Red Team Review – What is it? and Why Should You Care?

Drafting a proposal in response to a solicitation from a federal agency is hard. Simply deciphering what the agency is trying to describe in its statement of work (SOW) can be difficult enough. Then, actually drafting a proposal that responds not only to the SOW but also follows all of the (sometimes) cryptic instructions, the formatting, and is competitive pursuant to the evaluation criteria may seem nearly impossible. This is where the Red Team review comes in.

What is a Red Team Review?

This is a term often used to describe a regimented internal review process that a company follows prior to submitting a proposal in response to a federal agency’s solicitation. The purpose of the Red Team is to ensure that the proposal complies with every aspect of the solicitation and is competitive.  Sometimes, a Red Team will include personnel who were not part of the proposal drafting team; in that case, the Red Team members could serve as more objective reviewers. A good Red Team will understand the evaluation criteria and their relative weighting; then the Team can competently assess whether the substance and structure of the proposal has fairly considered the evaluation criteria–to make the proposal as competitive as possible. Further, a good Red Team will be composed of people from various backgrounds and specialties–to address all of specialites raised by the solicitation.  For example, someone with a budget or finance background could assess the Cost portion of the proposal. For a solicitation concerning a particular technical field, someone with that same technical background could assess the Technical portion of the proposal.  

When creating your Red Team, you should include ALL areas of expertise that are relevant to the solicitation. Typically, you would probably want to involve the legal team and also perhaps proposal managers, technical writers, researchers, and product experts, as you deem necessary. Also, spend time needed to create the best Red Team for the proposal you are drafting. Doing this could be the crucial point to making a final proposal a winning proposal.

Why should you care?

If you work for a company that is interested in winning a federal contract, then using a Red Team is an excellent method to ensure that your proposal addresses all of the solicitation’s requirements. It may even help you win the contract.

Learn more about quality Proposal Drafting by taking a look at these articles by PCI:

1. What is Red Team Review?
2. Unsolicited Proposals
3. Incomplete Proposal is not a Matter of Responsibility
4. Must Your Proposal State Your Intent To Comply With Every Performance Work Statement Section?
5. Must an Agency Permit Price Changes in Final Proposal Revisions?
6. Court of Federal Claims Has Jurisdiction Over Implied-in-fact Contract to Fairly and Honestly Consider an Offeror’s Proposal
7. Agency Failed to Follow Solicitation Requirement by Excluding Parts of Proposal