What to Check When You Receive an RFP

The cover letter tells you the procurement process, the submission format, the contact person, and — critically — whether questions are allowed and by when. Miss the Q&A window and you'll be guessing at requirements for the whole response.

Look for the section titled "Evaluation Methodology" or similar. It usually contains the weights (e.g. Technical 60% / Commercial 40%). If commercial weight is >50%, this is a price-led deal and you need to know that on day one.

Things that disqualify you instantly: years in business, minimum revenue, local entity, ISO certifications, prior similar deployments at scale, regulator empanelment. If you fail one, no-bid immediately.

• Data residency clauses
• Source code escrow
• On-prem-only deployment
• IP assignment to the buyer
• Unlimited liability or unusual indemnity
• Payment terms >60 days net
• Performance bonds / bid bonds

Any of these can wreck the deal economics. Flag them to commercial and legal before you draft anything.

Quick first pass: highlight requirements green (we do this today), yellow (we can with config), red (gap). If red is >20% of mandatory requirements, you're customizing — re-run the bid/no-bid with that cost in mind.

Always submit questions. Two reasons: you get information your competitors don't have if you ask better questions, and you signal seriousness to the buyer. Group questions by section and number them.

By end of day 1, send a one-page summary to the bid team: go/no-go, win themes, owner, response plan with dates for pink/red/gold reviews.