Are You Chasing Every RFP? Why Focused Bidding Wins More Work

When a new RFP hits your inbox, the instinct is often to jump in and get started. The deadline is tight, the scope sounds close enough, and you figure, “Why not go for it?”

But here’s the truth: chasing every RFP is not a strategy—it’s a fast track to burnout, low win rates, and scattered performance. The most successful contractors and small businesses don’t bid more—they bid smarter.

If your 2026 goal is to win more contracts and waste less time, the first move is to stop reacting to every opportunity and start focusing on the right ones.

The Hidden Cost of Bidding on Everything

Every proposal you submit takes time, resources, and focus. Even if you’re using templates, there’s still work involved: reading the RFP, preparing forms, tailoring the scope, building pricing, and doing compliance checks.

When you pursue bids that don’t really align with your services, capacity, or positioning, you’re spending hours on proposals you were unlikely to win from the start.

The cost isn’t just time—it’s opportunity. While you’re chasing a poor-fit RFP, you’re missing a better one that deserves your full attention.

Signs You’re Bidding Too Broad

• You’re rewriting entire sections of your proposal to fit every opportunity

• You frequently submit proposals with rushed or incomplete sections

• You don’t have a clear sense of your win rate or why certain bids failed

• You feel pressure to "just get something in" to stay active in the market

• You’re saying yes to anything close to your service area—even if it stretches your team

The Power of Focused Bidding

Instead of chasing volume, build your RFP strategy around fit. The more aligned the opportunity is with your strengths, experience, and capacity, the more likely you are to win—and to deliver well.

Focused bidding allows you to:

• Submit higher-quality, tailored proposals

• Improve your win rate and use those wins as momentum

• Spend less time spinning wheels and more time building relationships with agencies

• Reduce proposal fatigue for yourself and your team

Create a Simple Bid/No-Bid Scorecard

Before you commit to a proposal, run it through a quick scorecard. Here are five questions to ask:

1. Is this in our wheelhouse? Does the scope clearly align with what we do now, not with what we might do?

2. Do we meet all the minimum qualifications? This includes licensing, certifications, experience thresholds, and bonding levels.

3. Is the budget realistic? Can you perform the work at your pricing level and still maintain a healthy margin?

4. Do we have relevant past performance? If the agency wants experience in a specific area or with a particular client type, can you demonstrate that?

5. Do we have time to respond well? If the turnaround time is too short to submit a strong proposal, it may be better to pass.

If you answer “no” to more than one or two of these, it’s likely not a good fit.

Define Your Ideal Contract Profile

Want to stay focused? Write down what your ideal opportunity looks like. Be specific:

• What type of work?

• What size contract?

• What kind of agency (city, federal, education, utility, etc.)?

• What geography?

• What’s the minimum margin you’re willing to accept?

Use this as your benchmark when evaluating new bids. If it’s not close, you’re probably better off skipping it.

Build Relationships, Not Just Proposals

Another benefit of focused bidding? It makes it easier to build ongoing relationships. When you consistently bid on similar projects with the same types of agencies, your name becomes familiar. Your proposals improve. And you’re more likely to get shortlisted—even if you don’t win the first time.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to chase every RFP to succeed. In fact, you’ll win more when you stop.

Strategic bidding means knowing your value, staying clear on your capacity, and choosing the opportunities where you can truly stand out. Not every contract is your contract—and that’s a good thing.

Make 2026 the year you stop bidding out of habit and start bidding with intention.

Ellis Bledsoe, Principal Owner

ECB Solutions, LLC