APMP FOUNDATION UPDATED 2026 EXAM SCRIPT
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SCORED A+
✔✔Customer Intelligence - ✔✔An understanding of a customer's needs--spoken and
unspoken--and the capabilities desired of a vendor/contractor to support requirements.
It is a key element of the sales and opportunity development process that occurs well in
advance of responding to a bid or RFP.
✔✔Executive Summary - ✔✔A short abstract of the main points of the offer aimed at the
senior-level decision makers in the customer's organization. It is the section of a
proposal that provides an overview of the offer and highlights the key selling points for
customer decision makers.
✔✔Account Plan - ✔✔A sales plan that is specific to one customer and covers multiple
opportunities with that customer.
✔✔Action Caption - ✔✔A short, informative statement associated with a graphic that
provides additional information to help the reader understand what the graphic means.
✔✔Active/Passive Voice - ✔✔Sentences written in active voice have a clear subject and
verb. They make it clear who does what. Passive-voice sentences are considered
weaker because the subject receives the action instead of performing it. Passive
sentences usually contain a form of the verb "to be".
✔✔Advantage - ✔✔How, in the seller's opinion, a product or service may benefit the
customer. Advantages are potential benefits and are more powerful than features.
✔✔Aesthetics - ✔✔A set of principles regarding the nature and appreciation of beauty.
The study of aesthetics increases the validity of many critical judgments concerning art.
✔✔After-Action Review - ✔✔A systematic process to extract the learning from an event
or activity. The process addresses the questions, What should have happened? What
actually happened? What can we learn and apply for the future?
✔✔Annotated Outline - ✔✔A simple writing or content plan. This is a structure for the
proposal that is usually derived from the customer requirements documentation. It
amplifies a topical outline and helps determine whether opportunity planning activities
have made it into the planned propels outline and placed you in a position to win.
✔✔Appendix - ✔✔Supplementary material included at the end of a proposal that
contain specialized, relevant information that facilitates the decision making process.
✔✔Assumptions - ✔✔Conditions that the bid team assume exist for the purpose of
providing a price or terms of service in a proposal.
,✔✔Balance (Visual) - ✔✔Balance is achieved when the visual "weight" of both halves of
a graphic is similar, giving a sense of equilibrium. Unbalanced graphics convey a sense
of uneasiness.
✔✔Benchmarking - ✔✔A systematic process for comparing your processes with those
of other recognized leaders in your field or industry to identify and close gaps.
✔✔Best and Final Offer (BAFO) - ✔✔A customer request for a document that describes
your organization's final price. There may be more than one request for a BAFO. The
customer requests a BAFO after the proposal has been submitted to select the final
companies to negotiate with or go directly to award.
✔✔Bid Decisions (General) - ✔✔Bid decisions are aimed at eliminating opportunities or
sales leads with a low win probability, this permitting a stronger focus on opportunities
with a higher win probability.
✔✔Bid Decisions Tree - ✔✔A tool used to help you make an informed bid decision
based on positive and negative indicators. It results in a yes or no response leading to a
qualified pursuit decision.
✔✔Bid/No-Bid Decision - ✔✔A milestone after the opportunity plan is substantially
complete. It validates that you are properly positioned to win based on the opportunity
plan.
✔✔Bid or Proposal Center - ✔✔A support organization dedicated to generating
proposals and other response documents for customers.
✔✔Bid Pursuit Decision - ✔✔Generally the first decision milestone to verify that the
opportunity fits your strategic direction and capability.
✔✔Bid Validation Decision - ✔✔A decision mileage after the customer releases an RFP
to address obstacles to winning that were identified in the opportunity plan.
✔✔Bidder Comparison Matrix (BCM) - ✔✔A tool used to analyze the customer's current
perception of your solution compared to competitors. It usually is a weighted score that
indicates the customer's confidence that you can meet their requirements.
✔✔Boilerplate - ✔✔Stored text and graphics that are available for potential reuse in
future proposals.
✔✔Business Case - ✔✔An internal documented argument for bidding on a particular
opportunity. The business case typically focuses on the financial aspects of the bid.
, ✔✔Business Case Review/Senior Management Review - ✔✔All the internal milestones
and approvals (internal governance) required to sign off on the solution, pricing, and
legal requirements.
✔✔Business Development Capability Maturity Model (BD-CMM) - ✔✔A research-based
framework that guides business development organization in identifying and
implementing high-priority improvement actions. The model encompasses the entire
business development life cycle.
✔✔Business Development Maturity Level - ✔✔An indicator of an organization's
adoption of business development best practices (Levels 1-5).
✔✔Business Development Phases - ✔✔There are eight generally accepted business
development phases:
Market identification
Account planning
Opportunity assessment
Opportunity planning
Proposal planning
Proposal development
Negotiation
Delivery
✔✔Callout Box - ✔✔A design feature with text inside a box or within borders to highlight
a key point in the text.
✔✔Capture Plan - ✔✔An Opportunity Plan: A documented plan that is developed during
the opportunity planning phase.
✔✔Central Processing - ✔✔Decision making based on logic and sound arguments. This
type of processing is often used by experts but is less common in general than
peripheral processing.
✔✔Change Management - ✔✔The application of tools, processes, skills, and principles
to transition people from one way of working to another.
✔✔Color - ✔✔A technique used for emphasis, color may be applied throughout the
proposal to headings, callouts, sections, tabs, and anywhere else the solicitation
instructions allow. Use of color can enhance readability and draw reader's attention to
specific content.
