# Developing Solution Approach > Designs the proposal-ready solution for a US Federal bid. Use when the user needs a solution approach, a technical solution design, solutioning, a solutioning workshop, a staffing or management model, a transition or risk or quality approach, or needs to turn requirements, win themes, and constraints into a designed solution before drafting. Produces the solution design that storyboards and secti… - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-danielkinneyspears-federal-proposal-skills-developing-solution-approach` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [danielkinneyspears](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/danielkinneyspears) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** Apache-2.0 - **Upstream author:** [danielkinneyspears](https://github.com/danielkinneyspears) - **Source:** https://github.com/danielkinneyspears/federal-proposal-skills/tree/main/skills/developing-solution-approach ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-danielkinneyspears-federal-proposal-skills-developing-solution-approach ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Developing Solution Approach Design the solution before anyone drafts a section. Storyboarding and section drafting both assume a solution already exists — a technical approach, a staffing model, a transition plan, a management structure, a risk and quality approach. Solutioning is the work of designing those, deliberately, from the requirements, the win themes, and the cost constraints. Skipping it means the solution gets invented one paragraph at a time by separate authors, and the proposal describes something incoherent. ## When to use this skill Use this skill after the win strategy is set and the solicitation has been shredded (between capture and full proposal development) to design the solution the proposal will sell. It feeds `outlining-proposals` (the storyboards need a solution to storyboard) and `drafting-proposal-sections` (the sections need a solution to describe). On a fast task order it may run in a single solutioning session; on a large bid it is an iterative workshop series. It does not write proposal narrative (`drafting-proposal-sections`) and does not set win themes (`developing-win-strategy`). It designs the *what* and *how* that the narrative will then present persuasively. ## Inputs **Preferred upstream artifacts:** - `10-compliance-matrix.md`: the requirements the solution must satisfy. - `05-win-strategy.md`: the win themes and discriminators the solution must embody. A solution that does not deliver the discriminators makes the win themes empty. - `04-price-to-win.md`: the cost target the solution must be designed to hit. - `03-competitive-assessment.md`: what the solution must beat. - `00-opportunity-profile.md` and `02-capture-plan.md` — customer context. **Without the compliance matrix**, run `shredding-solicitations` first — the solution must be designed against real requirements. Read `../../shared/glossary.md` and `../../shared/pursuit-workspace.md` if not already read this session. ## Intake Ask these as a numbered list. Skip what upstream artifacts answer. 1. **The requirement.** What is the work — the scope, the performance standards, the constraints (period of performance, place, security, contract type)? 2. **The win themes.** What discriminators and win themes must the solution embody (from `05-win-strategy.md`)? 3. **The cost target.** What price-to-win target must the solution be designed to hit (from `04-price-to-win.md`)? Is the evaluation best-value or LPTA? 4. **The customer's hot buttons.** What risks and priorities must the solution visibly address — transition risk, staffing, performance, mission urgency? 5. **Constraints and assets.** What does the team bring — existing capability, tools, methods, people, partners — and what hard constraints bound the design (clearances, facilities, mandated standards)? ## Workflow ``` Solution Design: - [ ] Step 1: Read upstream artifacts; complete intake - [ ] Step 2: Frame the design problem — requirements, themes, cost, constraints - [ ] Step 3: Design each solution element - [ ] Step 4: Check the design against requirements, themes, and cost - [ ] Step 5: Resolve trade-offs and record decisions - [ ] Step 6: Write the solution design (08-solution-design.md) ``` **Step 1: Read and intake.** Read the upstream artifacts; run intake for the rest. **Step 2: Frame the problem.** State what the solution must do: satisfy the compliance-matrix requirements, embody the win themes, fit the price-to-win target, and address the customer's hot buttons. Use `references/solutioning-method.md`. A solution designed against only the requirements is compliant and undifferentiated; a solution designed against only the themes is differentiated and non-compliant. It must do all of it. **Step 3: Design each element.** Design the solution elements (`solutioning-method.md` defines them): the technical approach, the staffing and management model, the transition approach, the risk approach, and the quality approach. Each element is designed concretely enough that a section author could describe it (named methods, defined structure, specific decisions) not left as a slogan. **Step 4: Check the design.** Verify the design against three standards: - Requirements: every compliance-matrix requirement is satisfied by some element of the design. - Win themes: every discriminator in the win strategy is actually delivered by the design. A discriminator the design does not deliver is a theme the proposal cannot honestly make. - Cost: the design can be delivered within the price-to-win target. This is the design-to-cost discipline: a solution that cannot be priced to win is not a solution. Where it cannot, redesign or flag it back to pricing and capture. **Step 5: Trade-offs.** Solutioning involves trade-offs — richness vs. cost, innovation vs. risk, scope of the offered approach. Resolve each consciously, guided by the evaluation approach (best-value rewards value; LPTA rewards clean, lean acceptability), and record the decision and its rationale so the proposal is internally consistent and the team does not relitigate it mid-draft. **Step 6: Write.** Write `08-solution-design.md` using `templates/solution-design.md`. ## Output One artifact: `08-solution-design.md` in the pursuit workspace — the designed solution the storyboards and section drafts build from. Present the user with: the solution design by element, confirmation that it covers the requirements and delivers the discriminators, the cost-fit check, and the trade-off decisions made. ## References - `references/solutioning-method.md`: the solutioning workshop, the solution elements, designing against requirements/themes/cost, trade-offs, and the design-to-cost discipline. - `templates/solution-design.md`: the solution design artifact template. ## Guardrails - **Design before drafting.** The solution is designed here, deliberately, not improvised by authors during drafting. If asked to skip solutioning, produce the design first and explain why. - **Design against requirements, themes, and cost together.** All three. A solution missing any one of them fails. - **Deliver the discriminators.** A win theme the design does not actually deliver is a claim the proposal cannot support. Either the design delivers it or the win strategy is wrong. - **Design to cost.** A solution that cannot be delivered within the price-to-win target is not done. Redesign, or escalate to pricing and capture. - **Concrete, not aspirational.** Design the solution the team can actually deliver and staff. An aspirational design becomes a performance failure. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [danielkinneyspears](https://github.com/danielkinneyspears) - **Source:** [danielkinneyspears/federal-proposal-skills](https://github.com/danielkinneyspears/federal-proposal-skills) - **License:** Apache-2.0 Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-danielkinneyspears-federal-proposal-skills-developing-solution-approach - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/danielkinneyspears - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. 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