Anything users enter as a comment in their documents can be a tag in Symphony. "Tag" documents for a proposal before uploading them in Symphony by following these instructions. (An instructional video on this topic is also available at the bottom of the page).
1. Prepare the Document
The comments or highlighted text in a PDF (Portable Document Format) file are described as “tags” in Symphony.
- Comments are used to provide references for validation (see Figure 1).
- All proposal documents should be in Portable Document Format (.pdf). We do not recommend using the PDF portfolio feature.
Figure 1. Comment Feature in Adobe.
Tags must match in both the PDF(s) and Symphony.
- We recommend using an overarching or generic keyword for simplicity in claiming solicitation-specific scoring elements.
- Evaluators will use the tags (comments) to find support for the claims.
A tag could be "Performance" with an explanation (ex. Performance - NAICS, Performance - Contract Award, Performance - Customer) in the document, and users only need to enter "Performance" in the tag field in Symphony. The evaluators will search for the word "Performance" and find every instance it appears in the comments.
The reference file and tags become links in the evaluation tool that open each document to the position of the first tag. The evaluators are then guided from comment to comment, similar to using a Find feature when they review a proposal.
Best Practices
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2. Upload Documents to My Company
In My Company > Projects/Past Performance, users can add and remove documents, and edit/update the reference tags as needed.
- Add or Edit a Project.
- Upload the supporting document(s) (see Figure 2).
- Project files should be reusable across multiple solicitations. (See Documenting Projects/Past Performance).
- Reference the Documents in the Project Details (see Figure 3).
- Save the Project.
The Company Name displays on the top left.
Figure 2. Project Documents upload screen
The Symphony Tag Legend only applies to the Project Details in the Company assets because this data is the most reusable (see Table 1). The recommended tags are:
| COSTS | Other Direct or Indirect Costs |
| CR | Cost Reimbursement |
| FOREIGN | Foreign Country/Location(s) |
| FTE | Full-Time Equivalents |
| LOCATIONS | Number of locations |
| NAICS | North American Industry Classification (NAICS) code |
| OCONUS | Outside of the Continental United States |
| POP | Period of Performance |
| PSC | Product and Service Code (PSC) |
| TCV | Total Contract Value |
| TEAMING | Subcontractor/Teaming |
Table 1. List of recommended Tags.
Figure 3. Project Details use the Symphony Tag Legend.
3. Reference the Documents in a Proposal
The most important part of “tagging” is that the PDF comment matches the reference used in Symphony for the Performance Factors to earn additional points for the solicitation. (See Using Symphony for Proposal Intake).
- Use the Solicitations tab on the Dashboard.
- Start or Continue a proposal Submission.
- Select the Projects/Past Performance tab in a proposal.
- Add or select a project.
- Begin or Modify the Performance Factors for a project.
- Pick the reference document(s) (see Figure 4).
- Enter the “tags”.
- Save and Complete.
The Submission displays the Solicitation Name on the top left and the Live Score on the top right. 
Figure 4. Add Performance Factors to projects in a proposal to claim more points.
Watch this video for a brief overview.
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