Page Budget Planner

Overview & Role#

The Page Budget Planner (page-budget-planner) belongs to CLIN 0002 — Proposal & capture in src/data/catalog.ts. It divides a solicitation's hard page limit across proposal volumes and sections in proportion to Section M evaluation weights, after reserving fixed pages for introductions, summaries, or counted front matter.

As explained in Answer every requirement, a page limit is a strict requirement: pages beyond the limit are commonly removed unread. Setting each writer's page budget on day one prevents last-minute cutting of scored technical content.

Governing Regulations & Sources#

• FAR Part 15 & FAR 15.204-1 (Sections L and M): Section L establishes volume structure, page limits, and formatting constraints (paper size, margins, font size, line spacing, and whether covers, tables of contents, acronym lists, resumes, or fold-outs count toward the limit). Section M states the evaluation factors and their relative importance (numerical weights or qualitative rankings such as "significantly more important than").
• FAR 52.215-1 (Instructions to Offerors—Competitive Acquisition): Governs compliance with proposal preparation instructions and page-limit enforcement.
• Solicitation-specific counting rules: Because solicitations differ on whether covers, TOCs, compliance matrices, and resumes count toward the cap, the planner models fixed reservations explicitly so the user can align inputs to Section L.

Inputs, Processing Logic & Outputs#

Inputs

Deterministic Processing Logic

1. Available pool calculation:
   • countedFixed = sum(fixed.pages where fixed.counted === true)
   • availablePages = totalPageLimit - countedFixed
   • Fails closed with a clear validation error if countedFixed > totalPageLimit or if sum(section.minPages) > availablePages.
2. Weight normalization:
   • totalWeight = sum(section.weight) (must be > 0).
   • share_i = section_i.weight / totalWeight
3. Proportional allocation & largest-remainder rounding:
   • Computes exact target exact_i = availablePages * share_i, clamped to at least minPages_i.
   • Floors each section to roundingStep (floor(exact_i / step) * step) and distributes remaining step units deterministically by largest fractional remainder (tie-breaking by highest weight, then section order) so the allocated pages sum exactly to availablePages and countedFixed + sum(allocated) === totalPageLimit.
4. Word-count guidance (informational): Estimates approximate word budget (allocatedPages * wordsPerPage, defaulting to 350–450 words/page depending on user-selected density) as a writer aid.

Outputs

• Volume Page Budget Table: Columns Part / Section, Working Weight (%), Exact Share, Allocated Pages, Counted?, and Estimated Words.
• Excluded Front/Back Matter Summary: Lists items marked counted: false (e.g., covers, resumes, acronym lists if excluded by Section L) so writers still track total deliverable length.
• Local Exports: CSV and Markdown table exports for immediate inclusion in the proposal kickoff plan.

Clean-Room & 5-Condition QA Requirements#

1. Browser-only execution: All allocation arithmetic and largest-remainder rounding run in client-side JavaScript.
2. Strict Content Security Policy (connect-src 'self'): Enforces default-src 'self'; connect-src 'self'; form-action 'none'. Capture strategies and volume outlines stay strictly local.
3. Zero tracking or accounts: No sign-in, cookies, analytics, or external requests. Any optional localStorage persistence is disclosed with a Clear local data control.
4. Offline execution: Works completely offline after initial load with zero external dependencies.
5. Worked examples, citations & scope limits: Verified against the exact worked example in Answer every requirement and boundary edge cases (zero weights, over-allocated fixed pages, fractional remainders), cites FAR Part 15 / 52.215-1, carries an MIT LICENSE, and states that working weights represent the bidder's reading of Section M prose—not official government scoring formulas—unless Section M states explicit point values.

Worked Example & Verification#

Synthetic Input (from Answer every requirement):

• totalPageLimit: 30
• fixedAllocations: Introduction and summary = 2 pages (counted: true)
• sections:
  • Factor 1, technical approach — weight 50
  • Factor 2, management approach — weight 30
  • Factor 3, staffing — weight 20
• roundingStep: 1

Step-by-step calculation:

• availablePages = 30 - 2 = 28 pages.
• Exact shares:
  • Factor 1: 28 × 0.50 = 14.0 → 14 pages (remainder 0.0)
  • Factor 2: 28 × 0.30 = 8.4 → 8 pages (remainder 0.4)
  • Factor 3: 28 × 0.20 = 5.6 → 5 pages + 1 largest remainder = 6 pages (remainder 0.6)

Expected Output:

Boundary cases verified by Shakedown:

• countedFixed > totalPageLimit displays an inline error and refuses to emit negative section budgets.
• totalWeight === 0 displays an inline validation error instead of dividing by zero.
• Unnormalized weights (e.g., 5, 3, 2) normalize identically to 50%, 30%, 20%.

Related pages#

• Answer every requirement
• Read a solicitation
• Compliance Matrix Generator
• Check a tool’s answer
• Shakedown specification