APMP Glossary | Proposal Management Terms, Definitions & Certification Exam
Prep 2026
Account Plan - ANS ✔✔A sales plan that is specific to one customer and covers multiple
opportunities with that customer. The timespan covered by the plan typically is two to five
years.
Action Caption - ANS ✔✔A short, informative statement associated with a graphic that provides
additional information to help the reader understand what the graphic means.
Active/Passive Voice - ANS ✔✔Sentences written in active voice have a clear subject and verb.
They make it clear who does what. Passive-voice sentences, in contrast, 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 - ANS ✔✔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 - ANS ✔✔A set of principles regarding the nature and appreciation of beauty. The
study of aesthetics increases the validity of many critical judgments concerning art. Established
aesthetic principles create a shared vocabulary and understanding for the objective evaluation
of beauty.
After-Action Review - ANS ✔✔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 - ANS ✔✔A simple writing or content plan. This is a structure for the
proposal that is usually derived from the customer requirements documentation. The outline
may be annotated to show writing responsibilities, informative headings, page-count estimates,
and so on. The annotated outline amplifies a(...)
,Appendix - ANS ✔✔Supplementary material included at the end of a proposal. Appendices
contain specialized, relevant information that facilitates the decisionmaking process.
Assumptions - ANS ✔✔Conditions that the bid team assume exist for the purpose of providing a
price or terms of service in a proposal.
Balance (Visual) - ANS ✔✔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 - ANS ✔✔A systematic process for comparing your processes with those of other
recognized leaders in your field or industry to identify and close gaps.
Benefit - ANS ✔✔A benefit results from a feature of an offer that resolves a customer issue and
demonstrates the value the customer can achieve from resolving the issue. To claim a benefit,
there must be a feature of the offer that clearly allows the customer to realize the benefit.
Benefits help customers(...)
Best and Final Offer (BAFO) - ANS ✔✔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 Decision Tree - ANS ✔✔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 Decisions (General) - ANS ✔✔Bid decisions are aimed at eliminating opportunities or sales
leads with a low win probability, thus permitting a stronger focus on opportunities with a higher
,win probability. For large, complex pursuits, companies often use market entry, opportunity
qualification, bid pursuit, bid/no-bid,(...)
Bid Manager - ANS ✔✔A Bid Manager is responsible for managing a bid or proposal opportunity
from qualification to contract award, including: Early and ongoing strategy development Legal
review Solution development Winning price development Partner identification Risk
management Proposal(...)
Bid or Proposal Center - ANS ✔✔A support organization dedicated to generating proposals and
other response documents for customers.
Bid Pursuit Decision - ANS ✔✔Generally the first decision milestone to verify that the
opportunity fits your strategic direction and capability. This decision often approves the funds to
initiate early opportunity planning activities. Sales may do an opportunity qualification
decisionbefore this decision gate.
Bid Validation Decision - ANS ✔✔A decision milestone after the customer releases an RFP to
address obstacles to winning that were identified in the opportunity plan.
Bid/No-Bid Decision - ANS ✔✔A milestone after the opportunity plan is substantially complete.
It validates that you are properly positioned to win based on the opportunity plan.
Bidder Comparison Matrix (BCM) - ANS ✔✔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.
Black Hat - ANS ✔✔See Competitor Review.
Blue Team - ANS ✔✔See Opportunity Plan Review
, Boilerplate - ANS ✔✔Stored text and graphics that are available for potential reuse in future
proposals. Boilerplate is information that is harvested from existing documentation to be
repurposed in other proposals. It may include text and graphics, technical specifications,
company procedures, and advertising and(...)
Business Case - ANS ✔✔An internal documented argument for bidding on a particular
opportunity. The business case typically focuses on the financial aspects of the bid. The same
term may also be applied to a document or proposal section that is aimed at providing the
customer with the financial justification for(...)
Business Case Review/Senior Management Review - ANS ✔✔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) - ANS ✔✔A research-based
framework that guides business development organizations in identifying and implementing
high-priority improvement actions. The model encompasses the entire business development
life cycle. It establishes a structure that guides increased performance to: Increase value to(...)
Business Development Maturity Level - ANS ✔✔An indicator of an organization's adoption of
business development best practices. For example: Level 1 organizations have ad hoc processes
and are often seen as chaotic. Level 2 organizations have repeatable processes and build on past
successes. Level 3 organizations have defined processes(...)
Business Development Phases - ANS ✔✔There are eight generally accepted business
development phases: Market identificationAccount planning Opportunity assessment
Opportunity planning Proposal planningProposal development Negotiation Delivery
Opportunity assessment, opportunity planning, proposal planning, proposal(...)
Callout Box - ANS ✔✔A design feature with text inside a box or within borders to highlight a key
point in the text.
