A 90-page RFP lands in your inbox on Tuesday and proposals are due in 16 days. You do not have time to read it front to back twice, and you shouldn't. Experienced bid teams read a solicitation in a specific order, pull out the handful of facts that decide whether the bid is worth doing, and only then read the rest with a pen in hand.
This is the order I use, plus the go/no-go checks I run before anyone on the team spends a full day on it.
Start with the cover page and the calendar
The first page or two usually give you the solicitation number, the issuing office, the contracting officer or buyer's name, and the key dates. Write these down before anything else:
- Proposal due date, time and time zone
- Deadline for written questions
- Pre-bid or pre-proposal conference date, and whether attendance is mandatory
- Site visit dates, if any
- How long your offer must stay valid (often 60 to 120 days)
A mandatory pre-bid meeting that already happened can end the conversation right there. So can a question deadline that passed yesterday on a requirement you don't fully understand. If the due date is close, check how much runway you really have; the closing-soon list is full of solicitations that looked appealing until someone counted the days.
Read the scope of work next
The scope (called the statement of work, performance work statement or specifications, depending on the agency) tells you what they are buying. In a federal solicitation built on the uniform contract format this is Section C. In state and local RFPs it may be called "Scope of Services," "Specifications" or "Technical Requirements," and it can sit anywhere in the document.
Read it asking one question: can we do this, with people and suppliers we have or can line up before the start date? Mark anything that looks like a hard requirement you can't meet. Common ones:
- A specific manufacturer authorization ("offeror must be an authorized reseller of Brand X")
- Licenses or certifications held by named staff
- On-site response times in a region where you have nobody
- Security clearances or background checks
- Minimum years in business or minimum annual revenue
Also look at the pricing schedule early (Section B in federal format, often a separate "bid form" or price sheet elsewhere). It tells you how they want the work broken down, which often clarifies a vague scope faster than the scope itself.
Then the evaluation criteria
This is the section people skip and later regret. In federal RFPs it's Section M, "Evaluation Factors for Award." In state and local documents look for "Evaluation Criteria," "Basis of Award" or "Scoring."
You need to know three things from it. First, the award method: lowest price among acceptable offers, or a best-value tradeoff where technical approach and past performance can outweigh price. Second, the factors and their relative weight. A county that scores price at 60 points out of 100 is telling you something different from one that scores it at 20. Third, any pass/fail gates, such as a minimum score on past performance before your price is even opened.
If you're not sure which kind of solicitation you're looking at, our guide to RFP vs RFQ vs IFB vs RFI explains how each one is usually evaluated.
Then the submission instructions
Federal Section L, or "Instructions to Offerors," "Proposal Format," or "Submittal Requirements" in state and local documents. This is where a lot of bids get thrown out for reasons that have nothing to do with price or quality. Note:
- Submission method (portal, email, sealed hard copy) and any file size limits
- Required volumes and their order
- Page limits, font size, margins
- Required forms: signed cover sheet, pricing form, certifications, W-9, insurance certificate, bonds
- Whether amendments must be acknowledged on a specific form
A buyer who asks for "one PDF, not to exceed 25 pages, 11-point font minimum" will often not read page 26. Many agencies reject late submissions outright, even by a minute, and portal uploads of large files can take longer than you think.
Then the Q&A and amendments
Check whether any amendments or addenda have already been issued. They can change quantities, move the due date or rewrite a requirement you just decided you could meet. If there's a posted Q&A document, read it all. Other bidders' questions reveal what's unclear and sometimes who else is looking. Our article on the questions and answers period covers how to use it well.
What to skim and what to read closely later
Terms and conditions, contract clauses (Section I federally) and representations and certifications (Section K) matter, but you rarely need them for the first pass. Skim them for these deal-breakers:
- Insurance limits higher than your current policy
- Payment terms (net 30 to net 45 is common, set by the agency or state prompt payment rules, and some pay slower)
- Liquidated damages for late delivery
- Bonding requirements
- Unlimited liability or indemnification language your insurer won't accept
Everything else gets a careful read once you've decided to bid.
A worked example
Say a school district issues an RFP for 600 Chromebooks, management licenses and a two-year repair service. On the first pass you find: proposals due in 14 days, questions due in 5, no pre-bid meeting. The scope requires a manufacturer's education partner authorization, which you have. Evaluation is best value, with price at 40 points, service approach at 30 and references at 30. Submission is through the district's e-procurement portal, one PDF, with a signed addendum acknowledgment form. Payment terms are net 30 after delivery and acceptance.
That took about 30 minutes, and it's enough to decide. You know price matters but won't decide the award on its own, so a clear repair process and strong school references are where the effort should go.
Go/no-go checklist for the first read
Before committing writers and estimators, answer these. Any "no" on the first four usually means walk away.
- Are we eligible? Check set-aside status, registration (SAM.gov for federal work, or the state or local vendor portal), required licenses and authorizations.
- Can we meet every mandatory requirement in the scope?
- Is there enough time to write a compliant response?
- Can we accept the terms: insurance, bonds, payment timing, liability?
- Do we understand how it will be scored, and does that favor our strengths?
- Do we have relevant past performance or references?
- Can we price it competitively and still make money?
- Do we know anything about the buyer or the incumbent?
For a fuller scoring version of this, see our bid/no-bid decision checklist.
Build a one-page summary
After the first pass, write a single page: dates, scope in three sentences, evaluation method and weights, submission rules, deal-breaker terms and your go/no-go call. Share it with whoever needs to sign off. It keeps the whole team working from the same facts, and it becomes the start of your compliance matrix if you decide to bid.
Reading this way gets faster with practice. After a dozen RFPs you'll spot a bad fit in ten minutes. If you want a steady stream of solicitations to practice on, browse open RFPs on BidsNexus.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a first read of an RFP take?
For most solicitations, 30 to 60 minutes is enough to capture the dates, scope, evaluation method, submission rules and deal-breaker terms and make a go/no-go call. The detailed read comes after you decide to bid.
Where are the evaluation criteria in a federal RFP?
Federal solicitations that use the uniform contract format put evaluation factors in Section M and proposal instructions in Section L. State and local RFPs use their own headings such as Evaluation Criteria or Basis of Award.
What makes a bid a clear no-go?
Missing a mandatory requirement you cannot fix before the deadline, such as a required license, manufacturer authorization, mandatory pre-bid meeting or bonding. Contract terms your insurer will not accept are another common stopper.