demonstrated that your company has the capability to perform the job.

Reference

Findfrp: GovernmentContracting; How to Write a Proposal or Respond to a Bid Solicitation

Fedmarket: Proposal Writing:Filling the Holes  


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