# The RFP Parsing Checklist (Chapter 4)

**Use when:** an RFP or a formal proposal request lands, with a deadline that now owns your week.

Parse the RFP into a checklist of every question it asks. The rule that makes it work: each question hides sub-questions, so every RFP question becomes at least three line items.

## Step 1: enumerate the RFP's questions

```
RFP question 1: [COPY THE QUESTION, VERBATIM]
RFP question 2: [COPY THE QUESTION, VERBATIM]
RFP question 3: [COPY THE QUESTION, VERBATIM]
```

## Step 2: unpack each question into its hidden sub-questions

For each question, ask: what must the answer prove, where, for how long, and who says so? Example from the worked case (a parks department's three-year maintenance contract): "your experience" hides where you worked, on what scale, for how long, and what references exist; "your approach" hides how you measure success and how delivery works; "your staffing plan" hides who is on site, what qualifications they hold, and what happens when someone leaves.

```
Question 1 answer must cover:
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]
- [ ] any other requirement the question states

Question 2 answer must cover:
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]

Question 3 answer must cover:
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]
- [ ] [SUB-QUESTION]
```

Three questions typically become nine line items. More is fine when the RFP is thicker.

## Step 3: two compliance rules carry the whole response

- **Answer the question they actually asked, first.** Before any context, before any enthusiasm, the direct answer. Then the evidence.
- **No unverifiable claims.** The draft says "industry-leading"; the redline says "41 maintenance audits completed in the last 12 months, with the project log and client references available." Answer first, evidence second, claims checkable.

## Step 4: the verify pass, worked top to bottom

- [ ] Every checklist question has an answer.
- [ ] Every answer states the direct answer before the context.
- [ ] Every number traces to a record you could produce in a meeting.
- [ ] Every claim has a source you could back.
- [ ] The page limit is met, because the limit was a constraint in the preamble, not a discovery.
- [ ] A skeptical colleague reads the draft cold and can say what you offer and why you.

Sign it. The model cannot know what you can stand behind, and the proposal does not exist until you do.