Shipley Proposal Process Terms

A catch-all section of a solicitation for terms specific to that procurement that don't fit elsewhere in the Uniform Contract Format, such as organizational conflict of interest rules or key personnel provisions.

The part of a solicitation listing the FAR, agency-specific, and other clauses that will govern the resulting contract.

An index of every attachment, exhibit, and standalone document incorporated into the solicitation by reference.

The part of a solicitation where offerors complete required self-certifications, such as small business size status and tax matters.

The instructions offerors must follow to prepare and submit a compliant proposal, covering volume structure, page limits, formatting, and submission deadlines.

The part of a solicitation stating the evaluation factors and subfactors the government will use to judge proposals, and the basis for award.

A DISA-published configuration standard specifying how to secure a piece of hardware, software, or network device to meet DoD security requirements.

The senior civilian official within a DoD component responsible for all service acquisition matters, setting acquisition strategy and approving major service acquisitions.

Small business owned by a service-disabled veteran.

Contract limited to a specific small business socio-economic category.

Shipley's framework: Compliance, Responsiveness, Strategy, Competitive Focus, Writing Quality, Visualization, and Page/Document Design.

The number of examples given to a model within a prompt to guide its response; "few-shot" means the model is shown only a handful of examples before producing new output.

Federal agency supporting small businesses in government contracting.

Small business meeting SBA disadvantage requirements.

An association uniting public- and private-sector professionals across engineering, architecture, construction, and facilities disciplines in support of national security.

Contract issued without competitive bidding — typically only one qualified source.

Official government document (RFP, RFQ, IFB) inviting proposals or bids.

13-digit identifier encoding the buying agency, fiscal year, type, and sequence.

The role responsible for the technical design of a proposed solution, working with subject matter experts to make sure the architecture responds to the requirement and supports the proposal's win themes.

Brainstorming session to determine the best solutions for the customer's concerns and requirements.

Government panel that reviews proposals and recommends award.

Market research tool to gauge qualified bidders. Informs set-aside decisions.

Broad, top-level government objectives without prescribing how to accomplish them.

Portion of the RFP/contract defining specific work to be accomplished.

Planning tool where writers outline what they plan to write before drafting, incorporating solutions, graphics, and themes.

Standards for a particular proposal ensuring consistency in formatting, terminology, and voice.

Plan detailing workshare percentages across all small business categories.

Company performing a portion of the contractual obligation for the prime.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis for competitive positioning.

Government registration portal for federal contractors. Required for all awards.

Order placed against an existing contract for services.

Graphic in proposal volumes providing an overview of the proposed team — logos, certifications, and highlights.

An offeror's response to technical RFP requirements detailing how work will be performed.

A setting on a language model that controls the randomness of its output; a higher temperature produces more varied, less predictable responses, and a lower one produces more consistent, focused ones.

A short, written statement at the start of a major proposal section that ties the section's content to a customer benefit and the proposal's win strategy.

Contract based on direct labor hours at fixed rates plus materials at cost.

An individual unit of text, such as a word or piece of punctuation, that an AI language model processes; tokenization is the act of breaking text into these units.

The body of data used to train an AI model, shaping what patterns and language it learns to reproduce.

Cover letter included with a proposal, addressed to the Contracting Officer.

SAM.gov identifier replacing the former DUNS number.

A proposal not in response to an RFP, based on an identified customer requirement.

A customer-focused statement describing how specific parts of an offer will positively affect the customer's business or mission.

Small business with majority veteran ownership.

The role responsible for a single proposal volume, coaching section writers and contributors to produce compliant, responsive content on schedule that conforms to the proposal outline and compliance matrix.

Final quality inspection before proposal delivery — every page of every copy verified.

Lessons learned review focusing on improving future submissions.

A comparison of an organization's likely bid and solution against competitors' likely bids and solutions, used within the pricing-to-win process to identify a price range that is both competitive and profitable.

The overarching approach for positioning your offer as the best value, based on discriminators and competitive intelligence.

Theme statements designed to persuade the government of your unique capabilities. Should run throughout the proposal.

Slang for the perception that a contract award has been predetermined.