By the time an RFP is public, most of the bid is already decided. The quiet phase before it, where the government talks to industry, is where the requirement gets shaped. The rules don’t just allow you in; they invite you.
FAR 15.201 — “Exchanges with industry before receipt of proposals” — encourages early exchange to resolve questions about the acquisition strategy, the feasibility of the requirement, and the suitability of the proposal instructions and evaluation criteria.In plain terms: the government is asking how it should write Sections L and M. That window closes when the RFP drops.
A sources sought notice gauges who can do the work — and feeds set-aside decisions, which matters enormously for small businesses. An RFIgathers price, delivery, and capability information for planning; responses aren’t offers. A draft RFPasks you to comment on the instructions and criteria before they’re final. Industry days and one-on-ones do the same in the room. All of it posts publicly, usually on SAM.gov.
Three reasons. You get on the radar — the program office learns you exist and what you do. You can shape the requirementtoward your strengths — suggest the scope, the structure, the evaluation emphasis that plays to you, and if it’s adopted, the RFP tilts your way. And you learn the real needbehind the words, months before competitors who first see it on the deadline. This is capture, and it’s the highest-leverage work in the whole cycle.
Stay clean. RFI responses can’t bind the government and shouldn’t read like a proposal. Anything material the government tells one offeror it must make available to all, to avoid an unfair advantage — so don’t expect secret influence. And if you help scope a requirement, watch for organizational conflict of interest (OCI) that could later bar you from bidding. Shape the field; don’t rig it.
Search SAM.gov for a sources-sought or RFI in your space with an open response date. Write a one-page response: your relevant capability, a recommendation on how the work should be structured, and one or two questions whose answers would favor your approach. That’s a shaped requirement starting.
You own the relationships; we build what moves them — the RFI response, the white paper, the brief that shapes the spec. See why capture wins.
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