Evaluation Criteria (Section M)

Evaluation criteria define how proposals will be assessed. In federal RFPs, Section M lists the factors, subfactors, and their
relative importance—commonly technical, past performance, and price/cost. Methods include best value tradeoff or lowest-price
technically acceptable (LPTA). Proposals must address each factor explicitly and provide evidence that aligns with scoring
considerations. Evaluators typically use adjectival, color, or numerical ratings to judge merit and risk. Understanding Section M
early enables proposal teams to shape outlines, allocate page real estate, and emphasize discriminators. During debriefs, agencies
tie results back to Section M, providing insight for continuous improvement. Ignoring or downplaying Section M is a frequent cause
of poor scores even when the technical solution is sound.