SF330 Guide: What It Is, How to Fill It Out, and Common Mistakes

What Is an SF330?

The SF330 is Standard Form 330, a federal document used by architecture and engineering (A/E) firms to demonstrate their qualifications for government contracts. It is required for most federal A/E procurements under the Brooks Act and consists of two parts: Part I covers contract-specific qualifications submitted with each proposal, and Part II covers general firm qualifications updated annually and kept on file with agencies.

The form is issued by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 36. It replaced the older SF254 and SF255 forms in 2004.

When Is an SF330 Required?

The SF330 is required or commonly requested in three situations:

• Federal A/E contracts — Any architecture or engineering procurement under the Brooks Act (Public Law 92-582) requires qualifications-based selection (QBS). The SF330 is the standard vehicle for submitting qualifications.
• State and municipal contracts — Many state departments of transportation (DOTs), public works agencies, and municipal governments use the SF330 or a modified version of it, even when not federally required.
• Private sector projects — Some large private clients, particularly those with government contracting experience, request SF330s as part of their consultant selection process.

If your firm does any government A/E work, you will fill out SF330s regularly. Most active firms complete dozens per year.

SF330 Part I vs Part II: What's the Difference?

The SF330 has two distinct parts that serve different purposes. Confusing them is one of the most common mistakes firms make.

Part I is the one that wins or loses shortlists. It requires significant effort to tailor for each pursuit. Part II is more of a reference document, but keeping it current is essential — agencies sometimes request it independently.

How to Fill Out an SF330: Section by Section

Part I has nine sections (A through I). Here's what goes in each and what evaluators are actually looking for.

1. Section A — Contract Information

Basic information about the contract you're responding to: project title, solicitation number, and the location where the work will be performed.

This section is straightforward. Copy the information directly from the solicitation. Double-check the solicitation number — errors here signal carelessness.

2. Section B — Architect-Engineer Point of Contact

The primary contact person for your firm on this submittal. Include name, title, phone, fax (if required), and email.

Use someone who can actually answer questions about the proposal. If the agency calls, they expect to reach a person who knows the pursuit — not a general receptionist.

3. Section C — Proposed Team

A matrix listing every firm on the proposed team (prime, subconsultants, joint venture partners) and the roles each will perform.

This is where you show the agency the full team structure at a glance. List the disciplines each firm covers and check the appropriate role boxes. Make sure the disciplines you list match what the solicitation asks for.

4. Section D — Organization Chart

A visual chart showing the reporting structure of the proposed project team and how firms relate to each other.

Keep it clean and readable. Evaluators spend 15-30 seconds on the org chart. If they can't quickly understand who reports to whom, you've lost that time. Show the project manager at the top, key technical leads below, and subconsultant relationships clearly.

5. Section E — Resumes of Key Personnel

One page per person. Each resume includes the person's name, role on this project, education, certifications, relevant project experience, and years of experience.

This is typically the most time-consuming section to prepare. Every resume must be tailored to highlight experience relevant to this specific contract. A drainage engineer's resume for a stormwater project should emphasize different projects than the same person's resume for a roadway widening pursuit.

For firms with 20 or more technical staff, preparing Section E can take a full day per submittal. The same person's qualifications get reformatted repeatedly — different project highlights, different role emphasis, different page layouts — for every pursuit.

6. Section F — Example Projects

Detailed descriptions of relevant projects your firm (and proposed team members) have completed. Each project entry includes the project name, location, owner, completion date, cost, and a description of the work. These are essentially project experience sheets in the SF330's structured format.

Select projects that directly relate to the solicitation's scope and evaluation criteria. If the solicitation emphasizes bridge inspection experience, your project sheets should lead with bridge inspection work — not general structural engineering.

Like Section E, this section requires significant tailoring. The same project may appear in dozens of submittals, but the description should emphasize different aspects depending on what the solicitation values.

7. Section G — Key Personnel Participation in Example Projects

A matrix cross-referencing the people from Section E with the projects from Section F. It shows which team members worked on which projects and what percentage of their time was spent on each.

This section reinforces your team's direct experience. Evaluators use it to verify that your proposed staff have actually worked on the projects you're citing — not just that your firm did the work with different people.

8. Section H — Additional Information

A free-form section where you can provide any additional information relevant to the solicitation. Most firms use this for their technical approach, project understanding, management plan, or other narrative content.

Section H is where you differentiate. Sections A through G are largely structured data. Section H is your chance to show the agency you understand their project and have a thoughtful plan for delivering it. Follow the evaluation criteria closely — if the solicitation lists five criteria, address all five, in order.

9. Section I — Authorized Representative

The signature block. An authorized representative of the prime firm signs here, certifying that the information in the submittal is accurate.

Make sure the signer has actual authority to commit the firm. This section also includes the date and the firm's DUNS number or Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).

Common SF330 Mistakes

These are the errors that cost firms shortlist points. Most are avoidable with better process.

1. Submitting outdated staff resumes. Certifications have expired, recent projects are missing, or someone who left the firm six months ago is still listed. Evaluators notice.
2. Not tailoring project experience to the solicitation. Using the same generic project descriptions for every submittal instead of emphasizing the aspects most relevant to this specific contract.
3. Inconsistent formatting across team members. One resume uses one template, another uses a different one. Subconsultant resumes don't match the prime's format. It looks disorganized.
4. Missing or incorrect certifications. PE numbers from the wrong state, expired certifications listed as active, or missing registrations that the solicitation explicitly requires.
5. Exceeding page limits. If the solicitation says 50 pages, submit 50 pages or fewer. Going over is grounds for disqualification in many agencies.
6. Generic Section H narratives. Writing a technical approach that could apply to any project instead of demonstrating specific understanding of this agency's needs and this project's challenges.
7. Not updating Part II annually. Agencies expect Part II to reflect current firm data. A Part II that hasn't been updated in two years signals a firm that doesn't stay on top of its qualifications.

