TL;DR: Many government contractors lose bids because of common RFP mistakes in their proposals. In this article, we outline 7 major mistakes in how to write an RFP response (like ignoring instructions or using generic content) and share government proposal tips to fix them. By avoiding these errors, you’ll improve your proposals and boost your chances of winning government contracts

Responding to government RFPs is a high-stakes, detail-intensive process. You might spend days crafting a proposal, only to have a small oversight derail your chances of winning. When writing a proposal for government contracting, especially for small businesses, knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do.

Some of the most common pitfalls include

• Overlooking compliance instructions
• Reusing generic, one-size-fits-all content
• Misaligning responses with evaluation criteria
• Writing weak or self-focused executive summaries
• Submitting proposals with typos or formatting issues
• Failing to back up claims with past performance
• Rushing the submission process without automation

Below we highlight seven common RFP response mistakes that could be costing you contracts, along with why they’re costly and how to avoid them.

1. Ignoring RFP Instructions and Compliance Requirements

One of the easiest ways to get eliminated from a government competition is failing to follow the RFP’s instructions. RFPs come with strict requirements about format, content, and deadlines. Missing a required form, exceeding a page limit, or submitting even a few minutes late can render your proposal non-compliant. Government evaluators will not bend the rules, if you don’t follow every detail of the RFP, your proposal may be discarded before anyone even reads its merits. For example, if you submit your proposal seconds past the deadline, your offer is ineligible for award (no matter how much the agency liked it).

Why it’s costly: Even a single missed requirement or deadline can result in an automatic rejection. Contracting officers are required to reject proposals that don’t meet the format and submission instructions or fail to answer every question. In other words, a great proposal submitted late or in the wrong format has zero chance of winning.

Best practice: Read the RFP thoroughly and create a compliance checklist (or matrix) listing every requirement, from technical questions to attachments, certifications, and formatting rules. As you build your response, check off each item and have a teammate do a final compliance review. This organized approach ensures you meet all the small criteria (like including subcontractor info or required certificates) that keep your proposal eligible for evaluation

2. Using Generic, One-Size-Fits-All Responses

Recycling content from past proposals can be a huge time-saver, but be careful: boilerplate responses that aren’t tailored to the specific RFP will stick out like a sore thumb. Proposal evaluators can tell when you’ve copied and pasted text that doesn’t directly address their project. If your response is filled with generic company info and vague promises, it fails to show that you understand the agency’s unique needs. Seasoned contracting officers see this cut and paste mistake often, and it can take an otherwise strong proposal out of the running. In short, a one-size-fits-all proposal usually misses the mark on what the client is actually asking for.

Why it’s costly: Boilerplate content may save time, but it alienates evaluators. An RFP response that feels generic tells the agency you didn’t invest effort to address their specific requirements. As one industry expert notes, using a lot of boilerplate with little connection to the project will definitely frustrate the person reviewing your proposal. This can lead to lower scores or outright dismissal.

Best practice: Tailor each proposal to the RFP. You can maintain a library of proposal content for efficiency, but always customize it to fit the precise opportunity. Speak the agency’s language by addressing their specific requirements, pain points, and goals. For example, incorporate details from the RFP about their challenges and how your solution resolves them. By directly addressing the issues the customer cares about, you make your response far more compelling and differentiated. Use past material as a starting point, but edit and refine every section so that it reads as if it was written for that client.

3. Failing to Address Evaluation Criteria and Customer Priorities

Another common mistake is writing the proposal you want to write instead of the one the agency asked for. Every RFP contains clues about what the evaluators deem most important, often in the form of evaluation criteria, instructions, or stated objectives. If you ignore or give short shrift to any of these, you risk losing major points. For instance, if the RFP says proposals will be scored on Technical Approach, Management Plan, Past Performance, and Price, you need to thoroughly cover each of those areas. Similarly, if the agency’s top priority is cybersecurity compliance or fast response time, your proposal should highlight your strengths in that area. Bidding without aligning to the customer’s priorities is like answering the wrong questions on a test.

