Planning, managing and winning prized government and private sector contracts is easier, less costly, and far less stressful when you rely on the newly updated edition of this popular book designed specifically for entrepreneurs and small business managers. This valuable guide maps and details every stage of the contractor proposal response lifecycle and shows you how to produce proposals that maximize your company's strengths and respond fully to client criteria. Step-by-step you learn how to develop proposals that serve as marketing and knowledge management vehicles, how to control and recover proposal costs, how to capitalize on new sources of competitor intelligence, how to cost-effectively publish attractive proposals, and more! Plus, you find important details on recent US regulations affecting acquisitons, and the latest US Government's initiatives in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and electronic commerce.