I’ve heard the mantra that the executive summary makes or breaks a government bid response.  I don’t completely buy into that line of thinking, since the evaluation criteria varies from response to response.  However, I agree that it is likely the first impression and sets the tone for the evaluator’s review.

The most common mistake I see in executive summaries associated with government bid responses is a tendency toward organizational hubris.  Sure, you should write this in a way that promotes your solution and your credibility as a solution provider.  But you cannot omit why the reader cares. 

The executive summary for a government bid response should be a concise — and I mean concise — summary of the solution offered in the response, provided in a logical, orderly fashion, with a focus on why the reader cares.  What benefit is offered to the public sector agency by your solution? 

When we prepare bid responses on behalf of our clients, we think about what we know and what we don’t.  Typically, we know the evaluation criteria; we know the budgetary estimate or prior spend; we know the incumbent (if there is one) and we know the agency requirements.  We don’t know how many competitors will bid or the price points they will offer.  We can likely assume that the incumbent will bid, and will try to retain the business with a competitive price.

This knowledge helps us understand our evaluator, and is the basis for the executive summary. 

And our executive summaries are all about the evaluator.