Contracts: Cost Proposal PDF Print E-mail

You are in a web ring of those portions of the Magic of Winning Proposals for which Contracts bears responsibility and with which you will be involved. Just click on Contracts at the bottom of each page. Magically, you will return to this page at the end of your tour!
Elements to Include, Elements to Avoid

There are three trapdoors in cost proposals:
  1. Not giving the customer what they asked for in the RFP,
  2. Giving the customer something they didn't ask for in the RFP, and
  3. Not following the instructions in the RFP (yes, this is the same as the first trap).
When to Evaluate Accounting Requirements

As a part of the marketing process, the Gatekeeper is likely to have given you some requirements of their accounting procedures. If you've never worked with the client, you should ask for some example invoices and budget detail sheets. Take these back to your accounting group IMMEDIATELY. They need time to evaluate how they will meet these requirements.

A NO-GO may have to be made solely because your accounting system cannot accommodate the client's requirements. It's better to have those discussions now rather than after you've spent six months positioning your organization to win a contract from this client!

When to Adapt to the Client's Accounting Requirements

Somehow, many clients manage to build their systems on requirements that are not present in your system. So you need to get creative about how you'll track that information in a way that is auditable and does not create an administrative burden that wipes out your profit margin.

Please click Contracts to read more about these responsibilities.