The proposal must comply with the page limitation stated in Section L of the solicitation. Not only does this “level the playing field” but it also helps the Government team by ensuring the proposals are concise and not filled with a lot of fluff.
It’s routine for the proposal’s page count to be exceeded as the submittal deadline approaches, and Page Limit Panic begins to set in. Before removing and restructuring and rewriting, consider some basic editing. Many authors tend to be verbose in their writing. Instead, a sharp-eyed editor can sift through and delete all the unnecessary words, which could save substantial page space. Editing is an art. Find someone who is good at it and turn them loose.
Reexamine the graphics. They typically take up a lot of valuable space. Are they essential? Perhaps you have a pie chart depicting your business breakdown, indicating a 1/3 potion devoted to Government contracts. Can a simple sentence stating, “One-third of our business is Government contracts” carry the same message? It would use a lot less space.
Throughout the process, try to aim for “maximum minus ten percent” as a target during the proposal writing. That should leave you some margin to help alleviate the panic at the end.