By Arif Alwi
L, C and M are three of thirteen. See how proposals lose on Sections A, B, H, I, J and K of the uniform contract format, and how to shred them all. Most proposal teams shred Sections C, L and M and stop. The uniform contract format has thirteen sections, and bids die quietly in the other ten. Most proposal teams build the whole response around three letters. Section C tells them the work. Section L tells them the format. Section M tells them how evaluators will score it. The habit is so common that it passes for doctrine. It is a myth. The uniform contract format in FAR 15.204-1 has thirteen sections, A through M, and the offer you sign answers to all of them. A team that reads three is working from less than a quarter of the solicitation. The other ten decide whether you can bid, how you get paid and what binds you after award. Bids die there quietly, long before anyone scores a technical volume. The L, C, M Myth The myth has an honest origin. C holds the requirement, L holds the instructions and M holds the scoring. Those three shape the outline, the page budget and the color team calendar. A kickoff that starts there is not wrong. It is incomplete. Look at what the first page of your proposal actually promises. FAR 52.215-1(c)(2)(iii) asks every offeror for "A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation". All terms. Not the three sections your team shredded. So when you sign that page, you sign up to Sections B, H, I, J and K as well. An evaluator who finds a conflict there will not rescue you because the technical volume read beautifully. We have already argued that following L earns nothing under M on its own, in Section L and Section M (/blog/section-l-and-section-m). This piece goes further out. The question here is what sits outside L, C and M entirely. Thirteen Sections, Not Three The uniform contract format at FAR 15.204-1 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-48/chapter-1/subchapter-C/part-15/subpart-15.2/section-15.204-1) groups the thirteen sections into four parts. Part I, the Schedule, runs from A to H. Part II is Section I, the contract clauses. Part III is Section J, the list of attachments. Part IV holds K, L and M. Now notice where L and M live. They sit in Part IV, beside the representations. And FAR 15.204-1(b) says that upon award, contracting officers "shall not physically include Part IV in the resulting contract". The certifications in K survive by reference. L and M simply leave. That is the whole argument in two lines. L and M govern the competition. A through K govern the next five years of your life. ! Thirteen boxes for Sections A through M of the uniform contract format, with C, L and M in grey as the sections teams read and the other ten in re
Most proposal teams shred Sections C, L and M and stop. The uniform contract format has thirteen sections, and bids die quietly in the other ten.
Most proposal teams build the whole response around three letters. Section C tells them the work. Section L tells them the format. Section M tells them how evaluators will score it. The habit is so common that it passes for doctrine. It is a myth. The uniform contract format in FAR 15.204-1 has thirteen sections, A through M, and the offer you sign answers to all of them. A team that reads three is working from less than a quarter of the solicitation. The other ten decide whether you can bid, how you get paid and what binds you after award. Bids die there quietly, long before anyone scores a technical volume. The L, C, M Myth The myth has an honest origin. C holds the requirement, L holds the instructions and M holds the scoring. Those three shape the outline, the page budget and the color team calendar. A kickoff that starts there is not wrong. It is incomplete. Look at what the first page of your proposal actually promises. FAR 52.215-1(c)(2)(iii) asks every offeror for "A statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation". All terms. Not the three sections your team shredded. So when you sign that page, you sign up to Sections B, H, I, J and K as well. An evaluator who finds a conflict there will not rescue you because the technical volume read beautifully. We have already argued that following L earns nothing under M on its own, in Section L and Section M (/blog/section-l-and-section-m). This piece goes further out. The question here is what sits outside L, C and M entirely. Thirteen Sections, Not Three The uniform contract format at FAR 15.204-1 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-48/chapter-1/subchapter-C/part-15/subpart-15.2/section-15.204-1) groups the thirteen sections into four parts. Part I, the Schedule, runs from A to H. Part II is Section I, the contract clauses. Part III is Section J, the list of attachments. Part IV holds K, L and M. Now notice where L and M live. They sit in Part IV, beside the representations. And FAR 15.204-1(b) says that upon award, contracting officers "shall not physically include Part IV in the resulting contract". The certifications in K survive by reference. L and M simply leave. That is the whole argument in two lines. L and M govern the competition. A through K govern the next five years of your life. ! Thirteen boxes for Sections A through M of the uniform contract format, with C, L and M in grey as the sections teams read and the other ten in re