Consider the situations in which proposals occur. A company may send out a public announcement requesting proposals for a specific project. This public announcement—called a request for proposals (RFP)—could be issued through websites, emails, social media, newspapers, or trade journals. Firms or individuals interested in the project would then write proposals in which they summarize their qualifications, project schedules and costs, and discuss their approach to the project. The recipient of all these proposals would then evaluate them, select the best candidate, and then work up a contract.

But proposals also come about much less formally. Imagine that you are interested in doing a project at work (for example, investigating the merits of bringing in some new technology to increase productivity). Imagine that you met with your supervisor and tried to convince her of this. She might respond by saying, “Write me a proposal and I’ll present it to upper management.” This is more like the kind of proposal you will write in a technical writing course.

Most proposals can be divided into several categories:

• Internal and external:  A proposal to someone within your organization (a business, a government agency, etc.) is an internal proposal. With internal proposals, you may not have to include certain sections (such as qualifications) or as much information in them. An external proposal is one written from one separate, independent organization or individual to another such entity. The typical example is the independent consultant proposing to do a project for another firm. This kind of proposal may be solicited or unsolicited, as explained below.
• Solicited and unsolicited: A solicited proposal is one in which the recipient has requested the proposal. Typically, a company will send out an RFP by mail or publish them in professional, government, or news media.  Unsolicited proposals are those in which the recipient has not requested proposals. With unsolicited proposals, you sometimes must persuade the recipient that a problem or need exists before you can begin the main part of the proposal.