Guide
How to respond to a government RFP.
A government RFP is scored against published criteria, not read for the best story. Win rate comes from answering exactly what's asked, in the order it's asked, and pricing against what the buyer has actually paid before.
Respond to an RFP in six steps.
1
Read the whole document first
Read the RFP end to end before writing anything. Note the submission deadline, format rules, mandatory documents, and the evaluation criteria with their weightings — those weightings tell you where to spend effort.
2
Confirm you're eligible
Check registration, certification, and past-performance requirements before you invest a day. Most government buyers require you to be registered in their procurement system and may require local presence or specific certifications. If you can't meet a mandatory requirement, walk away.
3
Answer every criterion, in order
Evaluators score section by section. Mirror the RFP's structure and answer each criterion explicitly — don't make the reader hunt for your response. Unanswered criteria score zero regardless of how good the rest is.
4
Price against the award history
Look up what the buyer paid for comparable contracts and who won them. That gives you a realistic ceiling and floor. Pricing far above history loses; pricing far below it signals you've misread the scope.
5
Provide the proof, not just the claim
Back every capability claim with evidence — references, case studies, certifications, named staff. Government evaluators weight verifiable past performance heavily, so specifics beat adjectives.
6
Submit early, in the required format
Submit through the portal the RFP names, in the exact format requested, before the deadline. Late or wrong-format bids are routinely disqualified without review. Don't leave the upload to the final hour.
The single biggest cause of lost bids is not price — it's non-compliance. A bid that misses a mandatory document, ignores a criterion, or arrives in the wrong format is set aside before anyone reads the substance. Treat the RFP's instructions as a checklist and clear it first.
Pricing without award history is guessing. Before you set a number, find what the buyer paid for comparable work and who delivered it. Sell to State attaches award records to every buyer and supplier, so you can anchor your price to reality instead of to a margin target.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between an RFP, an RFQ, and a tender?
A tender is the general term for a government's request for bids. An RFP (request for proposal) asks for a solution and is scored on approach as well as price; an RFQ (request for quotation) asks mainly for a price on a defined item. RFPs reward a strong, criterion-by-criterion response; RFQs reward competitive, compliant pricing.
How are government RFPs evaluated?
Against published criteria with stated weightings — typically a mix of technical capability, past performance, and price. Evaluators score each criterion, so a response that answers every criterion explicitly outscores a more polished one that leaves gaps.
How do I price a government bid?
Anchor to the buyer's award history for comparable contracts: the prices they've actually paid and the suppliers who won. Sell to State surfaces that award data, so you can price within the realistic band instead of guessing.
What disqualifies a government bid?
Missing a mandatory document, failing an eligibility requirement, submitting after the deadline, or using the wrong format. These are compliance failures and usually disqualify a bid before the content is evaluated — which is why reading the instructions first matters more than the writing.
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