Proposal Color Team Reviews Explained (And How The Bid Lab Does It Better!)

If you’ve ever heard of a proposal color team review and looked around like you missed an announcement, you’re not alone. The proposal color team review is a common multi-stage method of managing the development of a competitive bid, proposal, grant, or Request for Proposal response process.

In the Shipley world, every stage of proposal development gets a color: Blue, Pink, Red, Green, Gold, and White. It’s basically the Power Rangers as an action list. The system has been around forever, and a lot of big firms still use it.

At The Bid Lab, we don’t use color-coding, but we follow the same checkpoints — just in plain English.

What Exactly are Proposal Color Team Reviews?

Businesses or organizations submit responsive bids to secure more competitive contracts. The Shipley model organizes proposal development into milestones, each named after a color:

• Blue Team: Should we even bid on this?
• Pink Team: What’s the outline, approach, and win strategy?
• Red Team: Does the draft meet the requirements and make sense?
• Green Team: Is this persuasive and polished enough to win?
• Gold Team: Are we ready to finalize and submit?
• White Team: What happened and what can we do better next time?

For large enterprises like federal contractors, Fortune 500s, and agencies with layers of internal reviewers, the color team helps separate responsibilities and phases. But if you’re new to proposals (or just not into color-coding your work life), it can feel harder than it needs to be. And for small to mid-sized companies, it actually slows things down instead of helping.

The Bid Lab’s Version (Minus the Crayon Box)

We cover the same ground, just in words normal humans use. Here’s how the Shipley colors line up with our process:

Shipley Color Team	The Bid Lab Stage	What’s Happening
Blue Team	Kickoff	Focuses on the win strategy and outline of the proposal
Pink Team	First Pass	Creates a compelling narrative by completing a first draft
Red Team	Content Enhancement	Examines the proposal for clarity and compliance
Green Team	Content Enhancement + Pricing	Assesses the solution’s cost and financial feasibility
Gold Team	Final Pass from Project Manager	Provides a high-level review and stamp of approval
White Team	Final Pass from Editor	Serves as the final quality check before submission

Why We Don’t Use Color Names 

Color systems tend to work best inside massive internal teams with long cycles and a lot of handoffs. Most of our small business clients don’t work that way – and they don’t want to. Instead of splitting people into separate teams every few weeks, we keep the right folks involved the whole way through and bring in fresh eyes when it matters.

Most of the organizations we work with outsource elements of their proposal process. They don’t have proposal departments, in-house capture teams, or a week to pause for a color-coded review cycle. They’re juggling business development, client delivery, and proposals all at once. So instead of carving the process into proposal color team review silos, our approach keeps progress continuous. Writers, subject matter experts, and project managers stay connected from kickoff through submission, which means fewer handoffs, faster decisions, and less time translating who’s responsible for what. When someone has input or needs to review something, they don’t have to wait their turn in a color queue — they’re already in the loop.

We find that our clients benefit more from these things:

• Clear roles from day one
• Consistent involvement instead of handoffs
• Early quality checks instead of last-minute freak-outs
• A process that adapts to different teams and timelines

Why Do Big Firms Still Use Color Teams?

There are two main reasons big firms still use proposal color team reviews: logistics and legacy. A lot of government contractors were trained on the Shipley Method. It’s also a standard within the Association of Project Management Professionals (APMP). Once acronyms hit the scene, they tend to live forever. When you have forty people touching a document, it’s hard to keep milestones straight and get everyone on the same page (pun intended). But the colors of the rainbow don’t magically make the process better. They’re just a naming system. And that’s where most smaller teams tend to check out.

A Realistic Example

Let’s say there’s a client going after a city RFP with a three-week turnaround. It’s a strict Shipley structure, so Blue, Pink, and Red teams are all passing it off to each other. You’d assemble a different group of reviewers each time, and each color checkpoint could stall momentum.

With The Bid Lab, the process moves like this:

• We evaluate and green-light the bid.
• We build the outline and win strategy with the client.
• The first draft is already moving fast – not after four meetings.
• Content, clarification, graphics, and pricing evolve together.
• Reviews happen while the document is still developing.

By the time we’re done polishing, there are no surprise gaps.

When Does a Proposal Color Team Review System Actually Make Sense?

For most small and mid-sized teams, it really doesn’t. Proposal color team reviews are built for larger organizations with many departments and lots of handoffs. If that’s not your world, you’re not missing anything by skipping the Red/Pink/Gold lingo.

That said, if you occasionally collaborate with agencies or partners who use the Shipley model, we can speak “color” when it’s helpful. But we won’t make you memorize a paint chart to get your proposal out there.

At the End of the Proposal Color Team Review Rainbow

The most effective proposal management process is the one that helps your organization win more RFPs. Proposal color team reviews aren’t wrong; they’re one way of breaking down the process. At The Bid Lab, we take the things that work and remove things that confuse smaller teams and make things more complicated than they need to be.

Think of it like taking a color-coded subway map and making a simple set of instructions for your own commute. All of the stops are still there. But you only need the ones that will get you where you’re going.

Ready to Work With a Consistent Team of Proposal Professionals?

If you’re ready for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, our experts can help! Our Bid Manager process was built to help small businesses manage the proposal process. Looking for modular or specific services to enhance your competitive opportunity? Then you’ll love our one-and-done Flex Services! Our user-friendly RFP search engine, Bid Banana, can even help small businesses find the perfect bid. So no matter your need, just know we’re ready to help. Reach out to our team for a free consultation by calling 1-844-4BIDLAB or emailing respond@thebidlab.com.