Engineering firm case study
The situation
A Midwest mechanical engineering firm competes for public-sector design work through formal RFPs. Their engineers are excellent. Their proposals kept losing.
After one scored submission, the evaluators sent back their comments. The feedback was blunt: the quality section read as canned, the methodology never explained how the work would get done, and the team bios gave no proof that anyone had done a similar job.
The firm had the talent to win. They needed a proposal that proved it on paper.
The Result: Two jobs won within the first 30 days of using the redesigned, rewritten RFP.
Client: Mechanical engineering firm bidding public-sector projects
Services: RFP strategy, proposal copywriting, proposal template design, and team bio development.
What the evaluators said
These are real comments from the scoring committee. If your firm bids RFPs, you have probably received a version of every one.
“QA/QC Statement seemed canned and did not directly reference the project.”
“How QA/QC is completed is not addressed and is unclear. HOW DO YOU PERFORM IT?”
“Change orders not addressed.”
“No project manager identified.”
“Could not identify which similar work projects were worked on by who on the project team.”
“Nothing special here, really just standard office communication and effort among a design team.”
What we did
We sorted every evaluator comment by proposal section and turned each one into a specific fix. Then we rebuilt the proposal template so the next submission answers those questions before an evaluator has to ask them. The principals reviewed every round of edits with us until the proposal sounded like their team on its best day.
01.
Show how quality control works on this project
The canned quality statement became a set of fill-in fields the team completes for every bid, so each proposal names the project, the building, and the owner. New sections spell out the review process beyond the 30, 60, and 90 percent milestones, how the consultant supports design and construction, and how change orders get handled.
02.
Name the person who owns delivery
Evaluators asked who would run the job. The proposal now assigns a named project manager and explains that role, so the owner knows exactly who to call.
03.
Prove the team has done this before
Every bio now carries an Areas of Special Focus sidebar and a list of past projects, so evaluators can match each engineer to similar work. A project spotlight near the end of the proposal shows the firm has already delivered a job like the one being bid.
04.
Sound like people worth hiring
Stiff, boilerplate RFP language became clear, confident writing with a sharper focus on the client and the building. The technical detail engineers expect stayed in, organized so a scoring committee can find it fast.
The Result
Two jobs won in 30 days
The firm had been losing bids. Within the first 30 days of submitting the redesigned, rewritten RFP, they won two jobs. Every bid since starts from the same template, so the team spends less time rewriting boilerplate and more time tailoring the proposal to the project.
Is your proposal losing points?
If an evaluator could write any of the comments above about your last submission, the fix is in the proposal. Nerd Herd translates technical expertise into proposals that are specific to the project and easy to score. Book a call with Ashlei and bring your last scored RFP.
