12 The Structure and KeyElements of Formal Proposals

SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO WRITE A FORMAL PRO-posal rather than submit a letter proposal. You may decide to do so, for example, if the document is too long to fit comfortably in the letter format (that is, more than four or five pages), if it’s proposing a costly or complicated solution, or if a formal, sectioned response has been mandated by the RFP to which you are responding.

Formal proposals will vary, depending on what’s appropriate for the given audience and what the customer has specified in the request for proposal or invitation to tender. But, as a general rule, all formal proposals will contain three broad categories of content: the business case; the detailed solution and substantiation; ...

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