Initially, government evaluation teams are suspicious of the oral proposal techniques I describe in this guide and despise some of the rules they must abide by, but in the end, they almost always love the process and the results. Why? First, it gets the evaluation over with quickly and they get back to their regular jobs. Second, they usually get more or better than they expected.

They usually complain loudly about the requirement to stay quiet during the presentation phase and the clarification phase, but the pain is over quickly and they can get on with their lives. For the most part, they hate being silenced for the duration of the presentation and follow-up, and they really want to philosophize about how they would have created the technical approach and chat about things that aren’t important to the source selection. It’s especially hard for an outspoken GS-15 subject matter expert with a Ph.D. to not take over from a GS-13 Program Manager and Contracting Officer.

In the end, the oral proposal and evaluation process becomes a beautiful trade-off in which the evaluators give up control, focus for a few hours on getting the job done—and then they’re free.