Every proposal rests on assumptions, and most offerors wish at least one term of the solicitation were different. How you handle those two realities can determine whether your proposal is accepted, scored lower or removed from the competition. The rules are stricter than many first-time offerors expect, and the safe path requires care.
Why the government is wary
A proposal submitted in response to a request for proposals is an offer. When the government accepts it, the words in the proposal become the contract. If an offeror writes “we assume the government will provide all equipment” and the solicitation said otherwise, the two documents conflict, and the contracting officer cannot award a contract whose terms are uncertain. Evaluators are also required to compare offers on an equal basis. A proposal that quietly changes the terms is not comparable to one that accepted them. For both reasons, solicitations frequently warn that exceptions or conditions may render a proposal unacceptable.
Assumptions: necessary but dangerous
Some assumptions are unavoidable, especially in pricing. You may need to assume a level of effort the solicitation did not specify, a start date or the availability of government-furnished information. The question is how to state them.
- Resolve as many as possible during the question period, so the answer becomes part of the solicitation rather than part of your proposal
- Where the solicitation provides a place for assumptions, use it, and keep each assumption short, specific and tied to a reference in the document
- Frame assumptions as clarifications of your understanding, not as conditions on your offer
- Never let an assumption contradict an explicit requirement; if it does, it is an exception, whatever you call it
- Review assumptions in the pricing volume against the technical volume so they agree
Exceptions: when you cannot accept a term
Sometimes a clause genuinely does not work for your firm: a data rights provision that would surrender your intellectual property, a liability term you cannot insure, a delivery schedule you cannot meet. The solicitation may say how to handle this. Some permit offerors to propose exceptions in a separate section and warn that doing so may affect evaluation. Others state that any exception makes the proposal unacceptable. Commercial solicitations often invite offerors to identify terms they take exception to, since commercial practice is expected to vary.
If exceptions are permitted, take as few as possible, state each precisely, explain why and propose alternative language. If they are not permitted, your choices are to accept the term, raise the problem during the question period in the hope of an amendment, or decline to bid. Slipping an exception into the body of the technical volume and hoping no one notices is the worst option; evaluators do notice, and the consequence can be rejection of the whole proposal.
Deviations and alternate proposals
A deviation is an offer to perform in a way different from what the solicitation specified. Some solicitations expressly invite alternate proposals alongside a fully compliant one, which lets an offeror suggest a better approach without risking the main offer. When that invitation is not present, an alternate approach should be proposed only if the solicitation’s instructions permit it, and always in addition to, never instead of, a compliant proposal.
Keeping the compliant path clear
The underlying principle is simple: the government must be able to accept your proposal as written and have a workable contract. Every assumption, exception or deviation is a potential obstacle to that. Keep them visible, keep them few and keep them where the instructions say they belong. When a term raises legal or financial exposure that you cannot resolve through the question process, talk with a lawyer before deciding whether to bid. Knowing when to walk away from an unacceptable term is part of competing well.