The global economy encourages international competitive bidding and often a more structured evaluation and decision-making process.

Every country has different acquisition systems. International proposals take on many forms and variations. Bidders must be acutely tuned to specific business practices, customs, standards, and laws.

Political considerations, socioeconomic arrangements and investments, protectionism, and teaming with local organizations all play larger roles when acquisition rules are not tightly defined.

Winning bids integrate aspects of the solution, competitive situation and price. In addition to the obvious differences in cultural customs and communication, consider how you will adapt your solution to the local business and legal environment, management structures, management and reporting systems, tax structures, utilities, and infrastructure.

The following guidelines can help you with the writing, management, and production of the proposal:

• Respect the customs and culture of customers countries.
• Adapt your solution to the local business customs and legal environment, management structures, management and reporting systems, tax structures, infrastructure, and evaluation approach.
• Use your normal capitalization, spelling, and punctuation when writing to a foreign contact in English.
• Use customers’ spelling conventions when replying to formal bid requests.
• Keep your writing clear, short, and concise.
• Use more graphics, but keep them simple.
• Recognize that English usage varies significantly worldwide.
• Prepare the proposal near the customer when possible.
• Use translation services cautiously.
• Adjust your proposal preparation schedule.
• Offer a read-through, oral presentation, and question-and-answer session to ensure your proposal is understood.

To find out more about international proposals and best practices, check out the Shipley Proposal Guide.