The most crucial step in federal proposal writing is deconstructing the Request for Proposal (RFP) sentence-by-sentence and clause-by-clause in order to build a complete proposal template (outline). We highly recommend doing the same with every amendment and updating the template each time. Deconstructing the RFP is the only way to ensure that your business addresses each and every requirement of the RFP. Many typical federal RFP will contain a myriad of important and unimportant clauses, a baffling and befuddling list or proposal requirements and statements of work that are poorly written or insufficient in detail.

Missing a detail in this morass can result in the filing of a proposal that does not meet the agency's requirements. A phrase, a punctuation mark or an ambiguity in an instruction or requirement can make the difference between success and failure.

You'll want to decompose the RFP and build a compliance matrix to help you through this maze. The act of doing it will help you make a competitive assessment on how well you can write to the required content and inform your decision on whether you want to pursue the bid further.