Tips for Faster SF330 Preparation

Firms that respond to SF330s regularly need systems, not heroics. Here's what helps:

• Keep staff qualifications in a centralized, structured database. Not Word docs on a shared drive. Not "ask Sarah, she knows where everything is." A single source of truth for every person's education, certs, registrations, and project history.
• Maintain a library of project descriptions that can be tailored per pursuit. Each project should have a master description with all the details, plus notes on what aspects to emphasize for different types of solicitations.
• Use consistent resume and project sheet templates. Every person's resume should follow the same layout. This eliminates formatting inconsistencies and makes assembly faster.
• Update Part II on a fixed annual schedule. Pick a month. Every year, update it. Don't wait until an agency requests it.
• Start Section E and F preparation as soon as the solicitation drops. Resume and project sheet preparation is the bottleneck. Starting early prevents the last-minute scramble that causes errors.
• Automate where possible. Tools like RFPM.ai keep staff profiles structured so resume sections generate automatically — different project highlights and formats for each pursuit, all from the same source data. This cuts hours of reformatting per submittal.

How to Automate SF330 Forms for AEC

Not every part of the SF330 can be automated — but the most time-consuming parts can. The sections that eat hours per submittal are Section E (resumes) and Section F (project experience sheets), both of which follow a repeatable structure with data that changes per pursuit but originates from the same source: your staff profiles and project records.

Here's what can be automated and what still needs human judgment:

The three common approaches, from simplest to most capable:

1. Word templates — Pre-formatted DOCX files for Section E and F. You fill in the data manually for each pursuit. Free to start with, but the time cost scales linearly with submittals. Download free SF330 templates.
2. Fillable PDFs — The official GSA form. Works for basic submittals but limits formatting and branding.
3. Structured data + generation — Tools like RFPM.ai store staff qualifications and project data in structured profiles. Resumes and project sheets generate automatically in whatever format the pursuit requires. Update a person's profile once, and every future resume reflects the change.

For firms doing fewer than 10 submittals per year, templates work fine. Past that threshold, the reformatting overhead — tailoring the same 30 resumes and 50 project descriptions across different pursuits — starts consuming days per month that structured automation eliminates.

SF330 Templates and Where to Download Them

An SF330 template is a pre-formatted document — typically Word or PDF — with the section headers, tables, and page layouts already set up so your team can fill in project-specific content without building the form from scratch each time. Most firms maintain at least one Word template for Part I and update it per solicitation.

We offer free DOCX templates for the two most labor-intensive sections:

• Section E (Resume) Template — One-page layout with fields for name, role, education, certifications, and project experience.
• Section F (Project Experience) Template — One-page-per-project layout with project name, location, owner, completion date, cost, and scope description.

Download both from the SF330 Templates page, which also includes the official GSA fillable PDF link and a comparison of manual templates vs. automated generation.

For Section E specifically, the free SF330 Resume Generator converts staff data into the Section E format automatically — no template manipulation required.

SF330 vs Other Qualification Forms

The SF330 is not the only way firms demonstrate qualifications. Here's how it compares to other common formats. For a deeper breakdown, see SOQ vs SF330 vs RFP vs RFI: What's the Difference?.

The SF330's advantage is standardization — once you know the form, you know what every federal agency expects. The disadvantage is rigidity — you can't control the structure or emphasis the way you can with a freeform SOQ.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who needs to submit an SF330?

Any architecture or engineering firm pursuing federal government contracts must submit an SF330 as part of the qualifications-based selection (QBS) process mandated by the Brooks Act. Many state and local agencies also require or accept SF330s. If your firm does public-sector A/E work, you'll encounter the SF330 regularly.

How often should I update my SF330 Part II?

At least once per year. Part II is your firm's general qualifications profile, and agencies expect it to reflect current information. Pick a consistent annual date — many firms update in January or at the start of their fiscal year. Update sooner if you add significant staff, complete a major project, or change firm structure.

Can I use the same SF330 for multiple solicitations?

Part II can be reused broadly since it's a general firm profile. Part I should never be reused as-is. Every Part I submittal must be tailored to the specific solicitation — the proposed team, project experience, and Section H narrative should directly address what that particular agency is evaluating.

What's the difference between SF330 and SF254/SF255?

The SF254 and SF255 were the predecessor forms to the SF330. The SF254 was similar to today's Part II (general firm qualifications), and the SF255 was similar to Part I (project-specific qualifications). The GSA replaced both with the consolidated SF330 in 2004. If an agency references SF254 or SF255, they likely haven't updated their process — but the SF330 is the current standard.

How long should an SF330 be?

Part I length depends on the solicitation — most agencies set page limits, typically between 50 and 80 pages. Stay within the limit. Part II has no standard length, but 15-30 pages is common for mid-size firms. In both cases, be concise. Evaluators review dozens of submittals. Every page should earn its place.

Is there a free SF330 Word template I can use?

The GSA provides an official fillable PDF, but most firms prefer Word templates for better formatting control. We offer a free Section F (Project Experience) template in DOCX format. For Section E resumes, our free SF330 Resume Generator builds formatted resumes from staff data without manual template work.