Evaluators can only reward what is scored. An agency shall evaluate competitive proposals and assess their relative qualities solely on the factors and subfactors specified in the solicitation 1, and Section M identifies those factors and their relative importance 2.
Quality is addressed through non-cost factors such as past performance, compliance with solicitation requirements, technical excellence, management capability, personnel qualifications and prior experience 3.
From feature to benefit
In a tradeoff, the perceived benefits of the higher priced proposal shall merit the additional cost 4.
Risk is the other side. The FAR describes a weakness as a flaw in the proposal that increases the risk of unsuccessful contract performance 5, and a deficiency as a material failure of a proposal to meet a Government requirement 6.
Worked example. Feature: "Our help desk uses ticketing software X." Benefit an evaluator can score under Technical Approach: "Tickets reassigned in under 10 minutes on our current contract for a civilian agency, against the two-day delays the agency described." Proof: the contract number and an excerpt from the monthly report.
Every theme needs proof
Bids2Bank's Capture Strategist agent works to the same rule. Every win theme must reference at least one requirement_id from the solicitation 7, the agent is told not to fabricate discriminators that cannot be evidenced 8, and a theme with no requirement, or an unknown one, is dropped in code 9.
Open a bid and its requirements →
Indented paragraphs are invented worked examples. Tool links open Bids2Bank and need a free account.