Public Sector Sees more Bids than Ever - How to Stand Out?

Why low-effort AI responses are flooding RFPs—and how structured proposals still win

The rise of proposal automation and generative AI has sparked a quiet revolution in public sector bidding. With tools now available to anyone, more vendors than ever are submitting to RFPs, RFQs, and RFIs—faster, cheaper, and with less rigor.

The result?

Procurement teams are inundated with proposals, many of which fall flat due to thin content or missed requirements.

If you’re a contractor trying to win, the challenge isn’t just to submit — it’s to stand out.

The Bid Flood is Real — and It's Backfiring

ChatGPT and similar tools have slashed the time and cost to submit proposals—and every vendor can now churn them out at scale. But that means many evaluators are drowning in generic content, and it's affecting their decision-making:

What professionals are saying

🗣️ “We’re drowning in bids that all sound the same.” — Government evaluator

🗣️ “If you rely on it too much, you’re just going to end up with proposals that read like everyone else’s.” — Senior proposal strategist

🗣️ “Honestly? I can smell GPT from a mile away.” — Federal evaluator

“You need to vet the stuff you get from these models because there will be rubbish in there” - Dr. Mark Keane, Chair of Computer Science, University College Dublin

The result?

The flood of low-effort proposals is making it harder to win.

Where Most Proposals Fall Short

Here’s where many bids go wrong:

❌ Responses fail basic compliance thresholds (missing attachments, unsigned certifications)

❌ Narratives are vague or generic, with no connection to the agency’s mission or goals

❌ Sections are misaligned with the RFP’s format — hard to navigate, hard to score

Even a technically sound solution can lose if the proposal isn’t structured to be reviewed, or if the content lacks clear positioning.

“We had a compelling solution — and still lost — because we missed one signed page. It was a non-starter.” — Proposal manager, Federal IT integrator

What Winning Proposals Still Get Right

The proposals that rise above the noise in 2025 don’t just check boxes — they deliver clarity and confidence to the evaluator.

Here’s what sets them apart:

1. Structure and flow: Every response is mapped clearly to the RFP’s requirements — using structured formats, consistent headers, and reviewer-friendly navigation.
2. Tailored messaging: Bids speak directly to the agency’s needs — showing not just how the vendor can do the work, but why they understand what success looks like.
3. Flawless compliance: From page limits to font size, formatting and attachment rules are followed to the letter — with nothing missing, misaligned, or misfiled.
4. Human voice: Even when using AI tools, the best proposals read with clarity, purpose, and originality — not like they came from a generic template.

These proposals don’t just check requirements—they tell a story reviewers can follow and buy into.

Where AI Actually Helps — And Where It Doesn’t

The answer isn’t to avoid AI altogether — it’s to use it strategically.

When AI is applied correctly, it doesn’t just generate paragraphs — it helps teams move smarter and faster by eliminating bottlenecks and reinforcing structure.

Purpose-built Integrated AI platform like McCarren are helping proposal teams:

✅ Automatically generate compliance matrices and outline structures

✅ Pre-fill draft responses with your approved content and voice, not generic boilerplate

✅ Identify missing requirements and enable review-ready formatting

✅ Streamline proposal collaboration with built-in scheduling and approval checkpoints

This kind of AI isn’t about cutting corners — it’s about amplifying expertise, cutting down on manual admin, and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

Contrast that with generic AI tools, where over-reliance results in content that’s grammatically fine but devoid of strategic nuance.

The winning proposals are not written by AI. They’re written with the support of AI.

Final Thought

In a market where “good enough” is being mass-produced by the dozen, strategy, structure, and compliance are your differentiators. Evaluators don’t want more words — they want better answers. They want clarity, traceability, and proposals that reflect understanding, not just output.

“The agency told us it was the best written bid they got — we won thanks to McCarren.”

👉 Want to win more by working smarter — not louder?

Explore McCarren

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