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Proposals: How a proposal works

Overview​

What it is: a proposal is your company's written answer to a government solicitation (an RFP, request for proposal). In Sprezz a proposal is a kind of project: you upload the RFP, Sprezz reads it and pulls out the requirements, line items and labor categories, and your team writes the response, reviews it, prices it and records what was submitted.

Who uses it: proposal managers, writers, reviewers and pricers. Everyone works inside a proposal only if they are on its team (Owner, Member or View Only). View Only people can read but not change anything.

Common Tasks​

How does a proposal go from RFP to submission?​

  1. Start the proposal. Open Projects in the left sidebar and pick Government Proposal (or click New Project and choose Proposal). Drop in the RFP files.
  2. Let Sprezz read the RFP. A progress bar at the top shows Analyzing and then Analysis complete. Sprezz extracts the requirements, CLINs and labor categories.
  3. Check what the government asked for. Open Compliance in the proposal sidebar to see the requirements, page limits, format rules, deadlines and key personnel.
  4. Set up the response. On Home, use Response structure to add volumes (the separate books of the response), then add sections inside each volume.
  5. Assign the work. In each volume, pick a Section writer and Section reviewer for each section, and map requirements to sections in Compliance.
  6. Write. Writers type in the volume, or paste or upload their Word text.
  7. Review. Run Pink, Red and Gold team reviews from Reviews.
  8. Price. Pricers build scenarios under Sources > Pricing.
  9. Record the submission. Click Submission history and record what was actually sent. Sprezz does not send anything to the government for you.

Who can: anyone on the proposal team can follow along. Changing things needs the Owner or Member role on that proposal.

Find a proposal​

  1. In the left sidebar, click Projects.
  2. Type part of the name in Search projects..., or click Proposals to show only proposals.
  3. Click the proposal to open it.

If it is not there, check Archived. If you still can't see it, you are not on its team: ask the proposal's owner to add you.

You can also jump between projects from the project name at the top of the page: it lists Recent Projects and All Projects.

Who can: anyone signed in sees the proposals they are a member of.

Get around inside a proposal​

When a proposal is open, the left sidebar shows three groups:

  • Workspaces: Home (your work and the deadline), Compliance (what the RFP requires), Capability Matrix, Reviews, Chat History.
  • Volumes: one link per volume of the response. It says No volumes yet until someone adds one. Only the first five show; click the "Show ... more" link under them to see the rest.
  • Sources: Files, CLINs, Labor Categories, Pricing, Team, Amendment History.

To leave the proposal, click the project name at the top and choose Exit Project, or All Projects.

Who can: anyone on the proposal team.

Why can't I see CLINs, Pricing or Team in the proposal sidebar?​

The top of the proposal sidebar has a view switcher with five views: Command, Author, Pricing, Compliance and References. Each view hides the pages that role doesn't usually need. For example, Author only shows Files and Amendment History under Sources.

  1. Click the view switcher at the top of the sidebar.
  2. Choose Command to see everything, or Pricing for CLINs, labor categories, pricing and team.

The view is just a filter, not a permission. Anyone can switch to any view, and Sprezz remembers your choice for each proposal.

Who can: anyone on the proposal team.

What is on the proposal Home page?​

Home is the first page of every proposal. It shows:

  • Your requirement assignments: requirements someone made you accountable for.
  • My assigned section work: sections where you are the writer or reviewer, with their Internal date.
  • Compliance snapshot: how many requirements are addressed. Click Open compliance matrix for the full list.
  • Response structure: the volumes of the response.
  • The deadline countdown (for example Due tomorrow), and Milestones.
  • Proposal readiness: open requirements, changed amendments and pending reviews. Click Refresh readiness to update it.

Who can: anyone on the proposal team.

Ask the AI about a proposal​

  1. Open the proposal.
  2. Click Ask AI at the top right. The AI Assistant panel opens.
  3. Type your question, for example "what are the page limits for the technical volume?", and click Send.

The assistant knows this proposal's documents, CLINs and requirements. To start over, click New chat in the panel.

Who can: Owner and Member can ask. View Only people can read past chats but can't send messages.

Find a past AI chat on a proposal​

  1. Open the proposal and click Chat History under Workspaces.
  2. Search with Search conversations....
  3. Click a conversation to reopen it in the AI panel.

You can also click the clock icon (Chat history) in the AI Assistant panel.

Who can: anyone on the proposal team.

My proposal shows tabs like Files, Chat, Team, Shred View​

That is the older proposal layout. Your organization still has it turned on. It has the same information in tabs: Files, Chat, Team, CLINs, Labor Categories, Pricing, Shred View, Deliverables, Q&A and Master Matrix. The guides in this section describe the newer layout, with Home, Compliance and Sources in the sidebar. Ask your administrator if you want the newer layout.

Who can: anyone on the proposal team.

What do RFP, Section L, Section M, CLIN and the other proposal words mean?​

  • RFP / solicitation: the government's request for proposals. In Sprezz, the solicitation documents are the proposal's Files.
  • Amendment: a change the government issues to the RFP after release.
  • Section L: the RFP's instructions to bidders, such as how to organize the response, page limits and fonts. Sprezz shows these under Compliance on the Volumes tab.
  • Section M: how the government will grade proposals. Sprezz shows these as Evaluation Factors under Compliance.
  • Compliance matrix: the list of every requirement and where your response answers it.
  • Volume: one separate book of the response, such as Technical, Management or Price.
  • Color team review: a formal internal review at a stage of writing. Pink is an early draft, Red is a near-final read as the evaluator would, and Gold is final approval.
  • CLIN: Contract Line Item Number, one priced line of the contract.
  • LCAT: labor category, a job role with its hourly rate, such as "Senior Engineer".
  • BOE: basis of estimate, the reasoning behind the hours and staff you bid.
  • Key personnel: named people the government requires in the proposal.

Who can: anyone.

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