Conduct pre-proposal activities

Pre-proposal activities are a set of AI activities that help you understand an opportunity and decide whether — and how — to pursue it, before you start writing the proposal. This article covers the recommended order, how to run an activity step by step, and what each of the seven activities produces. It's for anyone leading or supporting an early-stage pursuit.

Prerequisites

• You've created a project.
• You've added sources to your Project Library — your RFP documents, and any Knowledge Hub libraries you want to draw on.
• You're comfortable with AI activities and Source Providers.

You don't need the finished RFP to begin. When you set up the project you can skip the RFP upload and start straight away — the pre-proposal activities are designed to add value before the documents land.

What these activities are for

Pre-proposal activities take you from "there's an opportunity" to "here's our plan to win it." The arc runs: understand the deal → know the field → know why you win → fill your gaps → say it sharply → make the call → run the pursuit.

There are seven activities. Run the ones relevant to you and ignore the rest — but for the activities you do run, the order below is worth following.

The recommended order

Each step is designed so the decision it supports is grounded in the output of the step before it — and so the final go / no-go call is an informed one, not a first guess.

1. Opportunity overview — the baseline facts.
2. Competitor analysis — who you're up against.
3. Discriminator analysis — why you win.
4. Teaming partner overview — filling your gaps.
5. Win Themes — saying it sharply.
6. Bid/no-bid gate review package — making the call.
7. Capture plan — running the pursuit.

The order is optimal, not mandatory. Each activity checks which earlier outputs are connected and degrades gracefully — run any one on its own and it will tell you what it's missing.

How to run a pre-proposal activity

Every activity is set up the same way, through a short two-step wizard.

1. Open your project, navigate to Pre-proposal and click "Start" on the pre-proposal activity you want to run.

2. Select your sources. The set-up modal starts with everything connected to your Project Library — your RFP documents, the requirements analyzed in prepare and plan, and any Knowledge Hub libraries you've added. Tick the ones you want this activity to use.

3. Add any extra files by dragging and dropping them straight into the activity. On-screen guidance suggests useful material (solicitation documents, amendments, Q&As, buyer plans, call notes, CRM records, sales notes) — the fuller the sources, the sharper the result.

4. Turn on web search if it helps (especially for competitor analysis and teaming partner overview). You'll see a "Websites Enabled" confirmation. You can restrict it to specific sites, or exclude sites you don't want searched.

5. Choose Next, then use the "final word" box to add anything the AI should treat as decisive — latest facts, corrections, or non-public detail — and, for some activities, to steer the output's structure (see each activity below).

6. Click Create document. The activity generates and is saved into your project.

Activities build on each other. Once an activity is generated it's saved to your Project Library and can be selected as a source for later activities (and for first drafts) — the platform even flags it as "recommended" for the next activity. To chain them, remember to tick the earlier outputs in your Project Library when you run the next one.

Viewing, gaps and re-running

Expand any activity for a quick preview, or open it in the Editor for a full-screen view. In the Editor's document settings you can enable a page count and switch to an A4 page layout, closer to a Word view.

Anything the AI couldn't confirm is highlighted in yellow as a gap for you to fill — the human-in-the-loop moment. Each output also ends with a "What Would Make This Stronger" list. Add the sources it names and choose regenerate to produce a stronger version (the previous version is recoverable from document history). Re-running opens the same modal, so you can add new files or switch web search on.

The seven activities

For each activity below: what it does, why it sits where it does, the sources to select, what the finished output typically contains, and what to put in the final word box.

1. Opportunity overview

What it does. Summarizes the opportunity so stakeholders can decide whether to pursue it, and establishes the baseline facts — customer, requirement, budget, timeline, evaluation criteria, incumbency — that every later step reads from.

Why it sits here. First, because it's the baseline the other activities draw on directly.

Sources to select. Select your RFP documents and the prepare and plan requirements to start. If you didn't set a submission deadline, it picks one up from the documents. Add amendments, Q&As, buyer plans or strategies, call or meeting notes, CRM records and sales notes where you have them.

What the output includes:

• Opportunity Reference Data table: name, owner, buyer, value, duration, procurement route
• Scope of Work: summary, key deliverables, lot structure
• Key Requirements: core requirements and eligibility conditions
• Evaluation Criteria & Scoring: weightings and methodology from the solicitation
• Timeline & Key Dates: external milestones from the RFP plus internal ones
• Strategic Importance: why this opportunity matters to the business
• Known Constraints, Risks & Red Flags: external (contractual) and internal (capacity / commercial)

In the final word box. Anything you know that isn't public — potential contract value if it hasn't been released, internal deadlines, background from calls. Flag anything uncertain so it isn't treated as fact. Dropping in an internal kickoff or sales deck folds its milestones in.

