Printed Page 422-424

The “Deliverables” of Proposals

A deliverable is what a supplier will deliver at the end of a project. Deliverables can be classified into two major categories: research or goods and services.

In a research proposal, you are promising to perform research and then provide a report about it. For example, a biologist for a state bureau of land management writes a proposal to the National Science Foundation requesting resources to build a window-lined tunnel in the forest to study tree and plant roots and the growth of fungi. The biologist also wishes to investigate the relationship between plant growth and the activity of insects and worms. The deliverable will be a report submitted to the National Science Foundation and, perhaps, an article published in a professional journal.

Research proposals often lead to two other applications: progress reports and recommendation reports.

After a proposal has been approved and the researchers have begun work, they often submit one or more progress reports, which tell the sponsor of the project how the work is proceeding. Is it following the plan of work outlined in the proposal? Is it going according to schedule? Is it staying within budget?

At the end of the project, researchers prepare a recommendation report, often called a final report, a project report, a completion report, or simply a report. A recommendation report tells the whole story of a research project, beginning with the problem or opportunity that motivated it and continuing with the methods used in carrying it out, the results, and the researchers’ conclusions and recommendations.

People carry out research projects to satisfy their curiosity and to advance professionally. Organizations often require that their professional employees carry out research and publish in appropriate journals or books. Government researchers and university professors, for instance, are expected to remain active in their fields. Writing proposals is one way to get the resources—time and money for travel, equipment, and assistants—to carry out research.

A goods and services proposal is an offer to supply a tangible product (a fleet of automobiles), a service (building maintenance), or some combination of the two (the construction of a building).

A vast network of goods and services contracts spans the working world. The U.S. government, the world’s biggest customer, spent $327 billion in 2009 buying military equipment from organizations that submitted proposals (U.S. Department of Defense, 2013). But goods and services contracts are by no means limited to government contractors. An auto manufacturer might buy its engines from another manufacturer; a company that makes spark plugs might buy its steel and other raw materials from another company.

Another kind of goods and services proposal requests funding to support a local organization. For example, a women’s shelter might receive some of its funding from a city or county but might rely on grants from private philanthropies. Typically, an organization such as a shelter would apply for a grant to fund increased demand for its services due to a natural disaster or an economic slowdown in the community. Or it might apply for a grant to fund a pilot program to offer job training at the shelter. Most large corporations have philanthropic programs offering grants to help local colleges and universities, arts organizations, and social-service agencies.