What goes in a facilitation proposal and scope of work?

A quote gives a number. A proposal gives the number and what it buys. The scope of work is the part that says what will be done, by whom and by when, and once both sides sign it, it becomes the agreement. Procurement teams may call it a statement of work. The test is the same: could a finance reviewer who was not on the call tell what the fee covers?

A proposal is not a brochure, a deck of past work or a rate card. Write the scope before you say a number, as I argue in the price you quote is the scope you agree to.

Seven items cover almost every engagement. Each needs a count, a date or a name.

• One sentence of outcome: by the end, participants can do a specific thing. If you cannot write it, run a needs analysis first
• Audience and planned headcount, such as 20 participants, with a rate for anyone added
• Format, length and platform, such as four hours live online
• Preparation, stated in days, and deliverables with delivery dates
• Revisions: one round, requested in writing by a stated date
• Client inputs, and the date they are due
• Fee, with platform and materials at cost on a separate line

Attach the one-page session plan to show how the time is used. This scope is a hypothetical. It uses the half-day workshop and illustrative $2,000 day rate from the pricing article and describes no past engagement.

A written scope also does legal work for an independent facilitator. California treats a person who provides services for pay as an employee unless the hiring entity shows three things, including that the person is free from its control (Labor Code section 2775). A business-to-business exemption in section 2776 lets the multifactor Borello test decide instead when twelve criteria are met. One is a written contract stating the payment amount and due date. Others include setting your own hours and negotiating your own rates. A scope with a fee and payment terms supplies the written part and only that part.

Name a noun, a count and a date for every deliverable. Vague words are where unpaid work enters. The formula in how to price a workshop adds design, preparation, delivery and follow-up days, then multiplies by a day rate. Every day in that sum needs a line in the scope. A day the scope does not mention is a day the client assumes is free.

Add a late-input clause: if inputs arrive after the stated date, the delivery date moves by the same number of days. When the client pushes back on price, change the scope, not the rate. The buyer’s side is in what a corporate facilitator costs.

A held date has a cost: you turned other work away and may have finished the preparation. Write a schedule that rises as the date nears. This is a hypothetical to adapt:

• More than 14 days before the session: no fee
• Within 14 days: 50 percent of the facilitation fee
• Within three days: 100 percent of the facilitation fee, plus platform and materials costs as incurred

Make it mutual. If you cancel, the client gets back every amount paid for work not delivered, and you offer the next available date at no charge. Allow one reschedule with 14 days’ notice at no fee, and treat a second as a new booking.

Tie the numbers to real cost. In a business contract, California enforces a liquidated damages clause unless the party challenging it shows it was unreasonable when the contract was made (Civil Code section 1671(b)). Certain consumer contracts follow a different test under subdivision (c), so this describes business clients. A fee tied to the held date and work done is easier to defend than a round number.

Name an owner for four piles: your methods and templates, the client’s content, materials built for this engagement, and the recording. A common arrangement is that you keep your methods and materials and the client receives a written license to use them inside its organization. Say what the license allows. Letting the client train others with your material is a different product at a different price.

If the client expects to own something, put it in a signed writing. A transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner (17 U.S.C. section 204(a)). Be careful with the phrase work made for hire. When a commissioned work is created under a signed agreement that calls it a work made for hire and the commissioning party takes all the copyright, California treats that party as the creator’s employer for workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance purposes (Labor Code section 3351.5(c), Unemployment Insurance Code section 686). That is why many agreements use a license or an assignment instead. Ask counsel which fits.

The recording needs its own sentence: who holds the file, who may watch it and for how long. California consent rules apply, so read recording consent in training before you promise a replay.

Five questions make quotes comparable. The longer list is in what a corporate facilitator costs.

• What is not included? A scope that lists exclusions is a scope someone thought through
• How many hours of preparation are in the fee, and what happens if the work needs more?
• What is the last date to cancel or move the session without a fee?
• Who owns the recording and the materials, and what may we do with them?
• What do you need from us, and by when?

Answers in writing beat answers on a call. Buyers who send these questions to several facilitators at once can use a facilitator RFP. For what the work looks like once approved, see facilitation services.

What is the difference between a facilitation proposal and a scope of work?

The proposal is the whole offer: approach, scope, fee and terms. The scope of work is the part listing what will be done, by whom and by when. Clients often attach it to the contract.

How many revisions should I include?

One round, with a date by which the client must request it. A second round is billed at the day rate, pro rated.

Should the price come first or last?

Last. Write the scope, then add up the lines. A number said before the scope sets an expectation the scope has to fit.

Do I need a lawyer to review the terms?

Have counsel review payment, cancellation, ownership and classification terms before you use them. This page is general information, not legal advice.