Streamlining Public Sector RFI/RFP Responses with Iris

Guest post written by Kyle Ketchmark: Having over three years of capture management, solution consulting, and GTM experience at a small startup -- I've revitalized a specialized, AI-focused, 1 man capture shop, leveraging expertise in emerging technology procurement, competitive positioning, and federal acquisition strategies. Prior to the current role, I played a critical role facilitating opportunities as a BDR, demonstrating product capabilities, managing outbound/inbound pipelines, and executing high-impact negotiations within mid-market and government contracting spaces. Driven by a passion for AI technology adoption in defense and intelligence, I strive to bridge the gap between innovative solutions and mission-critical government needs, ensuring seamless procurement and integration of cutting-edge AI platforms. Starting with automating and reducing time analyzing an RFI/RFP/SBIR/RFQ with Iris.

The Challenge: Navigating the Complex RFI/RFP Process

For smaller capture shops, responding to Public Sector Requests for Information (RFI) and Requests for Proposals (RFP) is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. These businesses shoulder the burden of:

• Identifying, reviewing, and selecting the right opportunities from a vast number of Public Sector releases.
• Determining whether a company aligns with the requirements outlined in each RFI/RFP.
• Understanding complex requirements, mapping them into a response template, and ensuring clarity for the Contracting Officer.
• Crafting a compelling response that clearly aligns an organization’s capabilities with the opportunity at hand.

Without a structured approach, smaller teams can find themselves overwhelmed, spending countless hours on manual tasks that larger firms often delegate to dedicated capture teams.

The Old Way: How RFI/RFPs Used to Work?

The typical process of responding to an RFI/RFP consists of five major steps:

1. Opportunity Identification

This initial step is where the bulk of the time is spent. RFIs can vary significantly in length—ranging from 2 to 50+ pages—making it crucial to quickly extract key requirements. Efficiently parsing these documents is critical in determining whether an opportunity is worth pursuing.

2. Selection

Once an opportunity is identified, internal teams—Product, Engineering, GTM, and Marketing—must align and prioritize their efforts. This phase involves securing internal buy-in, setting departmental due dates, and structuring a response template tailored to the agency’s format. Coordination is key to ensuring a seamless transition into the response phase.

3. Response

This is the most critical stage of the process. Capture managers need to craft responses that clearly address the agency’s requirements, removing unnecessary details and directly aligning with organizational capabilities. Well-structured, precise, and properly formatted responses improve readability and increase the chances of success. Following the agency’s contract guidelines and using relevant visuals help ensure clarity, compliance, and a professional presentation. This makes it easier for evaluators to quickly assess the submission and increases the likelihood of a favorable outcome.

4. Final Review

Larger prime contractors have dedicated capture shops that conduct Red Team reviews to ensure formatting accuracy, comprehensive content, and a coherent narrative. For smaller teams, a structured final review process is critical to catching errors, refining responses, and ensuring compliance with submission requirements. Poor formatting or misalignment can result in an automatic rejection, making this step non-negotiable.

5. Submission

The final step is ensuring a polished submission through the appropriate portal, email, or other specified methods before the deadline. Timeliness and accuracy here can be the difference between consideration and disqualification.

How HeyIris Transforms the Process

HeyIris revolutionizes the Selection, Response, and Final Review stages, significantly reducing the time and effort traditionally required for RFI/RFP responses. Here’s how:

• AI-Driven Selection: By leveraging HeyIris’s secure database, organizations can efficiently parse lengthy RFI/RFP documents, extracting critical requirements in minutes rather than hours. This allows small capture teams to focus on opportunities that align with their capabilities.
• Automated Response Mapping: The HeyIris RFP Shredder quickly matches response requirements with company data, removing the need to manually create templates. Unlike other AI tools, HeyIris keeps data secure while pulling in past responses and internal documents to streamline the process.
• Collaborative Workflow: Multiple users can simultaneously contribute to different sections of an RFI/RFP, maintaining version control and ensuring consistency. The ability to prompt HeyIris on internal organizational knowledge streamlines the process and enhances response quality.
• Time Savings & Efficiency: By automating labor-intensive tasks—such as reading, formatting, and searching internal archives for previous responses—HeyIris frees up valuable time. This enables smaller teams to produce more concise, accurate, and impactful submissions.

Unlocking New Potential for Small Capture Shops

For small capture teams, efficiency is paramount. HeyIris provides a seamless, intelligent solution that not only saves time but also enhances the quality and precision of RFI/RFP responses. By integrating automation with deep organizational knowledge, HeyIris empowers small teams to compete on a level playing field with larger firms—all within a single, secure platform.

With HeyIris, the future of Public Sector proposal management is smarter, faster, and more effective than ever before.