2. Competitor analysis

What it does. Turns a guess about "the market" into a specific, evidenced picture of likely bidders, their strengths and their positioning.

Why it sits here. After the opportunity overview — knowing the customer, requirement and timeline is what tells you who will realistically compete.

Sources to select. Select your opportunity overview from the Project Library (it's flagged as recommended). Turn web search on to help discover likely bidders. Add competitor intelligence, incumbent contract details, award histories, annual reports, market research, industry-day notes and win/loss debriefs — neutral sources give a truer read than your own past proposals.

What the output includes:

• Competitor Snapshot: one-row-per-competitor summary (key strength, key weakness, how you beat or ghost them)
• Competitive Landscape Overview: how competitive it is, incumbent advantage, structural factors
• Competitor Profiles: per competitor: overview, past performance, likely bid approach, strengths / weaknesses tied to criteria, teaming signals, intelligence gaps
• Comparative Scorecard: competitors scored against the evaluation criteria and weighting
• Black Hat Analysis: simulated competitor view (win narrative, expected themes, attack lines) plus a framework to run your own
• Implications for Win Strategy: advantages, top threats and mitigations, teaming recommendations, pricing posture, intelligence still needed

In the final word box. Name the competitors you already know or expect to be bidding, and anything you've heard that won't be written down. Say whether it's the full list or you'd like suggestions. You can also steer the structure here (for example, to match your CRM).

3. Discriminator analysis

What it does. Identifies what genuinely sets your solution apart and why it matters to this customer.

Why it sits here. After competitor analysis — a discriminator only exists in contrast to something else, so without the competitive picture, "discriminators" collapse into generic capability statements.

Sources to select. Select your opportunity overview and competitor analysis from the Project Library. Add capability statements, past performance, case studies, buyer plans and customer priorities / hot buttons. Make sure the RFP's evaluation criteria are in your sources — that's what keeps discriminators specific rather than generic.

What the output includes:

• Procurement Context: detected market, evaluation criteria and weights, customer hot buttons
• Discriminator Table: one row per evaluation factor: your capability and evidence, competitive ("ghost") comparison, resulting discriminator or gap, strategic implication
• Capability Gaps: every gap pulled out, with what it means for teaming (feeds the teaming partner overview)
• Strategic Implications: which discriminators to lead on, any claimed strength that's really just parity, implications for win themes

In the final word box. The strengths you want to push, and any a competitor could match too, so nothing is over-claimed.

4. Teaming partner overview

What it does. Assesses whether a partner is needed to fill a capability, geographic or past-performance gap, and what each candidate brings.

Why it sits here. After the discriminator analysis — once the real gaps are visible you can judge whether a partner is needed. Teaming decisions made earlier are made blind.

Good to know. Most relevant for large / enterprise deals, where partnering can offset each side's weaknesses. On smaller pursuits you may skip it.

Sources to select. Select your opportunity overview, competitor analysis and discriminator analysis from the Project Library. Add a capability statement for each partner you're considering (plus your own), teaming agreements, letters of intent and past joint projects. Web search on helps find and verify real organizations.

What the output includes:

• Requirements Extraction: what the team must collectively meet
• Internal Capability Assessment: each requirement rated Yes / Partial / No / Unknown against internal evidence
• Partner Assessment & Research: named partners (or suggested candidates, clearly flagged) assessed against each gap
• Team Structure, Gaps & Compliance: recommended structure, workshare, unresolved gaps, compliance flags (e.g. security clearance, set-aside status)

In the final word box. The partners you intend to use or are talking to, and what you need each for — or ask for suggestions to fill gaps. It's also useful for blue-sky thinking: even if you don't plan to team, you can ask who you'd ideally partner with.

5. Win Themes

What it does. Synthesizes everything gathered so far — customer priorities, competitor weaknesses, genuine discriminators and any partner strengths — into a small set of customer-facing messages.

Why it sits here. After teaming — themes drafted before this intelligence exists tend to be generic claims rather than messages that actually differentiate.

Sources to select. Select your opportunity overview, competitor analysis, discriminator analysis and teaming partner overview from the Project Library. Add customer priorities and pain points, call notes, capability statements, past performance and case studies — real pain points and call notes lift themes above generic.

What the output includes:

• Win Themes: a numbered list of one-line statements (Feature + Benefit, 15–25 words each)
• Theme Detail: one block per theme — a Feature / Benefit / Discriminator / Proof table plus 2–3 sentences of rationale
• Evaluation Criterion Coverage Check: every scored criterion mapped to the theme(s) addressing it, with gaps flagged

In the final word box. Your own draft themes, if you have them — enter them and, if you mark them final, the activity keeps your wording and evidences them. If you provide none, it derives three to five from the connected sources and flags them as a draft to confirm.

