What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll be able to upload any government solicitation (RFP, RFQ, IDIQ, RFTOP) into Claude and generate a structured bid/no-bid summary for leadership in under an hour. Government solicitations routinely run 50–200 pages — this approach gets you to the key facts in 30–45 minutes instead of 3–5 hours of reading.
What you'll need
- Claude account (free tier works for shorter solicitations; Claude Pro recommended for larger documents)
- The solicitation as a PDF or in copy-paste text format
- Optionally: your organization's bid/no-bid criteria checklist
- Time needed: 10 minutes to set up; then 30–60 minutes per solicitation
- Cost: Free (claude.ai) or $20/month for Claude Pro (recommended for large solicitations)
How-To Guide: Summarize Government Solicitations for Bid/No-Bid Decisions
Step 1: Download the solicitation as a PDF
Get the solicitation from SAM.gov, beta.sam.gov, or the agency portal. Download the full solicitation package as a PDF.
What you should see: A PDF file — often multiple attachments (base solicitation, performance work statement, attachments, clauses).
For large solicitations with multiple files: start with the main solicitation document (Section L — Instructions, Section M — Evaluation Criteria, and the Statement of Work/Performance Work Statement are the highest priority).