I highly recommend checking how much your competitors are charging to make sure the client you have is not getting 'deal too good to be true'. If you are not c

I highly recommend checking how much your competitors are charging to make sure the client you have is not getting 'deal too good to be true'. If you are not charging enough to produce what was promised it could hurt your reputation and inhibit the ability to gain more high quality clients in the future. A proposal normally lays out the product or service requirements in extreme details (the black and white). Normally this details that you will retain minimum of x amount of project managers for project management tasks, minimum x amount of software developers for software development tasks, minimum x amount of cyber security (administrators/engineers) for securing the product, minimum x amount of x for clerical and administrative duties, minimum x amount for helpdesk support (don't forget surge availability (24 hours at times)), minimum x amount for 24/7, 365, on-call Network Operations Center support, minimum x amount for network administrators and the all mighty how long it will take to back fill positions if someone has been let go, fired, retired, on vacation or promoted to another position. SLA requirements for product/service uptime and details on what happens in emergencies or how outside events are calculated (forgiven/not forgiven). A list of the minimum internal software version support requirements, and external browser/client hardware supported. This also included milestones and what happens if the milestones are not meet by a certain date or how to handle planned/unplanned extensions. Shutdown procedures in case the client request their service be shutdown, who owns the product or is it a rent to own type service (what happens after the first 12 months is over). What happens if payment is not completed in full on time or what happens if there are breaches of contracts. This in summary is the proposed black and white of the What, When, Where, How of what is needed by the client and what you will provide and possibly for how much (your rates). It can also serve as something you would draft up and possibly modify if you were to sub contract the work out to contracting companies or independent contractors. This also helps you and the client come to mutual agreement on the specifics of what each of you are wanting.