# Check an RFP response before you submit it: checklist Check a response to a request for proposals against every mandatory item, every judged criterion and every attachment, test its figures against your own records, and get a ready, ready after fixes or not ready verdict with a fix list that you decide on. ## Before you start - [ ] Have ready: The Call For Proposals Paste the requirements, the judging criteria and the submission rules exactly as issued. Paste only what your organization lets you put into an AI tool. - [ ] Have ready: Your Draft Response Paste the full text as it stands now, including any price table. - [ ] Have ready: Your Records (optional) Paste the price sheet, the job list and any certificate wording that the response should match. Strongly advised. Without them, every figure is marked no record and only the response and the call are checked. ## Step 1: List Every Item The Call Asks For - [ ] Split the call into separate items, each quoted word for word and marked as a must, a judged criterion, a format rule, a form or a deadline. - [ ] You have: A numbered table of every item the call asks for, each quoted from the call and typed. - [ ] Check: Each quote in the Item (quote) column appears in the call for proposals, with shortened fragments in the same order. A plain rule you can check by eye. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 2: Find Where The Response Answers Each Item - [ ] For each item, quote the words in the response that answer it, or say that none do. - [ ] You have: A table that puts the words of the response beside each item, or None found, with the checks left to you. - [ ] Check: Each quote in the Where It Is Answered (quote) column appears in the your draft response, with shortened fragments in the same order. A plain rule you can check by eye. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 3: Judge Each Item - [ ] Say whether each must, judged and form item is covered, partly covered or not covered, and whether the response backs it with a record. - [ ] You have: A table that judges each item as covered, partly covered or not covered, with what backs it and what is missing. - [ ] Check: Every row of the table has one of "covered", "partly covered" or "not covered" in the Coverage column. A plain rule you can check by eye. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 4: Tie The Response To Your Records - [ ] Match each price, total, date range, job and certificate in the response to your records and recompute every total. - [ ] You have: A table that sets each price, job and certificate beside your records, with a verdict and the sum for every total. - [ ] Check: Every row of the table has one of "matches", "differs" or "no record" in the Verdict column. A plain rule you can check by eye. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 5: Give The Verdict And The Fix List - [ ] Turn every gap and mismatch into one fix row, then give one verdict by a fixed rule and stop. - [ ] You have: A verdict, a Check Yourself line for the deadline and format, and a fix table with a row for every problem. - [ ] Check: Every number in the answer also appears somewhere in at least one of "the call for proposals", "your draft response" and "your records"; this does not check what each number means. A plain rule you can check by eye. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Final checks - [ ] Check: Every row of the table has one of "must", "judged", "format", "form" or "deadline" in the Type column. A plain rule you can check by eye. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: Read the call below. Find every sentence that holds must, shall, required, attached, a weight or a due date. Does each one have a row in the table? Answer FAIL and quote each sentence with no row. Checked by a second AI prompt. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: For each row marked None found, name the key word or number the item needs, then look in the response below for a line that holds it. Answer FAIL and quote each line that answers an item marked None found. Checked by a second AI prompt. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: Every row of the table has one of "record", "claim only" or "not needed" in the Backed By column. A plain rule you can check by eye. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: For each row marked covered, quote from the response below the words that give each thing the item asks for. Answer FAIL and name each covered row where a thing the item asks for has no words. Checked by a second AI prompt. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: Look at the response below. Count the totals it states, such as a fixed price made of parts. Does the table show a sum for each one, and is each sum right? Answer FAIL and quote each total with no sum or a wrong sum. Checked by a second AI prompt. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: For each row of the table whose Record is not No record, is that passage in the records below, word for word? Answer FAIL and quote each passage that is not. Checked by a second AI prompt. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: The answer contains the text fragment "This verdict comes from the checks above. An AI tool can miss things, so read the flagged parts yourself." (including inside a longer word). A plain rule you can check by eye. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: Count the problems in the two tables below: each must, judged or form row that is not covered or is partly covered, each Backed By of claim only, and each verdict of differs. Count a problem raised in both tables once. Does the fix table have one row for each? Show both numbers. Answer FAIL and name each problem with no row. Checked by a second AI prompt. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: The rule is: Not ready if any must item is not covered, any figure differs, or a form is not covered. Ready after fixes if any other row was raised. Ready by these checks if none was. Use the two tables below. Does the verdict follow the rule? Answer FAIL and say which line of the rule it breaks. Checked by a second AI prompt. If not: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. - [ ] Check: Check the deadline and the length rule against the response yourself, count the pages, and confirm the forms are attached and signed. For each figure that differs, decide which number is right. A person who can sign for your organization must read the call and the response together before anything is submitted. Checked by you. If not: Carry on, but write down the problem so whoever uses the result knows about it. ## You end up with - [ ] A verdict of ready, ready after fixes or not ready, with the one reason that decides it and a line of items you must check yourself. - [ ] A fix table with a row for every gap, unsupported claim and mismatch, each with the words in the response, the evidence and a safe suggestion. - [ ] Tables that list every item in the call, show where the response answers it, say whether it is covered and backed, and tie the figures to your records. --- From Logic Lab (logiclabhq.com). Free to use and adapt, with credit.