The 4 essential steps of the proposal review recovery process

Taking a moment to pause during a proposal can sometimes help you win more work. This pause is commonly referred to as the review recovery process. It involves reviewing and incorporating all feedback received during each review.

During this proposal review process, we carefully consider the reviewers' comments, work with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to improve the document and graphics, ensure that the document meets the client's requirements, and seek advice from the project leadership on technical elements.

This is our opportunity to reconsider, reinforce, clarify, and/or rewrite pieces of the document. The narrative and graphics evolve with each review and are refined based on changes in our design and/or construction approaches.

This period is critical and can be the most labor-intensive. However, like all other aspects of the project, we have a system in place to make the recovery process smooth.

Step 1 - assign champions to each section to ensure each section has someone's full attention, and nothing gets missed.

Step 2 - be prepared for a lumpy process, roll with the punches, and make sure all lines of communication are wide open.

Step 3 - verify graphics, editing, formatting, production, quality control, and delivery resources.

Step 4 - always know where we are regarding the "pens down" date.

If you follow these four steps, you will see a smoother review recovery process.