Reviewing an RFP is not the same as reading it. Reading tells you what is on the page. Reviewing tells you whether the job is worth pursuing, what can disqualify the bid, and what still needs an answer before you price it.
A good RFP review moves from administration to scope to risk. The order matters because a job can fail before the estimate begins.
Step 1: Confirm what you actually received
Start by listing every file and exhibit. Include drawings, specifications, bid forms, addenda, alternates, schedules, insurance requirements, bonds, and owner instructions. If the RFP references a document you do not have, that is your first question.
Read addenda early. They override earlier documents and often change deadlines, scope, or required forms. Reviewing the original package first and the addenda last is how teams price the wrong version of a job.
Step 2: Pull the submission rules
Before scope review, identify how the bid must be submitted. Look for:
- bid due date and time
- delivery method or portal
- required format
- signatures and notarization
- bid bond or payment bond requirements
- insurance certificates
- alternates, allowances, and unit prices
- site visit or pre-bid meeting requirements
These items should become a checklist immediately. They are easy to miss because they feel administrative, but they are often the difference between a responsive bid and a rejected package.
Step 3: Build the scope map
Now review the actual work. Group the scope by trade or category, then mark what is clearly included, excluded, by others, or uncertain. Use the drawings and written requirements together; one often clarifies or contradicts the other.
Do not solve every uncertainty during the first pass. Capture it. A clean list of questions is more useful than a quiet assumption nobody remembers making.
Step 4: Identify the risks
Risk is not just price. Look for phasing, occupied facilities, access constraints, schedule compression, long-lead materials, permit uncertainty, weather exposure, owner-furnished items, and unclear responsibility boundaries.
If a risk affects cost or schedule, it needs one of four outcomes: confirm it, price it, exclude it, or decide the job is not worth bidding.
Step 5: Make the go/no-go decision
The point of an RFP review is not to create a perfect estimate. It is to decide what happens next. After the first pass, you should know whether to:
- decline the bid
- ask clarifying questions
- send pieces to subs or suppliers
- build a full bid packet
- draft a proposal
BidPacket is built for this first pass. Upload the RFP or plan set, read the free preview, and use the packet to decide whether the job deserves the next hour.