Proposal Support
A contract seat is a license to compete. We help you use it.
Proposal and bid support for small defense contractors, including MDA SHIELD holders. We watch for the right opportunities, give you a bid/no-bid call within 48 hours, and write the response. Your engineers stay on billable work.
The problem
Holding a seat isn't the same as winning work.
SHIELD is a multiple-award IDIQ with a $151 billion ceiling and thousands of holders. The seat gets you in the room. Task orders are where the revenue is, and each one is its own competition.
The guaranteed minimum on a SHIELD award. Everything above that has to be won, one task order at a time.
Holders can be removed after twelve consecutive months without a compliant bid. Sitting out has a cost.
Task orders often allow little time to respond. Most small firms have no proposal staff, so engineers get pulled off client work.
What's included
From the first notice to the final check.
We cover SHIELD task orders, SAM.gov opportunities and SBIR topics that match the work you actually do. You get one team handling the whole response.
Opportunity monitoring
We track SHIELD orders, SAM.gov notices and SBIR topics against your work areas, so the right ones reach you early.
Bid/no-bid in 48 hours
A written recommendation on each opportunity: fit, competition, effort and risk. You make the call with the facts in front of you.
Compliance matrix
Every requirement in the solicitation, mapped to where the response answers it. Built first, checked last.
Technical volume
We draft the technical approach from interviews with your engineers. They review for accuracy instead of writing from scratch.
Past performance write-ups
Clear, relevant descriptions of your prior work, tailored to what each solicitation asks for.
A reusable proposal library
Past performance, resumes and capability write-ups, organized in your first month. Each response after that starts further ahead.
Senior review
A senior proposal manager reviews every submission before it goes out. A second set of eyes, every time.
Final compliance check
Page limits, fonts, file names, required forms and submission instructions, checked line by line before you submit.
How an engagement works
Five steps. No mystery.
The first month is about setup. After that, the work follows the opportunities.
-
Introductory call
Thirty minutes. Your contracts, your work areas, what you've bid recently and what you'd like to bid more often. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you.Week 0
-
Setup
We agree on the work areas to watch and build your proposal library: past performance, resumes and capability write-ups.First month
-
Monitor and recommend
Matching opportunities come to you with a written bid/no-bid recommendation within 48 hours. You decide.Ongoing
-
Write and review
Compliance matrix, technical volume and past performance. Your engineers review for accuracy. Our senior proposal manager reviews the whole package.Per opportunity
-
Final check and handoff
A line-by-line compliance check, then the finished files go to you for submission through the required channel.Before the deadline
Ways to work with us
Flat fees, quoted up front.
Every engagement is a flat fee, agreed in writing before work starts. We'll quote yours on the first call.
Good to know
What we do, and what we don't.
A few things worth saying plainly before we work together.
Unclassified volumes only
We write unclassified proposal volumes. Any classified sections are handled by your cleared staff.
You stay in control
You make every bid decision, own every document and submit every proposal. We do the work in between.
Honest about outcomes
No one can promise an award. We promise compliant, well-argued responses delivered on time.
Have a task order coming up?
Start with a 30-minute call. We'll talk through your contracts and the work you bid on, and tell you plainly whether we can help.
Thornvale Group is an independent firm. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Missile Defense Agency, the Department of Defense or any government agency.