6. Bid/no-bid gate review package

What it does. Compiles the evidence your review team needs to make the bid/no-bid decision — and, because it's consolidated and evidenced, doubles as the paper that goes straight to leadership.

Why it sits here. Towards the end, so the go / no-go is the most informed decision in the sequence rather than a first guess. By this point the team has real evidence of win probability, not a judgement based on the RFP alone.

Sources to select. Select your opportunity overview, competitor analysis, discriminator analysis, teaming partner overview and win themes from the Project Library. Add Pwin analysis, pricing information, rate cards, risk registers and incumbent intelligence.

What the output includes:

• Opportunity Snapshot: reference table, plain-English summary, the recommendation and win-likelihood score up front
• Win-Likelihood Scorecard: the score broken into five factors (strategic fit, competitive position, win-strategy strength, delivery capability, price-to-win posture) plus a red-flags deduction, so it's auditable rather than asserted
• Strategic Fit: how well the opportunity suits the business
• Competitive Position: named competitors, strengths / weaknesses, win-likelihood band
• Win Strategy & Discriminators: evidence-backed reasons the team can win
• Delivery & Resourcing: bid-team capacity, key personnel, subcontractor availability
• Commercials & Risk: potential contract value / ceiling, price-to-win, profitability, any red lines
• Recommendation & Actions: the unambiguous call plus a prioritized action list with owners and dates

In the final word box. The internal facts behind the decision — expected profit, cost to prepare the proposal, who would staff it and whether they're available, and your current recommendation. Mark anything provisional. If you haven't added a price-to-win document, the output flags it — add it and regenerate for a fuller score.

7. Capture plan

What it does. Converts the strategy into action — resourcing, gap-closing activities, customer engagement, pricing posture, proposal structure and schedule. It's the pursuit's central working document.

Why it sits here. Last — it operationalizes the win themes and can't be written credibly until the strategic groundwork above exists. Everything before it feeds in, including the bid/no-bid pack.

Sources to select. Select all of your earlier outputs from the Project Library. Add call notes, capability statements, teaming agreements, competitor intelligence and Pwin analysis.

What the output includes:

• Opportunity Details table: title, buyer, value, market, key dates, gate readiness, Pwin score if available
• Opportunity overview: what's being procured, scope, evaluation structure
• Customer Profile & Intelligence: named contacts, priorities, relationship history
• Competitive Landscape: named competitors, incumbent, bidder comparison matrix, ghosting strategy
• Win Strategy: the win themes — never AI-generated here; flagged as a gate-blocking gap if missing
• Solution Approach: capabilities mapped against requirements
• Team Composition & Past Performance: prime / sub profiles, key personnel
• Price-to-Win & Bid Economics: never AI-generated; flagged as gate-blocking if missing
• Capture Activity Log, Risk Register, Gate Readiness & Recommendation, Capture Team Roster: the operational backbone of the pursuit

In the final word box. This is the best place to impose your own structure — drop in your capture-plan subheadings (or CRM structure) so the output matches your template. Add the internal detail only you hold: who's on the team, budget to prepare, the price you plan to bid, decisions so far. Flag rough estimates as estimates.

How the sources behave

• Documents set the quality ceiling. Always connect the solicitation; pre-RFP material counts (a draft or previous RFP, an RFI, contracting-officer notes). Hard facts — value, deadlines, criteria — come only from the solicitation.
• Conflicts are flagged, not hidden. Documents that disagree produce one working value plus a note telling the team to reconcile.
• Gaps are made obvious. Anything the AI can't confirm is highlighted in yellow for you to complete.
• It won't invent win themes or a price-to-win. Win themes are drafted for you to confirm; price-to-win and win strategy are never fabricated in the capture plan or gate pack — a missing one shows as a gate-blocker, not a made-up number.
• Missing material shrinks the output, never pads it. Every run ends with "What Would Make This Stronger" — a source list that doubles as your follow-up plan.

Tips & notes

Tip. Start early. You can skip the RFP upload at project setup and begin before the documents drop — a draft, an RFI or a previous version is enough to get moving.

Tip. These outputs give reviewers who join a proposal later a strong, evidenced base of context to review against.

Warning. Mark anything uncertain or provisional in the final word box, so it isn't treated as confirmed in the output.

Note. Hard facts — value, deadlines, criteria — come only from the solicitation, so make sure it's always connected.

Exporting your work

You can export any activity — one, several or all combined — into a single Word document, so a pursuit's pre-proposal work can travel as one pack. You can also edit exported content into your own templates using the Word add-in.