New to the proposal world? Confused when listening to proposal lingo?

If so – the following will help you translate common proposal terminology!

• BAA- Broad Agency Announcement – a formal process by which a range of related products and services are requested through an evaluation process and which may result in more than one awardee.
• RFI – Request for information – semi-formal process by which the government conducts a market evaluation for products and services. RFIs do not obligate the government to generate a RFP or RFQ or to make any kind of purchase. In most cases, RFIs lead to some procurement vehicle, based on the results from the RFI input.
• RFP – Request for proposal – formal government process by which products and services are purchased through a comprehensive evaluation process. This process typically includes technical, management, and pricing components.
• RFQ – Request for quotes – formal government process by which products and services are purchased typically on a price-basis. RFQs generally have narrowly defined requirements to which providers are to respond with short descriptions and pricing. There are exceptions to this – where the RFQ is more like a RFP.
• SBIR – Small Business Innovative Research Program. A program funding small businesses research on defined topics. Administered by individual agencies. See our SBIR page for more information.
• Sources sought – this is similar to the RFI process. It is the market research phase of the government procurement cycle. From this step, the government can assess the types of businesses who may be able to meet their requirements and can determine if there is sufficient competition for small business (and any of the sub-categories of small businesses) set-aside. Sources sought requests provide an opportunity for prospective vendors to submit information which may guide the procuring agency in crafting the formal request for proposals or quotations – by letting them know what is available in industry.