Read a solicitation

A solicitation is the government’s written request for offers. It can run to hundreds of pages, and most of those pages are not where the decisions are. This guide explains how the document is organized so you can find the dozen facts that tell you whether to bid, and what a winning answer has to contain.

The kinds of request#

Not everything the government posts is a solicitation, and the different kinds are answered differently.

Federal opportunities above a set dollar value are posted on SAM.gov under Contract Opportunities. Searching and reading there is free and needs no account. Downloading some attachments does need one.

An RFI is worth answering. The answers help the government decide whether a purchase can be set aside for small businesses, and how to write the requirement.

The lettered sections#

Many solicitations follow the uniform contract format, which divides the document into thirteen lettered sections. Even when a solicitation is laid out differently, people in this field use the letters as shorthand, so they are worth learning once.

Sections A through J become the contract. Section K is carried into it by reference. Sections L and M are about the competition, and are not part of the contract.

1. CompetitionSections L and MInstructions and evaluation factors for the competition; not part of the contract.
2. ReferenceSection KRepresentations, certifications and other statements, carried into the contract by reference.
3. ContractSections A through JThe forms, pricing schedule, work description, and clauses that become the contract.

When the letters are missing#

Purchases of commercial products and services often use a shorter layout, built around a standard form and a set of commercial clauses. There may be no Section L or M by name. The same content is still there under plainer headings:

• Instructions to offerors is the equivalent of Section L.
• Evaluation or basis for award is the equivalent of Section M.
• Statement of work, performance work statement or statement of objectives is the equivalent of Section C.
• Price schedule is the equivalent of Section B.

Other transaction agreements, which some defense buyers use for prototypes, are not governed by the FAR at all. Their requests follow whatever format the issuing office chooses. Read them without assumptions.

What to read first#

Reading from page one is the slow way. This order gets you to a bid decision fastest:

1. The cover page. Due date, time and time zone. How to submit. Who to ask.
2. Section L. What you must hand in: volumes, page limits, format, required forms.
3. Section M. What the government will score, and what matters most.
4. Section C. The work itself. Can you do it?
5. Section B. How the price is structured.
6. Section H. Anything unusual: clearances, key personnel, special security terms.
7. Sections I and K. The clauses and the statements you must make.
8. Section J attachments. Often the real detail lives here: the pricing workbook, the labor category descriptions, the data requirements.

1. 1Cover pageDue date, time, time zone, how to submit, and who to ask.
2. 2Section LVolumes, page limits, format, and required forms.
3. 3Section MWhat the government will score, and what matters most.
4. 4Section CThe work itself, to determine if you can perform it.
5. 5Section BHow the pricing schedule is structured.
6. 6Section HClearances, key personnel, and special security terms.
7. 7Sections I and KThe standard clauses and required statements.
8. 8Section JAttachments such as pricing workbooks and labor descriptions.

The first-pass list#

Before you spend a day on a solicitation, find these facts. Most are on the cover page or in Sections L and M.

• Deadlines. When questions are due. When the proposal is due, to the minute, and in which time zone.
• How to submit. A portal, email, or something else, and any size limit on files.
• Who may bid. Whether the purchase is set aside for small businesses or a specific program, and under which NAICS code and size standard. See Codes, registration and small business status.
• Contract type. Fixed price, time and materials, cost reimbursement, or an ordering contract with task orders.
• Length. The base period and the option periods.
• Place of performance. On a government site, at your own, or remote.
• Security. Whether people or facilities need a clearance, and how government information must be protected. See Protecting government information.
• Basis for award. Whether the government will trade price against quality, or take the lowest-priced proposal that is technically acceptable.
• Past performance. How many references, how recent and how similar.
• Mandatory qualifications. Certifications, registrations or experience that are pass or fail.

If you fail a pass-or-fail item, nothing else in the proposal matters.

Clauses incorporated by reference#

Section I can list a hundred clauses by number and title alone. Each one is a term of the contract, with the same force as if it were printed in full. The full text is on acquisition.gov.

The numbers tell you where a clause comes from:

You do not need to read every clause on the first pass. These are worth finding early, because they change what the work costs:

Some of these are being renumbered as part of the rewrite described above. Search by the clause title if a number does not match.

Amendments and questions#

A solicitation changes after it is posted. Each change is an amendment, and each one is part of the solicitation.

• Watch for amendments. On SAM.gov you can follow an opportunity. An amendment can move the due date, change the work or replace an attachment.
• Acknowledge every amendment in the way the solicitation requires. A proposal that ignores an amendment can be rejected.
• Ask questions in writing, by the deadline, to the person named. Answers are normally published to every bidder, so do not put anything proprietary in a question.
• Do not rely on anything said informally. Only the written solicitation and its amendments count.

A good question points to a page and paragraph, quotes the text and asks one thing.

Late is late#

A proposal that arrives after the exact time stated is late, and with narrow exceptions a late proposal is not considered. Portals slow down in the last hour, and email attachments are held up by size limits and scanners. Plan to submit a day early.

Decide whether to bid#

A proposal costs real time. Before you commit, answer these honestly:

• Are we eligible, and do we pass every pass-or-fail item?
• Can we do the work in Section C with people we have or can hire?
• Do we have past performance that matches what Section M asks for?
• Can we meet the security requirements by the time they apply?
• Does the price structure in Section B leave room to do the work properly?
• Can we produce everything Section L asks for by the due date?

Deciding not to bid is a legitimate result of reading a solicitation well. When the answer is yes, the next guide covers answering every requirement.

DecisionDo you meet every requirement and pass-or-fail condition?

• Yes
  Prepare proposalProceed to shredding requirements, compliance matrix, and writing answers.
• No
  Decline to bidConserve resources; failing any pass-or-fail item eliminates the proposal.

Sources#

• Federal Acquisition Regulation, Part 15, “Contracting by Negotiation”: the uniform contract format, instructions to offerors and evaluation factors. Read it at acquisition.gov.
• FAR Part 12, “Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services”, for the commercial layout.
• FAR provision 52.215-1, “Instructions to Offerors: Competitive Acquisition”, for the rule on late proposals.
• The FAR overhaul pages on acquisition.gov, for the current state of the rewrite.
• SAM.gov, Contract Opportunities, for the solicitations themselves.