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Did you ever wonder about the basis for Federal Government Request for Proposals? Why don’t they just tell us in clear, easy to understand language, exactly what it is that they want us to bid on?
Federal RFPs must be written so that they meet the requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). https://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html
Although there are many references in the FAR that apply to proposals, we are primarily concerned with the regulations found in Part 15 – Contracting by Negotiation. I recommend reading this if you find yourself in a position where you just can’t get to sleep. This should do the trick.
To confuse things even more, many governmental agencies have developed companion documents to the FAR that define that agency’s interpretation of the FAR as it applies to them. For example, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services has developed the HHS Acquisition Regulation (HHSR).
My experience has been that Government Program Offices (the people who what to buy goods or services) write Section C – Description/Specifications/Work Statement, Section L – Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors, and Section M – Evaluation Factors for Award. They send these sections to the Contracting Office which does two things. They add all of other sections of the RFP and they often rewrite the three sections that they received from the Program Office. For example, they may turn the Statement of Work into a Performance Work Statement.
The next time that you get an RFP that seems like it was written by a committee, remember that it probably was.
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