6. Reading the Proposal Solicitation

The Request for Proposals (RFP) – also called the Program Announcement (PA), Request for Applications (RFA), or Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) – is one common starting point of the proposal writing process. Other starting points to the proposal process include investigator-initiated (unsolicited) proposals, or white papers and quad charts common to the defense agencies.

The generic program solicitation or RFP represents an invitation by a funding agency for applicants to submit requests for funding in research areas of interest to the agency. It is used continuously throughout proposal development and writing as a reference point to ensure that an evolving proposal narrative fully addresses and accurately reflects the goals and objectives of the funding agency, including the review criteria listed in the document.

The RFP contains most of the essential information the researcher needs in order to develop and write a competitive proposal that is fully responsive to the agency’s funding objectives and review criteria. It is important to note that the RFP is not a menu or smorgasbord offering the applicant a choice of addressing some research topics but not others, depending on interest, or some review criteria but not others; rather, and in almost all cases, the RFP is a non-negotiable listing of performance expectations reflecting the stated goals, objectives, and desired outcomes of the agency.

Identify the Contents of the RFP

The RFP typically includes, or references in other documents, the requirements for proposal submission, likely including many of the examples below:

Agency research goals, objectives, and performance expectations
Statement and scope of work
Proposal topics to be addressed by the applicant
Deliverables or other outcomes
Review criteria and process
Research plan
Information on project key personnel, evaluation, and management
Information on eligibility, due dates, available funding, funding limits, anticipated number of awards, performance period, proposal formatting requirements, and budget and other process requirements

Review the RFP

The RFP is not a document to skim quickly, read lightly, or read only once. The RFP defines a very detailed set of research expectations that the applicant must meet in order to be competitive for funding. It needs to be read and re-read and understood fully, both in very discrete detail and as an integrated whole. The RFP sets the direction and defines the performance parameters of every aspect of proposal development and writing. It should be read word by word; sentence by sentence; paragraph by paragraph; and page by page. Any ambiguity should be clarified by repeated readings of the RFP. If these ambiguities cannot be resolved, the applicant should call the funding agency and ask for clarification from a program officer. As much as possible, the applicant should resolve all ambiguity prior to the proposal writing process so that ideas and arguments are clearly and tightly aligned with the scope and intent of the funding agency.

A well-written RFP clearly states the funding agency’s research objectives in a concise and comprehensive fashion, devoid of wordiness, repetition, and vaguely contradictory re-phasing of program requirements. However, not all RFPs are clearly written. In some cases, the funding agency itself is unclear about specific research objectives, particularly in more cutting-edge or exploratory research areas. Therefore, one should never be timid about calling a program officer for clarification. Timidity is never rewarded in the competitive grant process. Where there is ambiguity, one should keep asking questions in order to converge on clarity. Clarity about funding agency requirements as detailed in an RFP is critical to writing a successful proposal.

Understand the Role of the RFP in Proposal Organization

In addition to presenting information about an agency’s research agenda and culture, the RFP provides important instructions regarding the presentation and organizational structure of a proposal. The RFP can be used to develop the structure of the proposal narrative and as a template for developing the sequence and required detail of each proposal section. Using the RFP as a proposal template during initial proposal outlining helps ensure that every RFP item is fully addressed. For example, major section headings within an RFP often have very detailed descriptive text defining the objectives of the program (e.g., goals, objectives, performance timeline, outcomes, research management, evaluation, etc.) that must be addressed in the proposal narrative. In this case, the detail in each section of the RFP, including the review criteria, can be selectively copied and pasted into the first draft of the proposal itself. This process provides initial section and subsection headings under which the applicant can draft out preliminary written responses to every requested item in the guidelines, thereby ensuring that the first draft of the proposal fully mirrors the program solicitation requirements in every way. Also, although there is a considerable variance among funding agencies on the required detail and organization of the narrative text, in many cases reviewers will expect to see the text in the same general order as the RFP and the review criteria since, for many agencies, that ordering conforms to instructions given to reviewers by the program officers overseeing the review process. Using the RFP as a guide to create a proposal outline also has the advantage of making it easier for reviewers to compare the proposal to the program guidelines and review criteria, without having to search around in a long narrative to find out if each required topic has been addressed.

As the proposal undergoes a continuous process of draft iterations, whereby ideas and arguments are more clearly defined and the details of the research plan better explicated, it may be possible to eliminate an overabundance of section headings or to meld sections. Objectives may be better integrated and refined, details synthesized, or changes made to the relational order of the text within or among sections, all in an effort to improve the overall clarity of the narrative. This process of refinement can be done with the certainty that if the text undergoes any organizational permutations in subsequent drafts, it will still remain fully responsive to the solicitation. Required topics will be fully preserved, if not the original linearity.

Address the Review Criteria in the RFP

The description of review criteria is an especially important part of the RFP. A competitive proposal must clearly address each review criterion, and the proposal should be structured so that these discussions are easy for reviewers to find. Subject headings, graphics, bullets, and bolded statements using language similar to that used in the RFP can all be used to make the reviewers’ jobs easier as they assess how well the proposal meets review criteria.

Read Material Referenced in the RFP

If the RFP refers to any publications, reports, or workshops, it is important to read those materials, analyze how that work has influenced the agency’s vision of the program, and cite those publications in the proposal in a way that illustrates that the applicant has read and absorbed the ideas behind those publications. For example, RFAs issued by the Department of Education often refer to online resources available from the National Center for Education Statistics as a means of communicating a particular program’s strategy and/or objectives. Similarly, the National Academies’ report on the status of undergraduate education in the biological sciences, BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists (2003), has been referred to in both NSF and NIH program solicitations.

Next: Understanding the Review Process ► ◄ Previous: Analyzing Funding Agencies

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