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Module 7: Assemble a Response Package. Written explanation, fictional example, and sources.
Educational content. Follow the applicable solicitation and contract. Official sources are provided below.
12 min · Progress tracking is not available yet
After this lesson you should be able to build a response from the instructions and evaluation factors in this solicitation, not from a generic volume list. Requirements vary by notice. Do not invent experience, certifications, references, or mandatory documents. AsherGate does not generate or submit a complete proposal.
FAR 15.204-5 says Section L holds instructions that may tell offerors to submit proposals in a specific format or in severable parts, such as administrative, management, technical, past performance, and cost or pricing data. Section M identifies the evaluation factors and significant subfactors and their relative importance. FAR 15.304 says those factors must be stated clearly in the solicitation and are tailored to the acquisition. FAR 15.305 says the agency shall evaluate competitive proposals solely on the factors and subfactors specified in the solicitation.
Start with Section L and Section M, or with FAR 52.212-1 and 52.212-2 if those commercial provisions are what the package actually uses. Copy the volume names, page limits, file-name rules, signature blocks, required forms, and amendment-acknowledgment method from those pages. A technical volume answers this statement of work against the listed factors. A management volume, if required, explains who will perform. A past-performance volume, if required, presents relevant work the files allow you to present. Price belongs where the instructions put it, often in a separate file so evaluators can follow 15.305.
FAR 15.305(a)(2) says the solicitation shall describe how past performance will be evaluated, including offerors with no relevant history, and shall let offerors identify similar Federal, State, local, or private contracts. The evaluation should take into account subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects when that information is relevant. An offeror without relevant past performance may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance. List only work that occurred. Do not invent a contract number, a rating, or a reference. Do not present a subcontractor’s project as if your company performed it.
Keep this as a side note. Commercial buys assembled under FAR 12.303 often use 52.212-1 instructions and 52.212-2 evaluation language only if used. Simplified quotations may ask only for a signed price and representations. FAR 15.304 generally requires past-performance evaluation on negotiated competitive acquisitions expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold, but the contracting officer need not evaluate past performance if the reason is documented. Price or cost is evaluated in every source selection except a listed DoD, NASA, and Coast Guard multiple-award exception. Joint-venture past performance follows 15.305(a)(2)(vi). Read this notice.
Using the Fernwick story below, Section L names Volume I Technical (10 pages, file name Volume_I_Technical.pdf), Volume II Past Performance (two contracts, no invented ratings), and Volume III Price. Section M weights technical more than past performance, then price. Amendment 0001 is acknowledged on the SF 33 block the instructions name.
Write only to those headings. Do not add a safety-plan file the Section J list does not name. Store the RFP in an AsherGate draft. Do not generate or submit the volumes here.
Fictional example
Fernwick Trail Gates LLC is a fictional gate shop in Missoula, Montana. It stores fictional RFP AG-PROP-26-0315 from a fictional Bitterroot Recreation Desk for 12 heavy timber trail gates.
Section L requires three files: Volume_I_Technical.pdf, 10 pages, answering the welding and lead-time factors in Section M; Volume_II_Past_Performance.pdf with two similar gate jobs; and Volume_III_Price.xlsx. A teammate wants to attach a 20-page company brochure and a made-up Forest Service contract number. They delete both. Fernwick has one relevant county parks job and will state that it has no second similar federal job rather than invent one.
They copy the file names and the 10-page limit from Section L. They do not treat Company Documents as a finished proposal. They do not submit from AsherGate.
Each official source is listed with the teaching claim it supports. Product behavior is labeled separately. Review dates are when AsherGate last checked the page.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Section L may instruct offerors to submit severable parts such as administrative, management, technical, past performance, and cost or pricing data. Section M identifies evaluation factors and their relative importance.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Evaluation factors are tailored to the acquisition and must be stated clearly in the solicitation. Quality is addressed through non-cost factors such as past performance, technical excellence, or prior experience. Past performance is generally required above the simplified acquisition threshold unless the contracting officer documents otherwise.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Agencies evaluate solely on the factors in the solicitation. Past performance of subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects should be considered when relevant. Offerors without relevant history may not be scored favorably or unfavorably on past performance.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: When this provision is in the solicitation, offerors shall acknowledge amendments by the date and time specified, and the proposal must show the name, title, and signature of the person authorized to sign.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: When this provision applies, offers must be signed and dated and, at a minimum, show the contents listed in 52.212-1(b), including acknowledgment of solicitation amendments, unless the solicitation specifies otherwise.
Acquisition.gov · Official source · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Commercial assemblies may use 52.212-1 and 52.212-2 if used, instead of a full uniform-contract-format Section L and M.
AsherGate · AsherGate product · Reviewed 2026-09-27
Supports: Drafts store source files. The product does not generate proposal volumes or submit a complete proposal.