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Things to complete during final review

Created Jul 21, 2021 • Last Updated Jan 23, 2026 • For Circle Lead

Proposal QA Handoff Policy:  

The proposal development timeline must include three business days of review time by @Proposal Quality Assurance  

In cases where a proposal is received within fewer than three business days of the due date and time, @Proposal Quality Assurance will coordinate an expedited review process. However, this should be an exception rather than the norm.  

In cases where a proposal is received within less than one business day of the due date and time, @Project Manager and project team forego a quality and thorough QA review. 

Where informal RFP QA reviews with a one-week proposal development timeline are concerned, the QA role will be involved from the outset of the proposal process. 

QA Process Checklist

After receiving notification via email that the proposal is ready for review, proceed through these steps: 

Review according to the QA Checklist

found here: QA Role Details - V2.docx

Note about Styles and Templates: You should be able to make all necessary changes to any given proposal using the ATH (general proposal styles) and ATH_RES (resume-specific styles) style sets. Don’t create any new styles or alter existing styles without first checking with the Qorus Library Administrator. The proposal templates and all existing info in the Qorus library depend heavily on styles matching from document to document and computer to computer. 

Content review: 

  • Confirm that all RFP/RFQ requirements are met 
  • Review budget to ensure calculations are correct, tasks align with what is listed in the proposal scope narrative, and no missing information.  

Format editing: 

  • Narrative font consistent throughout the document 
  • Black, Calibri 11 point 
  • Spacing consistent throughout the document 
  • 6 point spacing between paragraphs 
  • 12 point spacing between sections 
  • 1 space between sentences 
  • Single spacing with 0 spacing above 
  • All footers contain correct information 
  • Agency name 
  • Project title 
  • Proposal submission date 
  • Page numbers correct on every page 
  • All tables have consistent formatting  
  • Single spacing, 0 spacing before and after 
  • End of tables align with margins (don’t extend past the margins) 
  • All section headers have consistent formatting (See imported Styles Pane if working from a Qorus template) 
  • 1st level heading: Athena blue (RGB: 1, 78, 120), bold, Cambria 20 point font, single line spacing 0 above and 6 point below, underlined in gray (RGB: 128, 128, 128) with 1 ½ point width 
  • See Styles Pane “Athena H1” 
  • 2nd level heading: black, bold, Calibri 16 point font, single line spacing 0 above and 3 point below 
  • See Styles Pane “Athena H2” 
  • 3rd level heading: Athena blue (RBG: 1, 78, 120), bold, Calibri 14 point font, single line spacing 0 above and 3 point below 
  • See Styles Pane “Athena H3” 
  • 4th level heading: black, bold, Calibri 12 point font, single line spacing 0 above and below 
  • See Styles Pane “Athena H4” 
  • Bio headings: Athena blue (RGB: 1, 78, 120), bold, Calibri 11 point font, multiple line spacing at 1.1 with 0 above and 6 point below, underlined in gray (RGB: 128, 128, 128) with 1 point width 
  • See Styles Pane “Athena Bio Heading” 
  • All graphics have consistent formatting 
  • Wrap text when possible and make it aesthetically pleasing. Be mindful of white space. 
  • Table of Contents is updated and correct 
  • Review entire document for how content breaks across pages and ensure it looks good/makes sense. Start new sections on new pages as it makes sense to do so. 
  • Ensure that margins are consistent throughout. Unless specific margins are requested by the client, our proposal template standard is: top = 0.85”, bottom, left, and right = 1.0” 

Content editing: 

  • Document has been checked for: 
  • Grammar 
  • Spelling 
  • Punctuation 
  • Document is well written (language use is correct and makes sense to reviewer) 
  • Scope of work matches tasks and budget 

Final review: 

  • PDF the proposal for final review 
  • All format and content editing is complete in final version 
  • Review to ensure that everything is correct 

Type up a review of your changes/queries

Rules of thumb:

Edits for readability can be noted as “global” changes, for example, just say “edits have been made for readability,” rather than calling out each one. The exceptions are when you aren’t sure if your edits have changed the meaning of the sentence, or you weren’t sure of the sentence’s meaning in the first place. Call these out to the author where possible, and to the team if you don’t know the author. 

Following on the previous rule, call out your queries or changes directly to the parties responsible, if you can. In the email you send out, highlighting/bolding their names and putting your questions below them makes it even easier for team members to scan the email for their names. This approach also helps break up the list of queries, which means fewer of them will be missed on a cursory reading. 

When numbers don’t match/add up, query them. There’s usually a reason for the error, and it’s rarely what I think it is. 

If you made minimal edits or if you’re fairly certain that the proposal is ready to go, go ahead and export it as a PDF: in the desktop Word app, select Save a Copy à without changing the name (this will be important later), select PDF as file type to save to your desktop. You’ll be exporting it as a PDF eventually anyway, and this will allow you to double-check the export for leftover comments/grayed fields/odd page breaks. If you end up needing to make edits later and you didn’t change the file name, you can easily overwrite the old one without running into version control problems.