Managed Services Proposal Template For Small MSPs

A managed services proposal template is a fill-in outline of the document you send a prospect before the agreement. It sets out their situation, the services you'll manage, service levels, two pricing options, an onboarding plan, assumptions and exclusions, and the next step.

Copy the template or download it, then check your answers against the filled-in example. It comes from the team behind SherpaDesk, a helpdesk and professional services automation (PSA) tool a small IT team can run alone. This is an outline, not legal advice: have a lawyer review your wording.

What A Managed Services Proposal Does

A managed services proposal restates the prospect's problem, names the services that fix it, and prices them. An MSP usually charges a flat fee the client pays on a schedule, often monthly.

CISA tells organizations hiring an MSP what to ask for before they sign a contract. The template has a field for four of those items:

One r/msp member put it plainly: "The prospect should already understand the ballpark investment before you spend time building a proposal." Give a range in discovery.

If the prospect sent a request for proposal (RFP), its rules come first: an RFP tells bidders how to prepare their proposal.

Proposal vs Agreement, SOW, And SLA

The proposal sets out the options. The contract documents follow, each settling a different question. One example structure:

The proposal summarizes what the SLA and the agreement will say. It shouldn't restate their terms, because two versions of one promise drift apart. One r/msp member points to the contract documents instead: "MSA is 9 pages, Services Guide is 31, both are referenced in one simple line on all proposals/contracts/quotes."

Watch the acronym. A master service agreement is a different document: a contract for the relationship's current and future activities. Some MSPs build their managed services agreement the same way. Our guide to the managed services agreement covers the clauses. For targets by priority, use our service level agreement template.

The Managed Services Proposal Template

Each bracket says what goes in it. Delete the note under the title before sending.

PROPOSAL FOR MANAGED IT SERVICES
[Delete before sending: have your lawyer review
this wording, the choice line, and step 3.]
Prepared for: [client company] · [contact, role]
Prepared by: [MSP name] · [your name, phone, email]
Date: [date] · Valid until: [date]

1. YOUR SITUATION TODAY
   Users: [__] · Devices: [__] · Sites: [__]
   Support today: [in-house, other MSP, none]
   What hurts: [three problems, in their words]
   What must not change: [systems, vendors, hours]
   Goal for the first 90 days: [one sentence]
2. WHAT WE WILL MANAGE
   IT support in the fee: [services, plain words]
   Security in the fee: [services, listed apart]
   Billed separately: [projects, hardware, new
   sites, work you charge for]
   Where a project starts: [your line]
   Subcontractors: [who, for what]
3. SERVICE LEVELS SUMMARY
   Support hours: [days, hours, time zone]
   How to reach us: [portal, email, phone]
   First response: P1 [ ] P2 [ ] P3 [ ] P4 [ ]
   After hours: [which priorities, which line]
   Planned maintenance: [window, notice given]
   Full targets and rules: [the SLA]
   Monthly report: [what it shows]
4. PRICING OPTIONS
   Fee unit: [per user / per device]
   Option A [name]: [services] · $[__] per month
   Option B [name]: [A plus services] · $[__] per
   month
   Onboarding: $[__] one time
   Invoicing: [invoice date, due date, method]
   Term: [months] · Price review: [rule]
5. ONBOARDING PLAN
   Week 1: [task] · Owners: [yours, theirs]
   Week 2: [task] · Owners: [yours, theirs]
   Weeks 3-4: [task] · Owners: [yours, theirs]
   Planned downtime: [when, chosen by the client]
   Full service starts: [date]
6. ASSUMPTIONS
   Prices assume: [user and device count, sites,
   licenses]
   Equipment condition: [what you assume works]
   If the count changes: [how the fee changes]
   Extra work found in onboarding: [quoted and
   approved by the client before it's done]
7. EXCLUSIONS
   Not included: [e.g. line-of-business apps,
   hardware repairs, training, projects]
8. NEXT STEPS
   1. [Client] picks Option A or B by [date]
   2. We send [agreement name] and [SLA name]
   3. Paperwork completed by [date]
   4. Kickoff on [date]; onboarding starts
   Client confirms choice: Option [A/B] ·
   [name, role, date]

How To Fill In Each Section

Aim for a page or two. As one r/msp member put it: "If they can't discern what they're getting with only a few questions left over, I failed."

1. Your Situation Today

Use the client's words from discovery. Count users, devices, and sites; the price rests on them. On a proposal rejected as too expensive, one r/msp member wrote: "If you just listed the line items and then the price there's really no value there imo."

2. What We Will Manage

List IT support and security services apart, since CISA tells clients to ask for that separation. Then list what you bill separately. One r/msp member's whole format is "one page for line items, one page for what's included vs. billable." Draw the project line, and name any subcontractors who will touch client systems.

