Alignment to get the must wins
Chasing every RFP that lands in your inbox burns capacity you don’t get back. The firms that win consistently aren’t just better writers — they know what the owner actually wants. I gather that intel directly: talking to agency contacts, tracking upcoming work, and understanding evaluation criteria before pursuit strategy even starts. Strong qualifications lose to weak positioning more often than firms realize — and positioning starts with knowing the client, not writing a better paragraph.
- Go/No-Go decision frameworks
- Opportunity evaluation and alignment scoring
- Capture and pre-pursuit strategy
- Competitive positioning
- Win theme development
- Proposal kickoff facilitation
- Messaging architecture and storyboard development
- Post-pursuit debrief and improvement systems
Methodology
Position
We develop the capture plan, vet the approach and team, and strengthen the client relationship before the RFP even drops.
Storyboard
We facilitate the technical-marketing relationship, working through RFx requirements, identify win themes, and set the story and structure.
Propose
We lead content development, facilitate review sessions, and coach the team through interviews to the WIN.
Our Wins
New $8M On-Call Contract with minimal prior relationship with the owner, where strategy and storytelling bridged the gap.
$25M multi-disciplinary GEC with complex requirements and unaligned technical teams and a new relationship with the owner.
$1B Sound Transit PM/CM MATOC for a small local firm with minimal prime proposal experience and key relationships and knowledge to share.
$800,000 WSDOT RFAI win for a small firm expanding work with the owner.
75% hit rate on pursuits where ASCEND’s team leads strategy and storytelling.