Pursuing federal contracts can be an excellent growth strategy for businesses of all sizes. But when it comes to responding to large RFPs, the stakes—and the complexity—significantly increase. These multi-million or even multi-billion-dollar opportunities are often highly competitive, resource-intensive, and strategically significant. Companies that want to play in this arena need more than a good proposal team—they need discipline, infrastructure, and a clear plan.

Understanding how to approach large RFPs can help your team compete more effectively, manage internal resources, and avoid common pitfalls.

What Defines Large RFPs in Federal Acquisition

Large RFPs typically refer to solicitations with high dollar values, complex scopes of work, and long performance periods. These may include:

• Government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs)
• Multiple award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts
• Department- or agency-level flagship programs
• Mission-critical task orders or systems integration projects

They often attract the top federal contractors in the industry and require months of capture planning, teaming, and technical preparation. These RFPs are usually posted on SAM.gov and come with extensive instructions, multiple volumes, and highly detailed evaluation criteria.

Why Pursue Large RFPs?

Although they come with a high level of complexity and risk, large RFPs can offer major benefits for your business:

• Significant Revenue Potential: Awards can result in long-term, high-value contracts that provide steady income.
• Market Positioning: Winning a large federal contract enhances your organization’s visibility and credibility in the marketplace.
• Past Performance Value: A successful performance on a large contract improves competitiveness for future pursuits.
• Subcontracting Leverage: Being a prime or even a key subcontractor positions your company for influence and long-term teaming relationships.

However, to realize these benefits, you must be prepared to invest time, people, and planning in the pursuit.

Key Challenges of Responding to Large RFPs

Organizations that dive into large RFPs without sufficient readiness often encounter significant roadblocks, including:

• Proposal Burnout: Long response timelines and massive workloads can overwhelm internal teams.
• Teaming Complexity: Large bids often involve multiple subcontractors, which can create coordination and compliance issues.
• Compliance Risk: Larger solicitations come with stricter formatting and submission requirements. A small oversight can result in disqualification.
• Volume Management: Responding to technical, management, past performance, pricing, and small business volumes simultaneously requires clear processes and expert coordination.

Recognizing and planning for these challenges is the first step toward a successful pursuit.

Best Practices for Competing for Large RFPs

To increase your odds of success when pursuing large RFPs, implement these best practices across your business development and proposal functions:

1. Start Early with Capture Planning

Large RFPs require early engagement. Ideally, you should begin capture efforts 6–12 months before the final RFP release. This includes:

• Market research
• Customer engagement
• Competitor analysis
• Solution development
• Teaming partner identification

Early planning allows you to shape your strategy and gain insight into agency needs.

2. Build the Right Proposal Infrastructure

Responding to large RFPs requires a scalable infrastructure, including:

• A dedicated proposal manager
• Volume leads for technical, management, and pricing
• Writers and reviewers with domain expertise
• Templates and tools for compliance and efficiency

You should also conduct internal training on proposal best practices and FAR requirements to align the team.

3. Prioritize Compliance and Traceability

With large RFPs, formatting errors or misalignment with instructions can lead to elimination before your proposal is even read. Be sure to:

• Develop a compliance matrix early in the process
• Use clear section headers that mirror RFP instructions
• Link each section of your proposal directly to evaluation factors

Attention to detail in compliance can differentiate you from competitors who overlook small but critical requirements.

4. Manage Teaming Effectively

Most large RFPs involve multiple partners. To manage teaming successfully:

• Use non-disclosure and teaming agreements to formalize relationships
• Clarify workshare and responsibilities early
• Set expectations for resume submissions, past performance inputs, and timelines
• Conduct regular communication with all team members

Strong teaming relationships can enhance your technical solution and boost your evaluation score.

5. Develop a Realistic and Competitive Pricing Strategy

Price is often a major factor in large procurements. Work closely with pricing leads to ensure:

• Alignment with the technical approach
• Accurate labor mapping and rate justifications
• Competitive positioning based on price-to-win analysis

Be prepared to explain and defend your pricing model during evaluation.

Avoiding Common Mistakes in Large Proposal Efforts

Many teams make the same mistakes when responding to large RFPs, such as:

• Waiting until the RFP drops to start planning
• Underestimating the time and staff needed
• Submitting uncoordinated or inconsistent content across volumes
• Proposing key personnel who are unavailable or unqualified
• Failing to tailor past performance narratives to the current requirement

Avoiding these issues begins with process discipline and experienced proposal leadership.

Scaling Your Team for Large Proposals

If you don’t have the in-house capacity to manage large RFPs, consider supplementing your team with proposal consultants, graphic designers, or pricing specialists. The cost of these resources is often far outweighed by the value of the potential award.

A well-rounded proposal team helps you stay on schedule, maintain quality, and address every part of the solicitation effectively.

If you’re preparing for an upcoming large RFP and want expert support in capture strategy, volume management, or compliance reviews, contact us. At Hinz Consulting, we help contractors build competitive, compliant, and compelling proposals that win.