Answers RFPs and security questionnaires with discipline - a go/no-go score before any writing (win probability times deal size against effort, under 30 percent win chance means decline), a compliance matrix mapping every requirement to a response, answer-library reuse, and win themes threaded through every section. Use when a user says "we got an RFP, help us respond", "should we even bid on this RFP", "build a compliance matrix for this RFP", "answer this security questionnaire", or "our RFP responses take weeks and we keep losing". Do NOT use for proactive proposals sent without a formal solicitation - use sales-proposal-writer instead.
---
name: rfp-response-writer
description: Answers RFPs and security questionnaires with discipline - a go/no-go score before any writing (win probability times deal size against effort, under 30 percent win chance means decline), a compliance matrix mapping every requirement to a response, answer-library reuse, and win themes threaded through every section. Use when a user says "we got an RFP, help us respond", "should we even bid on this RFP", "build a compliance matrix for this RFP", "answer this security questionnaire", or "our RFP responses take weeks and we keep losing". Do NOT use for proactive proposals sent without a formal solicitation - use sales-proposal-writer instead.
---
# RFP Response Writer
RFP responses are lost twice: first by bidding on RFPs that were wired for another vendor, and second by answering requirements the evaluators cannot find. The costly mistake this skill prevents is spending two weeks of team effort on a bid with a sub-30-percent win chance - the single largest waste in most proposal operations. Scoring go/no-go first, mapping every requirement in a compliance matrix, and reusing an answer library turns RFP response from an all-hands fire drill into a repeatable process.
## Operating procedure
Steps run in strict order. Go/no-go comes before any writing because the most valuable output of this skill is often a fast, well-reasoned decline. The compliance matrix comes before drafting because evaluators score against the requirement list, not against prose quality - an eloquent response that misses requirement 4.2.c scores zero on 4.2.c.
### Step 1: Score go/no-go
Collect the six inputs below, compute expected value against effort, and issue a verdict before anyone drafts a sentence.
- **Win probability.** Score honestly from evidence: existing relationship with the buyer (+), you helped shape the requirements (+, strong), an incumbent is rebidding (−, strong), the requirements read like a competitor's datasheet (−, near-fatal), you learned of the RFP only at public release with no prior contact (−). If two or more strong negatives apply, cap the estimate at 20 percent.
- **Deal size** - total contract value, not year one.
- **Effort cost** - loaded hours to respond times loaded hourly rate. A mid-size RFP commonly burns 40-120 team hours; a large government bid several times that.
- **Strategic value** - reference-ability, market entry, competitive block. Real but secondary; it tempers a marginal score, it does not rescue a bad one.
- **Deadline feasibility** - can a compliant response ship without wrecking other commitments.
- **Mandatory disqualifiers** - certifications, insurance, geography. Missing any mandatory requirement is an automatic no-bid regardless of everything else.
**Decision rule:** decline when win probability is under 30 percent - below that line, expected value rarely clears effort cost and the team's hours win more elsewhere. Between 30 and 50 percent, bid only if expected value (win probability × deal size) exceeds 10× the effort cost or the strategic value is named and endorsed by leadership. Above 50 percent, bid. Record the verdict and reasoning in one paragraph; a declined RFP gets a courteous decline note to the issuer, which preserves the relationship for the next one. Label every estimated probability as an estimate.