Section L And Section M Explained In Plain English
Short answer: Section L is the instruction manual. It tells you what to submit, in what order, in how many pages, and how to deliver it. Section M is the grading rubric. It tells you which factors the government will rate, how much each one matters, and how price fits in. Write to Section L's structure, using Section M's words.
Most small businesses read Section L carefully and skim Section M. That is backwards. Section M is where the points are.
Where L And M Come From
Most federal RFPs follow the uniform contract format, which splits a solicitation into four parts and thirteen sections, A through M.
Part | Sections | What They Cover |
|---|---|---|
Part I, The Schedule | A to H | The form, prices, work statement, packaging, inspection, delivery, administration, special requirements |
Part II, Contract Clauses | I | The clauses that will be in the contract |
Part III, Attachments | J | The list of attachments (often the Statement of Work, drawings, wage determinations) |
Part IV, Representations And Instructions | K, L, M | Your representations (K), the instructions (L), and the evaluation factors (M) |
In the FAR rewrite most agencies have used since 2025, these rules sit at FAR 15.109. Section L is described at 15.109-4(b) and Section M at 15.109-4(c). In the long-standing FAR text, the same rules were at 15.204-5. Either way, Part IV is not physically included in the final contract. It exists to guide the competition.
What Section L Tells You
Section L holds the instructions, conditions, and notices to offerors. The rules let agencies tell you to submit in a specific format or in separate parts, such as administrative, management, technical, past performance, and price volumes. Typical Section L content:
How many volumes, and what goes in each one.
Page limits, font size, margins, and file format.
What counts toward the page limit and what does not (resumes, covers, tables of contents).
Required content, like a staffing plan, a quality control plan, or named key personnel.
How and where to submit, and the exact due date and time.
The question deadline.
Break a Section L rule and you can lose points, or lose the bid. Some solicitations say plainly that pages over the limit will not be read.
What Section M Tells You
Section M lists every significant evaluation factor and subfactor, and their relative importance. The rules require the solicitation to state, at a minimum, whether all the non-price factors combined are:
Significantly more important than price,
Approximately equal to price, or
Significantly less important than price.
Find that sentence. It tells you how much a stronger technical approach can make up for a higher price. Section M also tells you the method: a best value tradeoff, lowest price technically acceptable, or another approach. And the government must evaluate each proposal based solely on the factors and subfactors in the solicitation. If it is not in Section M, it is not graded.
How To Read Them Together: The Crosswalk
A crosswalk is a simple table that connects each Section L instruction to the Section M factor it feeds. It is the core of a compliance matrix.
Section L Instruction | Section M Factor | What That Means For Your Writing |
|---|---|---|
L.3.1 Describe your technical approach, including crew sizes and schedules | M.2 Technical Approach: understanding of the work, feasibility of the approach | Show crew sizes and schedules, then explain why they will meet the performance standards |
L.3.2 Identify the Project Manager and attach a resume | M.3 Key Personnel: experience relevant to the work | Name the person, and show the years and contract sizes M is looking for |
L.4 Provide up to three past performance references | M.4 Past Performance: recency, relevance, quality | Choose the closest work and explain why it is relevant |
L.5 Complete the price schedule | M.5 Price: reasonableness, and balance across option years | Price every line, and keep option years realistic |
The sample rows above are made up for illustration.
When you write each section, use Section L's numbering for your headings, so the evaluator can find the answer, and use Section M's words in your topic sentences, so the evaluator can match your answer to the rating criteria.
When L And M Do Not Match
Sometimes they do not line up. Section M rates something Section L never asks you to submit, or Section L asks for content Section M never mentions. The rules require the source selection authority to ensure consistency among the instructions, evaluation factors, and clauses, but mismatches still happen.
What to do:
Ask before the question deadline. Send a short, specific question to the contracting officer named in the solicitation. Quote both sections and ask which governs.
If no answer comes, cover both. Answer the Section M factor inside the volume Section L names, so the evaluator finds it either way.
Watch for an amendment. Answers often come as an amendment, which you must acknowledge.
What About Commercial Buys Without L And M?
Many commercial solicitations (often issued on the SF 1449) do not use lettered sections. The same two jobs are done by FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors, and FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation, usually with an addendum that adds the agency's specific instructions and factors. Read the addenda as closely as you would read Sections L and M. Construction solicitations and some streamlined requests may use other formats too. The habit is the same: find the instructions, find the factors, and connect them.
Common L And M Mistakes
Following Section L's outline but never using Section M's words.
Spending pages on what you are proud of instead of what is rated.
Missing the relative importance sentence, and pricing as if price were all that mattered (or nothing).
Exceeding a page limit once resumes and exhibits are added.
Answering a factor in the wrong volume, where the evaluator for that factor never sees it.
Each of these shows up in our list of why government proposals get rejected.
How GradeTheBid Helps
GradeTheBid maps Section L to Section M automatically, quotes each requirement with its page number, and flags instructions with no matching factor and factors with no matching instruction. Then it reads your draft the way the evaluator will and tells you which factors are weak and why.
Get Your Free Proposal Grade
Stop grading your proposal like a writer. Grade it like the evaluator, with a free proposal grade on your next bid.
No credit card. No win promises. Just a clear list of what to fix before you submit. GradeTheBid never submits anything to the government. You download your files and submit them yourself.
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Keep Reading
How To Build A Proposal Compliance Matrix (With A Free Layout)
How Government Evaluators Score Proposals: Outstanding To Unacceptable
RFP Vs RFQ Vs IFB: What Each Government Solicitation Asks You To Do
Sources
FAR Overhaul Part 15 (15.102, 15.104, 15.109-4, 15.201, 15.202), Acquisition.gov
FAR 15.204-5, Part IV Representations And Instructions (Long-Standing FAR Text), Acquisition.gov
FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation, Commercial Products And Commercial Services, Acquisition.gov
A note on rule numbers: in 2025 the federal government began rewriting the Federal Acquisition Regulation (the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul). Most agencies now use overhaul deviation text, and the formal rule was still in progress in October 2026, so a section number in your solicitation may differ from the one cited here. When they differ, follow your solicitation. GradeTheBid is not a law firm, and this article is general education, not legal advice.