✔✔Community of Practice (CoP) - ✔✔Networks of people who work on similar
processes or in similar disciplines and who come together to develop and share their
knowledge in that field for the benefit of themselves and their organization.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SCORED A+
✔✔Customer Intelligence - ✔✔An understanding of a customer's needs--spoken and
unspoken--and the capabilities desired of a vendor/contractor to support requirements.
It is a key element of the sales and opportunity development process that occurs well in
advance of responding to a bid or RFP.
✔✔Executive Summary - ✔✔A short abstract of the main points of the offer aimed at the
senior-level decision makers in the customer's organization. It is the section of a
proposal that provides an overview of the offer and highlights the key selling points for
customer decision makers.
✔✔Account Plan - ✔✔A sales plan that is specific to one customer and covers multiple
opportunities with that customer.
✔✔Action Caption - ✔✔A short, informative statement associated with a graphic that
provides additional information to help the reader understand what the graphic means.
✔✔Active/Passive Voice - ✔✔Sentences written in active voice have a clear subject and
verb. They make it clear who does what. Passive-voice sentences are considered
weaker because the subject receives the action instead of performing it. Passive
sentences usually contain a form of the verb "to be".
✔✔Advantage - ✔✔How, in the seller's opinion, a product or service may benefit the
customer. Advantages are potential benefits and are more powerful than features.
✔✔Aesthetics - ✔✔A set of principles regarding the nature and appreciation of beauty.
The study of aesthetics increases the validity of many critical judgments concerning art.
✔✔After-Action Review - ✔✔A systematic process to extract the learning from an event
or activity. The process addresses the questions, What should have happened? What
actually happened? What can we learn and apply for the future?
✔✔Annotated Outline - ✔✔A simple writing or content plan. This is a structure for the
proposal that is usually derived from the customer requirements documentation. It
amplifies a topical outline and helps determine whether opportunity planning activities
have made it into the planned propels outline and placed you in a position to win.
✔✔Appendix - ✔✔Supplementary material included at the end of a proposal that
contain specialized, relevant information that facilitates the decision making process.
✔✔Assumptions - ✔✔Conditions that the bid team assume exist for the purpose of
providing a price or terms of service in a proposal.
,✔✔Balance (Visual) - ✔✔Balance is achieved when the visual "weight" of both halves of
a graphic is similar, giving a sense of equilibrium. Unbalanced graphics convey a sense
of uneasiness.
✔✔Benchmarking - ✔✔A systematic process for comparing your processes with those
of other recognized leaders in your field or industry to identify and close gaps.
✔✔Best and Final Offer (BAFO) - ✔✔A customer request for a document that describes
your organization's final price. There may be more than one request for a BAFO. The
customer requests a BAFO after the proposal has been submitted to select the final
companies to negotiate with or go directly to award.
✔✔Bid Decisions (General) - ✔✔Bid decisions are aimed at eliminating opportunities or
sales leads with a low win probability, this permitting a stronger focus on opportunities
with a higher win probability.
✔✔Bid Decisions Tree - ✔✔A tool used to help you make an informed bid decision
based on positive and negative indicators. It results in a yes or no response leading to a
qualified pursuit decision.
✔✔Bid/No-Bid Decision - ✔✔A milestone after the opportunity plan is substantially
complete. It validates that you are properly positioned to win based on the opportunity
plan.
✔✔Bid or Proposal Center - ✔✔A support organization dedicated to generating
proposals and other response documents for customers.
✔✔Bid Pursuit Decision - ✔✔Generally the first decision milestone to verify that the
opportunity fits your strategic direction and capability.
✔✔Bid Validation Decision - ✔✔A decision mileage after the customer releases an RFP
to address obstacles to winning that were identified in the opportunity plan.
✔✔Bidder Comparison Matrix (BCM) - ✔✔A tool used to analyze the customer's current
perception of your solution compared to competitors. It usually is a weighted score that
indicates the customer's confidence that you can meet their requirements.
✔✔Boilerplate - ✔✔Stored text and graphics that are available for potential reuse in
future proposals.
✔✔Business Case - ✔✔An internal documented argument for bidding on a particular
opportunity. The business case typically focuses on the financial aspects of the bid.
, ✔✔Business Case Review/Senior Management Review - ✔✔All the internal milestones
and approvals (internal governance) required to sign off on the solution, pricing, and
legal requirements.
✔✔Business Development Capability Maturity Model (BD-CMM) - ✔✔A research-based
framework that guides business development organization in identifying and
implementing high-priority improvement actions. The model encompasses the entire
business development life cycle.
✔✔Business Development Maturity Level - ✔✔An indicator of an organization's
adoption of business development best practices (Levels 1-5).
✔✔Business Development Phases - ✔✔There are eight generally accepted business
development phases:
Market identification
Account planning
Opportunity assessment
Opportunity planning
Proposal planning
Proposal development
Negotiation
Delivery
✔✔Callout Box - ✔✔A design feature with text inside a box or within borders to highlight
a key point in the text.
✔✔Capture Plan - ✔✔An Opportunity Plan: A documented plan that is developed during
the opportunity planning phase.
✔✔Central Processing - ✔✔Decision making based on logic and sound arguments. This
type of processing is often used by experts but is less common in general than
peripheral processing.
✔✔Change Management - ✔✔The application of tools, processes, skills, and principles
to transition people from one way of working to another.
✔✔Color - ✔✔A technique used for emphasis, color may be applied throughout the
proposal to headings, callouts, sections, tabs, and anywhere else the solicitation
instructions allow. Use of color can enhance readability and draw reader's attention to
specific content.
✔✔Community of Practice (CoP) - ✔✔Networks of people who work on similar
processes or in similar disciplines and who come together to develop and share their
knowledge in that field for the benefit of themselves and their organization.
