VSP FOUNDATION FINAL PAPER 2026
FULL QUESTIONS AND ACCURATE
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
⩥ Opportunity Plan. Answer: A documented plan that is developed
during the opportunity planning phase to identify actions and strategies
to position your customer to be the customer's preferred bidder.
⩥ Price-to-Win. Answer: A process for analyzing competitive and
customer data to identify how to package and price a winning offer to a
customer.
⩥ SWOT. Answer: The analysis performed by organizations to address
competitive positioning and identify the outcomes needed to develop a
compelling proposal response that wins the business. It emphasizes the
internal environment.
⩥ Benefit. Answer: Results from a feature of an offer that resolves a
customer issue and demonstrates the value the customer can achieve
from resolving the issue.
⩥ Clarification. Answer: Communication to eliminate minor
irregularities or apparent clerical mistakes in an RFP or in a proposal.
,⩥ Compliance Matrix. Answer: A list of specific customer requirements,
often splitting complex, multi-part requirements into sub-requirements.
It helps proposal managers and internal reviewers verify that the
proposal meets all the requirements.
⩥ Compliant versus Responsiveness. Answer: Compliance is the act of
meeting stated requirements. Responsiveness goes beyond compliance
and addresses customer goals, underlying concerns, and key issues and
values that might not be spelled out in the solicitation.
⩥ Customer Focus. Answer: A customer-focused bid clearly addresses
the problem the customer has agreed they are trying to solve and
demonstrates how your solution meets their goals.
⩥ Customer Issues. Answer: Customer concerns that the offer will
resolve. Issues may be the business outcomes the customer is trying to
achieve.
⩥ Customer Requirements Feature. Answer: The attributes and
specifications of a product or service as determined by the customer.
⩥ Hot Buttons. Answer: Singularly important issues or sets of issues that
are likely to drive decisions, usually associated with customer buying
decisions. Hot button issues are items that the customer repeatedly
discusses and often are problems with a system, software, process, or
resources inhibiting the success of the customer's organization.
,⩥ Non-Compliant Bids. Answer: A bid or proposal that does not meet
the customer's requirements.
⩥ Protest. Answer: Written objection by an interested party to a
solicitation, cancellation of a solicitation, contract award, or termination
of a contract award.
⩥ Reponse Matrix. Answer: A derivative of the compliance matrix. It is
a roadmap for evaluators, pointing to specific proposal response for each
compliance item. The matrix may also contain a summary response. It
identifies where in the proposal you have addressed each of the
solicitation requirements.
⩥ Competitive Intelligence (CI). Answer: Objectively understanding the
strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of companies competing against
your company for business. CI is a well-defined business practice to
understand the competitive forces and market dynamics that affect your
company's viability and long-term profitability.
⩥ Customer Intelligence. Answer: 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. Answer: 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. Answer: A sales plan that is specific to one customer
and covers multiple opportunities with that customer.
⩥ Action Caption. Answer: A short, informative statement associated
with a graphic that provides additional information to help the reader
understand what the graphic means.
⩥ Active/Passive Voice. Answer: 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. Answer: 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. Answer: A set of principles regarding the nature and
appreciation of beauty. The study of aesthetics increases the validity of
many critical judgments concerning art.
FULL QUESTIONS AND ACCURATE
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
⩥ Opportunity Plan. Answer: A documented plan that is developed
during the opportunity planning phase to identify actions and strategies
to position your customer to be the customer's preferred bidder.
⩥ Price-to-Win. Answer: A process for analyzing competitive and
customer data to identify how to package and price a winning offer to a
customer.
⩥ SWOT. Answer: The analysis performed by organizations to address
competitive positioning and identify the outcomes needed to develop a
compelling proposal response that wins the business. It emphasizes the
internal environment.
⩥ Benefit. Answer: Results from a feature of an offer that resolves a
customer issue and demonstrates the value the customer can achieve
from resolving the issue.
⩥ Clarification. Answer: Communication to eliminate minor
irregularities or apparent clerical mistakes in an RFP or in a proposal.
,⩥ Compliance Matrix. Answer: A list of specific customer requirements,
often splitting complex, multi-part requirements into sub-requirements.
It helps proposal managers and internal reviewers verify that the
proposal meets all the requirements.
⩥ Compliant versus Responsiveness. Answer: Compliance is the act of
meeting stated requirements. Responsiveness goes beyond compliance
and addresses customer goals, underlying concerns, and key issues and
values that might not be spelled out in the solicitation.
⩥ Customer Focus. Answer: A customer-focused bid clearly addresses
the problem the customer has agreed they are trying to solve and
demonstrates how your solution meets their goals.
⩥ Customer Issues. Answer: Customer concerns that the offer will
resolve. Issues may be the business outcomes the customer is trying to
achieve.
⩥ Customer Requirements Feature. Answer: The attributes and
specifications of a product or service as determined by the customer.
⩥ Hot Buttons. Answer: Singularly important issues or sets of issues that
are likely to drive decisions, usually associated with customer buying
decisions. Hot button issues are items that the customer repeatedly
discusses and often are problems with a system, software, process, or
resources inhibiting the success of the customer's organization.
,⩥ Non-Compliant Bids. Answer: A bid or proposal that does not meet
the customer's requirements.
⩥ Protest. Answer: Written objection by an interested party to a
solicitation, cancellation of a solicitation, contract award, or termination
of a contract award.
⩥ Reponse Matrix. Answer: A derivative of the compliance matrix. It is
a roadmap for evaluators, pointing to specific proposal response for each
compliance item. The matrix may also contain a summary response. It
identifies where in the proposal you have addressed each of the
solicitation requirements.
⩥ Competitive Intelligence (CI). Answer: Objectively understanding the
strengths, weaknesses, and strategies of companies competing against
your company for business. CI is a well-defined business practice to
understand the competitive forces and market dynamics that affect your
company's viability and long-term profitability.
⩥ Customer Intelligence. Answer: 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. Answer: 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. Answer: A sales plan that is specific to one customer
and covers multiple opportunities with that customer.
⩥ Action Caption. Answer: A short, informative statement associated
with a graphic that provides additional information to help the reader
understand what the graphic means.
⩥ Active/Passive Voice. Answer: 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. Answer: 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. Answer: A set of principles regarding the nature and
appreciation of beauty. The study of aesthetics increases the validity of
many critical judgments concerning art.
