Editing Your Outline

Annotated Outline

The Outline tab provides you with all of the tools you need to build your outline, provide relevant past performance selections, key personnel, and Focus Documents to your proposal. With robust section controls that give you the ability to define section types, writing modes, and create writing plans, GovDash gives you the flexibility to craft a compliant and compelling proposal.

Section Controls

At a glance, GovDash provides controls right within your outline to control the order of sections, section types, page limits, and more.

By clicking on the name of a section, you unlock the ability to create writing plans, adjust instructions and task areas assigned to the section, upload contextual Focus Documents to a specific section, and more.

Section Content Editor

Once your proposal has been generated (or individual sections have been generated), you are able to see the generated content for your proposal right within GovDash. As an indicator for which sections you will be able to see content for, check the Status column for the status

Your team can collaborate and edit proposal content here using the rich text editor, and once you download the proposal, those content changes will be present in your downloaded proposal.

Section Types

Section types directly influence the way GovDash will structure and write the section content. GovDash will automatically determine these while generating your outline, but we recommend double checking to make sure these align with the section’s theme and purpose. Using the table below, you can see what section type is best to use in what scenario, as well as an example of what it will look like.

Section Type	Description	When to Use	Generated Example
Narrative	Generate a narrative response to address ITO and PWS/SOW citations. This is the most common content type.	Sections that need to address task areas and instructions, such as technical volumes, pricing sections, capabilities, etc.	See Writing Mode Section
Past Performance	Write about your selected contracts. This will include contract details within its response.	Sections that are writing about your past performance/contracts.
Cover Letter	Creates a cover letter.	In some situations, solicitations may require a cover letter and request specific information in that letter. Using the Cover Letter Section Type creates a cover letter
Cover Page	Creates a cover page.	Some solicitations require specific information to be included on a Cover Page. This is when you would use the Cover Page Section Type in GovDash. In cases where the required information is not part of your standard template, GovDash facilitates compliance by identifying the necessary details and labeling them as Cover Page content, allowing you to provide the required information seamlessly.
Form	Prompts you to fill out and attach a form.	GovDash identifies the form and provides a reminder to ensure that it is attached appropriately as part of your final submission. However, it does not complete the form for you. You are responsible for filling out the form based on the solicitation's requirements and inserting it where indicated.
Form Field	Generate a concise and short answer response typically for form fields (e.g. UEI, DUNS Number, addresses, etc) or short answer questions (e.g. YES/NO responses, or a few sentence responses)	If the section contains fields that need to be filled out (like company details, UEID, CAGE code, etc.), yes or no responses, etc.
Use Key Personnel	Talk mostly about the resumes of the selected key personnel.	The Emphasize Key Personnel Section Type focuses primarily on the resumes and qualifications of the selected key personnel. This section is ideal for addressing solicitation requirements that prioritize highlighting the expertise, experience, and roles of key team members.
Glossary	Generate a full list of acronyms used within the proposal.	If you’d like GovDash to automatically generate a list of acronyms that were used, along with their definitions.
Table of Contents	Generate a table of contents section.	If a table of contents was not generated in your initial outline.

Writing Modes

Writing Modes allow you to directly influence the verbiage and tone GovDash will use when writing a specific section through preset modes. Highlighted below are our available writing modes and best practices on when to utilize them.

Writing Mode	Description	When to Use
Plain Language	Answers plainly. Commonly used in "Executive Summaries" and pricing sections.	When you want to convey information in a clear, direct manner.
Technical Approach	Writes content as if this section belonged to a "Technical Proposal Volume".	When you want to convey precise and detailed information. This combination is ideal for presenting complex concepts or technical details, ensuring clarity and accuracy while maintaining a professional tone.
Capability to Perform Task Areas	Write content using your capabilities, with less technical detail.	When you want to effectively convey your company's capabilities to perform specific tasks outlined in the Scope of Work with less technical detail. This is ideal for providing a high-level overview of your expertise, focusing on the value your company delivers without delving into intricate technical details.

Citations

When GovDash analyzes your solicitation package, shreds your documents, and creates your outline, it also maps instructions from the main instructional document (like the RFP, RFI, etc.) and task areas from the PWS to relevant sections automatically.

GovDash will utilize these citations to ensure the content we create meets those instructions and addresses the task areas.

You can change these citations at any time by clicking the Modify Instruction/Task Area Citations buttons found within the section editor.

From the citations selection screen, you can add, edit, or remove any cited instructions or task areas that GovDash had selected by clicking individual checkboxes, or section checkboxes to add/remove entire sections.

From the document drop down, you can freely select any document from your solicitation package.

GovDash can automatically search for relevant instructions and task areas by using the Auto-Cite button. This is especially helpful when creating new sections, as GovDash can do the work for you, saving you time.

Page Limits and Page Targets

The Page Limit for a section is the government-mandated maximum number of pages that can be produced for the section when the proposal is generated. GovDash will never go above this set number within a section when generating the proposal.

The Page Target for a section will dictate how much content is produced for the section when the proposal is generated. GovDash will attempt to write content that is as close to this set number of pages as possible.

Writing Plans

The Writing Plan section is where you can provide GovDash with specific instructions on how you’d like the section written, key points you’d like included, strengths for GovDash write to, and more.

You can think of GovDash as your proposal manager, and the Writing Plan as your to-do list for the way you want the section written. These are best handled in bullet points, but you can provide instructions in narrative form as well.

By providing GovDash with context and direction, your proposal content will be better informed by what makes your team best suited for the solicitation.

Focus Documents

Focus Documents are supplementary materials like partner capabilities, technical specs, customer needs, notes, etc. that help tell the story of why your team is the best fit for the job. Unlike solicitation documents (which are static and customer-defined), Focus Documents are where you highlight your strengths, provide context, and give insights that can help tailor your response to stand out.

After clicking on a section within your outline and scrolling to the bottom of the section editor, you can select or upload Focus Documents that apply to the section they’re uploaded to. These documents will not be utilized as context for any other sections beyond the section that they’re uploaded to!

Solution Focus Documents

You can provide GovDash with additional context within our Solution tab, which is where you can detail your approach, solution, customer needs, risks, and more. Click here to learn more about the Solution tab and how to upload additional documents to these questions.

Managing Sections and Subsections

Within the outline editor, you can quickly create new sections, subsections, and change their order.

You can freely move any section or subsection by clicking and dragging anywhere on the section itself.

To create a new section, click the New Section button in the top right of the outline editor. This will create a new section at the top of your outline that you can rename and reorder.

You can create new subsections under any section by either clicking and dragging a section onto another section (or subsection), or clicking the actions menu to the right of the section, and selecting New Subsection from the menu.

Deleting sections can be done through this menu, or by clicking the boxes to the left of your sections and clicking the red trash can icon in the black box that appears.

Regenerating Sections

Once you’ve generated your proposal for the first time, you can freely regenerate individual sections. The main benefit here is that you can iterate on individual sections, upload additional Focus Documents, adjust the Writing Plan, and then see those improvements all within the section editor, all while keeping the sections you don’t want to change the same.

You can also regenerate multiple sections at once using the checkboxes within the outline. Once you’ve made your selection, click the button in the black box that appears towards the bottom of the page.

Downloading Your Outline

To download your annotated outline, simply click the Download Outline button on the Outline tab. This will provide you with options to choose which details of your outline you’d like to include in your download, including:

Instructions/Writing Plan
Assigned Reviewers
Set page limits
Cited Instructions
Cited Task Areas