Audio Tip: Color Team Reviews—Core Reviewers

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Proposal development expert and APMP Fellow Beth Wingate offers a quick tip to help you avoid confusion, ensure consistency, and retain institutional knowledge in your color review teams.

Color reviews help to ensure a compliant, compelling proposal response. I previously recommended four basic color reviews—Blue, Pink, Red, and Gold—for each non-pricing volume of your proposal. Pricing volumes have their own Green review.

Having a “core” team of reviewers that moves from one color review to the next during the proposal’s development helps avoid confusion from one review to the next and ensures consistency because this team retains the “institutional knowledge” gained during each review.

Augment your core team with particular subject matter experts (SMEs) as appropriate during the review cycle. For example, bring in a past performance expert during the Pink and Red reviews to ensure you’re framing your responses as effectively as possible, or add a resume development expert during the Pink review to ensure you’ve highlighted information to get the most points. However, be sure to maintain that core team of reviewers throughout your proposal development process—even through any post-submission proposal revisions to ensure consistency.

Bonus Tip: If your individual proposal volumes are very large, be sure to stagger your volume reviews to maximize reviewer participation.

Next month’s tip: How to Build An Effective Proposal Schedule

Color Team Reviews-Core Reviewers