Multiple federal agencies
$1,200,000 won
Submission Tactics
Verified Win

Why I always call the program officer before applying

A 15-minute call with the program officer before writing a single word has increased my win rate from 12% to 38%.

James O'Brien

Executive Director

Community Health Partners

89 upvotes

The Strategy

This is the single highest-ROI thing I do for every application over $50K. Before I write anything, I call or email the program officer listed in the NOFO. I keep it to 15 minutes and ask three questions: 1. 'We're considering applying with a project focused on [X]. Does that align with what you're hoping to fund this cycle?' — This alone has saved me from writing three applications that would have been rejected as out of scope. 2. 'What are the most common reasons applications get declined…

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federal
program-officer
relationship
pre-application

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