Capture Management 101: How to Identify, Qualify, and Win RFP Opportunities

It’s believed Abraham Lincoln once said, “Things may come for those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” This may or may not be true, but the sentiment couldn’t be more accurate for winning business.

If you wait for requests for proposals (RFPs) to come your way, you’re likely missing out on valuable business opportunities you otherwise wouldn’t know existed—leaving the door wide open for your competition to swoop in and seize them. That’s why it’s best to take a proactive approach to finding opportunities.

This is where capture management comes into play. By developing a solid capture strategy, you can actively shape your RFP success to ensure you’re not just taking what’s left over, but competing for—and winning—every high-value deal that aligns with your business goals.

Read on to learn how to identify, qualify, and win RFPs through effective capture management.

At its core, capture management is the process of identifying, qualifying, and winning business, often involving RFPs. It incorporates proactive strategies that build a predictable pipeline of high-quality opportunities and positions your capture team to win before the formal RFP is released.

Typically, capture management requires:

• Finding and qualifying business opportunities before an RFP lands
• Determining the cost to submit an RFP to see if it’s worth responding to
• Assessing the risk of responding, including the ability to meet the client’s needs if you win
• Analyzing the overall value of the RFP, including potential revenue or market expansion
• Scoring the opportunity to determine the likelihood of winning by weighing key factors
• Developing a win strategy by researching the client and conducting a competitive analysis
• Leading the capture process by defining the steps and resources needed to pursue the RFP

In short, capture management lays the groundwork by focusing on the right opportunities and ensuring your capture team is well-prepared to win before the RFP process begins. Let’s look at how.

Finding the right RFP opportunities might feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, but if you know how to keep your ear to the ground, you can gain an early advantage. Here’s how you can stay in the loop:

Regularly review online platforms and databases where government and industry contracts are posted. These portals often provide early visibility into upcoming contracts. Some places to start include:

• Government portals: Systems like SAM.gov (for U.S. government business) or MERX (for Canadian contracts) list upcoming solicitations.
• Industry-specific platforms: Many sectors have their bid portals where private and public organizations post opportunities.

A capture manager can also look for contracts nearing expiration or option periods. When a contract is about to end, it often signals an opportunity to displace the incumbent. For example, a tool like Deltek can help you see what’s coming up for renewal in 12 to 18 months for public sector contracts.

Look beyond the internet browser. Building relationships with procurement or contract officers in government agencies can give you insights into upcoming opportunities. You can initiate connections by:

• Attending procurement-related conferences and events
• Reaching out directly to procurement officers to ask about their future needs and buying strategies
• Participating in industry days where agencies share upcoming procurement plans

(Psst…a previous customer relationship can often be a source of new business or connections.)

Regularly conduct market research to stay informed about industry trends, potential funding allocations, and upcoming projects by:

• Subscribing to industry reports and news
• Reviewing budget documents and government spending priorities to predict where future contracts will emerge
• Using third-party market intelligence tools that aggregate contract opportunities

Work closely with your business development team to identify leads and gain insights into potential opportunities. By sharing information on what clients are seeking or what’s trending in the industry, your capture team can better target and prioritize valuable RFPs.

Another option is to leverage tools that analyze historical procurement data and market trends to predict future opportunities. Platforms like GovWIN IQ offer predictive analysis based on past procurement patterns, allowing capture managers to anticipate upcoming bids before they’re posted.

New laws or regulations can trigger procurement needs, especially in sectors like defense, healthcare, or IT. Stay on top of these changes by:

• Regularly monitoring government policies and legislative updates
• Understanding how regulatory changes may result in new contract opportunities and position your company to respond when these new needs emerge

For example, emerging AI compliance legislation is driving new opportunities for companies offering compliance services or tools, as businesses must ensure their AI systems meet updated safety, transparency, and ethics standards.

Many organizations or agencies issue requests for information (RFIs) or hold pre-solicitation meetings before releasing formal RFPs. As such, you should consider:

• Responding to RFIs to express your company’s interest and demonstrate expertise
• Attending pre-solicitation conferences or “industry days” to learn more about the prospective customer’s requirements and timeline

Budget cycles often present new business opportunities, especially in the public sector, where government transparency can provide insight into when these cycles occur.

By understanding the timing, you can submit proactive proposals at the start of a new budgeting cycle, showcasing how your business can support the client’s goals in the upcoming quarter.

Last but not least, capture managers often work with industry partners and subcontractors who may have early visibility into upcoming opportunities:

• Build relationships with companies in your industry that might share leads or insights
• Explore teaming agreements or joint ventures with complementary businesses, especially if they have pre-existing relationships with target agencies

Next up, how to make sure these RFP opportunities are the right opportunities after all.

It might seem like the capture manager’s goal is to identify any and every RFP opportunity. However, their focus goes beyond quantity—it’s about finding the right RFPs, not just more of them.

While finding RFPs is a key part of the capture process, equally important is qualifying them—carefully evaluating each one to determine if it aligns with your company’s strengths and goals.

There are two approaches you can take in tandem to reach a consensus:

1. Use a go/no-go decision matrix: Work closely with key stakeholders—such as the business development team, executive leadership, and proposal team—to create RFP evaluation criteria (i.e. key factors to consider whether an RFP is worth responding to.) When a new RFP arises, use the matrix to assess how well it meets these criteria before committing time and resources. Some examples include customer fit, relationship strength, competitive landscape, and more.
2. Calculate your PWin score: Your PWin, or Probability of Win score, is a metric used to estimate how likely your organization is to win a specific RFP. To calculate it, assign scores and weights to the key factors outlined in your go/no-go matrix, then combine them into a formula for a percentage. A high PWin score suggests that the RFP is a strong match for your organization, while a low score may indicate it’s better to pass and focus on more promising opportunities.

3. By combining these two approaches, you can make more strategic, data-driven decisions about which RFPs to pursue, allowing your proposal team to put time and resources into more focused proposals. Only when an RFP gets the green light should they begin crafting responses.

The final stage of capture planning is turning the pipeline into profit. By this point, the capture manager has gathered valuable competitive intelligence through the process of identifying and qualifying RFPs, which they can use to help develop a win strategy with the proposal team.

Let’s explore the key steps in the capture process that can help do this.

The information you gather in the capture management process is key to developing strong win themes, which ultimately lays the foundation for a winning proposal. Without this early groundwork, RFP teams are left scrambling at the last minute, trying to catch up to competitors who may have already positioned themselves for success.

Capture management is the key to winning more RFPs. By identifying the right opportunities early, qualifying them effectively, and developing a focused win strategy, you set your team up for success by:

• Targeting high-potential opportunities
• Focusing resources where they’ll have the most impact
• Ensuring team alignment for a smooth, unified effort
• Positioning your company as the clear top choice
• Minimizing the risk of pursuing low-probability bids