3. Service Levels Summary

Give the support hours, how to reach you, first-response targets by priority, the after-hours line, and your planned maintenance window. Keep the numbers identical to the SLA, which documents the standards you're obligated to meet.

4. Pricing Options

Pick one fee unit, per user or per device, and use it in both options. Per-user pricing accommodates staff who use several devices. Tiered and all-you-can-eat are pricing models too. They decide what the flat fee covers, not what you count.

Offer two options. One r/msp member explained why: "you want their choice to be 'which option' vs. 'yes/no'." Make Option B equal Option A plus named services.

If budget is tight, remove scope, not rate. "Onsite? Extra. Backup? Extra," as one member suggested in the same thread. Another warned: "Never send a cheaper proposal. That only trains the client to treat you like a commodity."

5. Onboarding Plan

Lay out the first month by week, with an owner on each side. CISA tells clients to ask for a transition plan and says any downtime should ideally happen at a time the client chooses. Leave that date to the client, and set the date full service starts.

6–7. Assumptions And Exclusions

Assumptions are the facts your price depends on: user and device count, sites, licenses, and hardware. Say what equipment condition you assume, how the fee changes with the count, and that extra onboarding work needs the client's approval first. For exclusions, one r/msp member's advice on client agreements applies: write in what you don't support, not just what you do.

8. Next Steps

End with four dated steps: the client picks an option, you send the agreement and SLA, the paperwork is completed the way your lawyer set up, and kickoff starts onboarding. Finish the paperwork before kickoff. The last line records the option the client confirms.

Filled-In Example For A Small Office

Say you run Riverbend IT, a three-technician MSP in Columbus, Ohio. The prospect is a property management company with two offices. They call for break-fix work today; our guide to break-fix vs managed services covers that conversation.

Set your own prices from your costs. Every field, filled in:

• Cover.
  Prepared for Harbor Street Property Management, Dana Ruiz, operations manager. Prepared by Riverbend IT, Sam Patel, owner, (614) 555-0142, sam@riverbendit.example. Dated Nov 2, valid until Dec 2, 2026.
• 1. Situation.
  22 users, 26 devices, 2 sites. Support today: break-fix calls. What hurts: the rent portal drops when the router reboots, nobody has tested a backup restore, and new hires wait two days for accounts. Must not change: the property management software and its vendor support. 90-day goal: tested backups and new accounts ready on day one.
• 2. Scope.
  IT support: helpdesk, patching, Microsoft 365 administration. Security: endpoint protection, backup monitoring. Billed separately: hardware, cabling, and any task over 4 hours, quoted as a project. Subcontractors: none.
• 3. Service levels.
  Weekdays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern; help.riverbendit.example, support@riverbendit.example, or (614) 555-0199. First response: P1 30 minutes, P2 1 hour, P3 4 business hours, P4 1 business day. After hours: P1 on Option B, at (614) 555-0177. Maintenance: Tuesdays 7 to 9 p.m., 48 hours' notice. Full targets: Schedule B, Service Levels. Monthly report: tickets, response results, patch and backup status.
• 4. Pricing.
  Per user, two options as in the table. Onboarding $1,800 one time. Invoices on the 1st, due on the 15th, by ACH; December billed from Dec 14. Term 12 months; prices reviewed yearly with 60 days' notice.
• 5. Onboarding.
  1. Week of Nov 16:

     admin access, documentation, agents (Riverbend lead technician; Dana).

  2. Week of Nov 23:

     MFA and a restore test (same owners).

  3. Nov 30 to Dec 11:

     router fix and handover from the old provider (Sam; Dana).

  4. Downtime:

     Saturday, Dec 5, chosen by Dana.

  5. Full service

     starts Monday, Dec 14, 2026.

• 6. Assumptions.
  22 users, 26 devices, 2 sites, Microsoft 365 licenses on the client's account. Equipment: computers and the file server in working order. Each added user is billed at the option's rate from the next invoice. Extra work found in onboarding is quoted and approved by Dana before it's done.
• 7. Exclusions.
  The property management software, printer repairs, training, and projects.
• 8. Next steps.
  1. Dana picks an option by Nov 6.
  2. The Riverbend Managed Services Agreement and Schedule B go out the same day.
  3. Paperwork completed by Nov 13, as Riverbend's lawyer set up.
  4. Kickoff Monday, Nov 16.

  Client confirms choice: Option B, Dana Ruiz, operations manager, Nov 6, 2026.

From Proposal To Quote

About the author

Patrick Clements Co-founder & CEO, SherpaDesk

Patrick co-founded SherpaDesk and has led it as CEO since 2013. He has worked with IT service providers since 1998, first on network projects for schools and government offices, then on the helpdesk software their technicians use every day.

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