Small proposals (like $50,000 or less) may not require your resources put into delivering the work (labor, materials, travel and other costs) to be broken down into more detail; however larger bids typically include a work-breakdown structure (WBS) to segregate costs. The WBS is like a series of sub-projects within the proposal delivery, each WBS being a group of tasks, costs, work and resources to deliver a specific portion of the program.

WBS elements represent the company's internal view of how to deliver the work whereas the priced line items or contract line items (CLINs) represent the customer's view of how the work is to be delivered.

A WBS is typically used when the proposal is big, based on a complex project plan, or involves multiple resources to complete. WBS hierarchies or "work breakdown structures" are either entered manually or copied in from a template.

To create a new WBS for your proposal, open the WBS tab. The first row in the table of WBS elements is your project or proposal overall. WBS elements are added in a hierarchy below your proposal project:

1. Any WBS with lower level WBS elements below it will have an expand/collapse arrow next to it. Click this arrow to show or hide the child WBS elements
2. You can edit columns indicating if your WBS is one where cost estimating is carried out (a "basis of estimate" or BOE), the status of your WBS element, and work-stream and sub work-stream of your WBS. You can also add/hide columns
3. You can also see and edit the phase each WBS is assigned to, the basis of estimate (BOE) owner and the proposed start and end dates of each specific WBS. Each WBS must start and end within its phase delivery period, or if there is no assigned phase then within the start/end of the proposal's performance period
4. The design to cost or "DTC" for short is displayed, namely the target cost you need to meet to submit a competitive bid
5. You can optionally limit the display of WBS elements to only those elements falling in a specific phase. Any WBS elements below a phase which was excluded from display are also hidden, regardless of what phase they were assigned to
6. To add a new WBS into your hierarchy click on the GEAR icon which appears anytime you move your mouse over the WBS column. From the gear-menu select
   • "Add WBS Node" to insert a new WBS below the one where you clicked the gear but at the same level, as a brother or sister WBS element. Numbering is automatic, with the last portion of that selected WBS number being incremented for the new inserted WBS
   • "Add WBS Sub-node" to insert a new WBS below the one where you clicked, as a child WBS to the one which you clicked. This time the number of the new child WBS is the parent's number plus a new number "1" on the end
7. To delete a WBS element select "Delete WBS" option from the menu. Any child WBS elements are deleted at the same time

You can also drag WBS nodes up or down the structure to move them around. WBS codes are renumbered when you do this

Certain WBS elements are marked as "basis of estimate" WBS which means that cost estimates are created at this level. Each basis of estimate, or "BOE" for short, contains one or more of labor, material, travel and/or other direct cost estimates in the Estimating Application.

1. In order to mark a WBS as a basis of estimate check the "BOE" column highlighted in the screen shot below
2. In the popup which comes select the BOE owner, who will receive workflow notifications to complete their estimate
3. Select one or more estimating strategies. Tabs are automatically added to the basis of estimate application for each chosen estimating strategy
4. The WBS "type" automatically defaults to a BOE WBS, there is no need to change this field
5. Check or complete the work-stream and sub work-stream as appropriate
6. The design to cost target for this WBS is shown on the left, together with an prior cost estimate summary on the right. Change the DTC cost target if required.

Basis of estimates WBS do not have to be defined at the lowest point in your work-breakdown structure, rather you should select a WBS at any level as the basis of estimate. You cannot however mark a WBS as a BOE which directly above, or below, another basis of estimate