Why it’s costly: If you don’t explicitly address the factors the customer cares about, you’re essentially leaving points on the table. Evaluators use a scorecard based on the RFP’s criteria; overlooking one could make your proposal uncompetitive or even non-responsive. In fact, federal RFPs often spell out a standard structure for responses, and contracting officers may reject a proposal that fails to address each question in the order asked. At best, skipping an evaluation criterion means a lower score; at worst, your bid might be tossed aside for not following directions.

Best practice: Align your response with the RFP’s evaluation criteria and stated priorities. Carefully review sections like the SOW (Statement of Work), Section L (instructions), and Section M (evaluation criteria) in a government RFP; they tell you exactly how your proposal will be judged. Then structure your proposal accordingly. For example, if Section M outlines specific factors and subfactors, organize your proposal sections to match those headings. This makes it easy for evaluators to find where you address each item. Always put yourself in the evaluator’s shoes: after writing a section, ask “If I were scoring this, did I fully answer what they asked?” By mirroring the RFP’s structure and directly answering every requirement, you demonstrate attention to detail and make the evaluators’ job easie.r

4. Weak Executive Summary and Value Proposition

Never underestimate the power of the executive summary. This is often the first section reviewers read, and sometimes the only section top decision-makers closely read. A weak executive summary is one that either doesn’t exist, is too generic, or focuses on the vendor rather than the client. Many proposals start with a page of fluff about the company’s history, mission, or excitement for the opportunity, but say little about the agency’s problem or the solution being proposed. If your executive summary is all about you and not about them, you’ve missed a critical opportunity. Likewise, failing to articulate a clear value proposition or differentiator in the summary can make your entire proposal forgettable. The agency should come away from the executive summary knowing exactly why you’re the best choice.

Why it’s costly: The executive summary is prime real estate to grab the evaluator’s attention and set the tone for your proposal. If it’s vendor-focused or filled with boilerplate, you haven’t given the reader a reason to be excited about your solution. A summary that neglects the customer’s perspective signals that the rest of the proposal might do the same. And if you don’t highlight a compelling value proposition or what makes you different, the agency may see your bid as interchangeable with others, which means the award decision could default to the lowest price.

Best practice: Write a customer-centric, outcome-focused executive summary. In a few concise paragraphs, acknowledge the agency’s mission or key challenge and then outline how your solution solves their problem and benefits them. Emphasize your unique value here, whether it’s a specific approach, technology, past success, or qualification that sets you apart. For example, instead of “We are pleased to submit this proposal for X,” try “You need to accomplish Y; our proposed solution will help you do it faster and more cost-effectively, because we bring Z.” Make sure the executive summary speaks to the agency’s needs and paints a picture of a successful outcome with your team on board.

5. Poor Proofreading and Formatting

Nothing undermines a polished proposal more quickly than typos, grammatical errors, or sloppy formatting. Government proposals are professional documents, and mistakes in writing or layout can signal a lack of care. Common errors include misspelled words, inconsistent terminology, incorrect numbering, or formatting that doesn’t match the RFP’s requirements, for instance wrong font size or missing section headers. These might seem like small details, but to an evaluator they stand out. The people reading your proposal are looking for reasons to differentiate bidders, and sloppiness is an easy differentiator in the wrong direction. Moreover, a document full of errors is harder to read, which you definitely don’t want when reviewers are scanning dozens of proposals.

Why it’s costly: Little mistakes can have a big impact on your credibility. Your proposal’s quality is often seen as a reflection of the quality of work you’d deliver if awarded the contract. Think about it: if an offeror can’t be bothered to fix spelling errors or format a document properly, can they be trusted with a complex project? Evaluators are always thinking how you do anything is how you do everything. Typos and formatting flubs are red flags; they suggest carelessness and can kill your credibility with the client.

Best practice: Proofread meticulously and format your proposal for clarity. Never submit your first draft; always set aside time for editing and reviewing. It helps to have a fresh set of eyes review the document, someone who wasn’t a primary writer, because they’ll catch errors you overlooked. Read every section out loud or even try reading the proposal backwards to spot typos and awkward phrasing. Ensure consistency in style: use the same fonts, headings, and terminology throughout. Double-check that tables, graphics, and page numbers are all in order and that you’ve followed any formatting rules from the RFP. A clean, error-free proposal not only avoids distracting the evaluators, it sends the message that you are detail-oriented and professional.

