Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a mistake that quietly costs small contractors evaluation points, and most of them never find out it happened: they write their entire technical proposal to one person. The contracting officer.
It makes sense on the surface. The CO is the name on the solicitation. The CO signs the award. So you write to the CO and load up the formal language you figure he wants to read.
Here's what you're missing. The CO is not the one scoring your technical approach. On a small federal construction job, the people actually reading your proposal are the COR, the facility manager, and usually the building guy who has to live with your work for the next twenty years. Sometimes it's the exact maintenance tech who's been patching that roof since before you ever showed up.
The CO handles the contract file. Those other people handle the reality. And they're the ones sitting on the evaluation panel.
So when your technical proposal reads like a stack of legal forms and never once talks to the person who knows the building, you lose points and you never hear why. The panel doesn't call you to explain. You just don't get the job.
The fix is simpler than it sounds. Before you write a single page, read the scope. Look at the site visit sign-in sheet and see who actually showed up. Read the evaluation factors and see what they're really weighing. Then write your technical approach to that whole room, not to the one chair that signs at the end.
The CO signs. The room decides. Write to the room.
If you want help making your next federal bid speak to every person who actually reads it, book a Zoom with me: gcexperts.com/zoom
▶ Read the full article on Skool: skool.com/gcexperts
Want to talk through how this applies to your situation? Book a Zoom: gcexperts.com/zoom
#FederalContracting #Construction #SmallBusiness #GovernmentContracts #SAMgov #Contractors #Shorts
Here's a mistake that quietly costs small contractors evaluation points, and most of them never find out it happened: they write their entire technical proposal to one person. The contracting officer.
It makes sense on the surface. The CO is the name on the solicitation. The CO signs the award. So you write to the CO and load up the formal language you figure he wants to read.
Here's what you're missing. The CO is not the one scoring your technical approach. On a small federal construction job, the people actually reading your proposal are the COR, the facility manager, and usually the building guy who has to live with your work for the next twenty years. Sometimes it's the exact maintenance tech who's been patching that roof since before you ever showed up.
The CO handles the contract file. Those other people handle the reality. And they're the ones sitting on the evaluation panel.
So when your technical proposal reads like a stack of legal forms and never once talks to the person who knows the building, you lose points and you never hear why. The panel doesn't call you to explain. You just don't get the job.
The fix is simpler than it sounds. Before you write a single page, read the scope. Look at the site visit sign-in sheet and see who actually showed up. Read the evaluation factors and see what they're really weighing. Then write your technical approach to that whole room, not to the one chair that signs at the end.
The CO signs. The room decides. Write to the room.
If you want help making your next federal bid speak to every person who actually reads it, book a Zoom with me: gcexperts.com/zoom
▶ Read the full article on Skool: skool.com/gcexperts
Want to talk through how this applies to your situation? Book a Zoom: gcexperts.com/zoom
#FederalContracting #Construction #SmallBusiness #GovernmentContracts #SAMgov #Contractors #Shorts
