This question is not easy to answer. Both have pros and cons. Funding for full-time internal proposal development capabilities has to come out of overhead and can be substantial. But the capability is always available, allowing flexibility and quick decision-making. A small business with internal proposal capability can respond to more sources sought and requests for information faster without other staff having to stop what they are doing to respond. Independent Consultants are usually very skilled professionals who bring with them a wealth of experience. They only need to be paid when they are actually working on a proposal. They often bring with them a lot of intelligence about competition and incumbents. But they might not be available when you need them. They may already have signed up for another proposal or with the competition. There can also be potential OCI concerns. The decision has to be made whether to hire a full-time proposal manager/staff or if to keep several independent consultants on the call list. The risk tradeoffs are full-time staff cost but constant capability that can be channeled to other tasks when no proposal work is done; or independent consultants who are only paid when proposal work is under way, but may not be available when needed or may have conflicts.