6. Not Providing Evidence or Past Performance

Bold claims in a proposal are meaningless if you don’t back them up. Another mistake that can cost you a win is failing to include evidence of your ability to perform the work. Government evaluators place a high value on past performance, your track record on similar projects, as well as other proof points like case studies, client testimonials, awards, or relevant certifications. If you simply promise the moon but offer no past examples or data to support those promises, you give the evaluators little reason to believe you. In federal contracting, past performance is a key indicator of future success. Ignoring that section or providing only vague references can severely undermine your proposal.

Why it’s costly: In a close competition, the proposal that proves its claims will beat the one that just asserts them. Agencies often make past performance a formal evaluation factor because it provides insight into a contractor’s reliability and capability. If you don’t provide solid past performance information or other evidence, you’ll likely score lower. It can even be a reason to eliminate a bidder if past performance is required and you submit “none.” Furthermore, lacking proof points makes your entire proposal less persuasive.

Best practice: Incorporate concrete evidence and past performance into your proposal. Always include a Past Performance section that highlights projects you’ve completed which are similar in scope or complexity to the one in the RFP. Describe the work and include results achieved, such as completing two months early, saving the client 15 percent in costs, or receiving excellent CPAR ratings. If you have testimonial quotes or reference letters, use them. Also sprinkle proof points throughout your technical approach. For newer businesses with limited past contracts, focus on the experience of your key team members or partner with a more experienced firm. The goal is to give evaluators tangible reasons to trust you.

7. Rushing the Process and Not Leveraging Tools

Finally, a mistake that plagues many small contractors is the last-minute rush. The RFP might be out for thirty days, but the team scrambles in the final 48 hours to put the proposal together. In the frenzy, sections get written in haste, details are missed, and there’s no time for thorough review. Proposal procrastination is a recipe for errors and panic. When you’re racing the clock, it’s easy to overlook a requirement, make writing mistakes, or run into technical snags like a slow upload portal at submission time. In the worst case, a last-minute issue can cause you to miss the deadline entirely. Alongside poor time management, another mistake is not taking advantage of modern tools that can make the RFP response process easier. Relying solely on manual effort for reading massive RFP documents, tracking requirements, and writing every word from scratch can burn valuable hours and energy.

Why it’s costly: Rushing leads to mistakes. When companies procrastinate on an RFP, it opens the door to both minor and major errors. You might submit something incomplete or not as polished as it could be, weakening your proposal against competitors who managed their time better. The stress of a last-minute scramble can also hurt team morale and performance. Additionally, under-utilizing technology is a hidden cost: if your competitors are using proposal software or AI tools to accelerate compliance checks and drafting, they have more time to refine their content. Sticking to labor-intensive manual processes means you could be spending hours on tasks that an algorithm can do in seconds.

Best practice: Start early and leverage proposal tools to work smarter. The moment you decide to pursue an RFP, set up a schedule with internal deadlines for outlines, drafts, and reviews well ahead of the final due date. Give yourself a cushion for unforeseen delays; aim to finish the final draft a day or two before it’s actually due, so submission can be calm and on time. Take advantage of technology that can streamline the RFP response process. AI-powered tools like GovDoc.ai can quickly analyze RFP documents, generate compliance matrices, and assist in drafting answers. Using such tools can save you hours of tedious work and help catch compliance issues or gaps you might miss. By automating repetitive tasks and starting your response early, you free up your team to focus on strategy, clear writing, and proposal quality instead of firefighting at the eleventh hour.

Conclusion and Next Steps

Winning government contracts is challenging, but it’s much harder if you’re tripping over these common proposal pitfalls. The good news is that each of these mistakes is preventable. By reading the RFP closely, tailoring your response, focusing on the customer, ensuring quality, providing proof, and managing your time with a little help from technology, you can dramatically improve your RFP win rate. Ultimately, successful proposal writing comes down to being organized, responsive, and persuasive and avoiding the unforced errors that send good proposals to the discard pile.

Ready to put these tips into action and reclaim precious hours in your proposal process? Upload your first RFP to GovDoc.ai and save countless hours today