Conducting Color Reviews of Proposals

Many firms rely on Red Team reviews to improve proposals, but by the time these reviews occur—often just before submission—it's too late for strategic changes. This article challenges the assumption that Red Teams alone can meaningfully enhance a proposal. It introduces the full review process: Blue Teams (for win themes), Pink Teams (for storyboarding), and Gold Teams (for risk and alignment), showing how each stage contributes to stronger, more client-focused proposals.

Running full-effort proposals means conducting disciplined Color Team Reviews: Blue for win strategy, Pink for storyboards, Gold for risk and pricing, and Red for the final draft. Each review uses impartial reviewers to simulate a client’s perspective, providing critical feedback at the right stage. Success depends on preparation—reviewer packages, clear instructions, structured facilitation, and respect for participants’ time. Reviews should be concise, professional, and improvement-focused.

Proposal writers usually learn by doing. This prompt set allows you to do just that, but lets you practice the skills here on Twennie without submitting any lack-lustre proposals to a real competition. If your team writes proposals now or in the future, assign this prompt set. This is a rapid-learning tool for a skill that relies a lot on trial and error. Learners get 20 chances to build and test skill, and it only takes minutes out of a day.

A Red Team Review Exercise is a structured session that helps technical and consulting teams perform a focused, impartial evaluation of a near-final proposal. The reviewers—called the Red Team—are individuals who did not contribute to the proposal and can assess it from the client’s perspective. The exercise includes six clear steps: recruiting reviewers, choosing a collaboration platform, distributing materials, preparing the proposal team, leading the review, and implementing the feedback.

The Gold Team is different from other reviews in that it is not about editing the proposal content; it is about executive sign-off on risk, liability, and commercial exposure. Members should include only people with authority: an executive sponsor, a finance lead, legal counsel if needed, and someone capable of reviewing risk and compliance.

Blue Team reviewers look at your positioning, differentiators, and client focus. Are you showing how you meet the client’s real needs better than competitors? A Blue Team review should be the first one you add if you are going to use reviews at all. It gives you a clear picture of whether your strategy will stand up under scrutiny. If you want to practice conducting Blue Team reviews, a prompt set in the color reviews topic allows you to do just that.

The Pink Team reviews your storyboards. Impartial reviewers who were not in the room during the storyboard exercise assess whether the outline of your proposal—your section plans, headlines, and flow—tells a compelling story. You may have only storyboarded your work plan, but a Pink Team review is still useful. In this case you might consider having highly experienced project managers on the Pink Team. That way you get a sense of the strength of a work plan from their perspective.

A storyboard is a medium for outlining and planning a proposal. During a collaborative online or in-person exercise, proposal writers review a list of scope items on the storyboard. To each item they add key issues, tasks, and deliverables until all scope items are addressed. The Pink Team is a group of professionals in your organization who were not present during the exercise. They review this storyboard for its competitive potential before the document is written. Their input can provide valuable insight before a lot of work is done, and can be managed using this form.

This template supports the Red Team Review exercise, a structured session that helps technical and consulting teams perform a focused, impartial evaluation of a near-final proposal. The reviewers—called the Red Team—are individuals who did not contribute to the proposal and can assess it from the client’s perspective. The exercise includes six clear steps: recruiting reviewers, choosing a collaboration platform, distributing materials, preparing the proposal team, leading the review, and implementing the feedback.

The Gold Team is different from other reviews in that it is not about editing the proposal content. It is about executive sign-off on risk, liability, and commercial exposure. Members should include only people with authority: an executive sponsor, a finance lead, legal counsel if needed, and someone capable of reviewing risk and compliance.

Blue Team reviewers look at your positioning, differentiators, and client focus. Are you showing how you meet the client’s real needs better than competitors? A Blue Team review should be the first one you add if you are going to use reviews at all. It gives you a clear picture of whether your strategy will stand up under scrutiny. If you want to practice conducting blue team reviews, a prompt set in the color reviews topic allows you to do just that.