Prep 2026
Account Plan - ANS ✔✔A sales plan that is specific to one customer and covers multiple
opportunities with that customer. The timespan covered by the plan typically is two to five
years.
Action Caption - ANS ✔✔A short, informative statement associated with a graphic that provides
additional information to help the reader understand what the graphic means.
Active/Passive Voice - ANS ✔✔Sentences written in active voice have a clear subject and verb.
They make it clear who does what. Passive-voice sentences, in contrast, 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 - ANS ✔✔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 - ANS ✔✔A set of principles regarding the nature and appreciation of beauty. The
study of aesthetics increases the validity of many critical judgments concerning art. Established
aesthetic principles create a shared vocabulary and understanding for the objective evaluation
of beauty.
After-Action Review - ANS ✔✔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 - ANS ✔✔A simple writing or content plan. This is a structure for the
proposal that is usually derived from the customer requirements documentation. The outline
may be annotated to show writing responsibilities, informative headings, page-count estimates,
and so on. The annotated outline amplifies a(...)
,Appendix - ANS ✔✔Supplementary material included at the end of a proposal. Appendices
contain specialized, relevant information that facilitates the decisionmaking process.
Assumptions - ANS ✔✔Conditions that the bid team assume exist for the purpose of providing a
price or terms of service in a proposal.
Balance (Visual) - ANS ✔✔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 - ANS ✔✔A systematic process for comparing your processes with those of other
recognized leaders in your field or industry to identify and close gaps.
Benefit - ANS ✔✔A benefit results from a feature of an offer that resolves a customer issue and
demonstrates the value the customer can achieve from resolving the issue. To claim a benefit,
there must be a feature of the offer that clearly allows the customer to realize the benefit.
Benefits help customers(...)
Best and Final Offer (BAFO) - ANS ✔✔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 Decision Tree - ANS ✔✔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 Decisions (General) - ANS ✔✔Bid decisions are aimed at eliminating opportunities or sales
leads with a low win probability, thus permitting a stronger focus on opportunities with a higher
,win probability. For large, complex pursuits, companies often use market entry, opportunity
qualification, bid pursuit, bid/no-bid,(...)
Bid Manager - ANS ✔✔A Bid Manager is responsible for managing a bid or proposal opportunity
from qualification to contract award, including: Early and ongoing strategy development Legal
review Solution development Winning price development Partner identification Risk
management Proposal(...)
Bid or Proposal Center - ANS ✔✔A support organization dedicated to generating proposals and
other response documents for customers.
Bid Pursuit Decision - ANS ✔✔Generally the first decision milestone to verify that the
opportunity fits your strategic direction and capability. This decision often approves the funds to
initiate early opportunity planning activities. Sales may do an opportunity qualification
decisionbefore this decision gate.
Bid Validation Decision - ANS ✔✔A decision milestone after the customer releases an RFP to
address obstacles to winning that were identified in the opportunity plan.
Bid/No-Bid Decision - ANS ✔✔A milestone after the opportunity plan is substantially complete.
It validates that you are properly positioned to win based on the opportunity plan.
Bidder Comparison Matrix (BCM) - ANS ✔✔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.
Black Hat - ANS ✔✔See Competitor Review.
Blue Team - ANS ✔✔See Opportunity Plan Review
, Boilerplate - ANS ✔✔Stored text and graphics that are available for potential reuse in future
proposals. Boilerplate is information that is harvested from existing documentation to be
repurposed in other proposals. It may include text and graphics, technical specifications,
company procedures, and advertising and(...)
Business Case - ANS ✔✔An internal documented argument for bidding on a particular
opportunity. The business case typically focuses on the financial aspects of the bid. The same
term may also be applied to a document or proposal section that is aimed at providing the
customer with the financial justification for(...)
Business Case Review/Senior Management Review - ANS ✔✔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) - ANS ✔✔A research-based
framework that guides business development organizations in identifying and implementing
high-priority improvement actions. The model encompasses the entire business development
life cycle. It establishes a structure that guides increased performance to: Increase value to(...)
Business Development Maturity Level - ANS ✔✔An indicator of an organization's adoption of
business development best practices. For example: Level 1 organizations have ad hoc processes
and are often seen as chaotic. Level 2 organizations have repeatable processes and build on past
successes. Level 3 organizations have defined processes(...)
Business Development Phases - ANS ✔✔There are eight generally accepted business
development phases: Market identificationAccount planning Opportunity assessment
Opportunity planning Proposal planningProposal development Negotiation Delivery
Opportunity assessment, opportunity planning, proposal planning, proposal(...)
Callout Box - ANS ✔✔A design feature with text inside a box or within borders to highlight a key
point in the text.
