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AEC workflow

Find & Win Work

Move from public market discovery to a sourced, qualified opportunity and an owned pursuit process.

68 resources shown.

Follow the process

How to turn an opportunity notice into an owned pursuit

A long project list is not a pursuit pipeline. Start with the firm’s fit criteria, verify the original opportunity, and make a recorded go, no-go or hold decision before committing proposal effort. Use this sequence to produce a sourced shortlist with owners and next actions, while keeping early signals separate from open procurements.

Your deliverable: A source-linked shortlist and pursuit register, with an evidence-backed go, no-go or hold decision, a named owner and a dated next action for each record.

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Before you start

  • A firm profile covering services, target markets, relevant experience, capacity and non-negotiable eligibility criteria.
  • Authorized access to opportunity sources and a way to retain their notice identifiers and update history.
  • A qualification owner and a person authorized to commit proposal time and make the pursuit decision.
  • A project-owned register or CRM with fields for source, status, decision, owner and next action.

  1. Define what suitable work looks like for this firm

    Inputs
    Services, geography, sector experience, available team capacity and the firm’s pursuit priorities.
    Action
    Separate must-have conditions from preferences before searching. Write what evidence would establish relevant experience, eligibility, delivery capacity and commercial fit. Agree who can resolve an unknown and who can approve proposal effort; do not let an attractive project name replace the criteria.
    Output
    A short qualification brief with mandatory conditions, preferences, evidence requirements and a decision owner.
    Review checkpoint
    Would two team members reach comparable decisions from the same evidence and these written criteria?
    Common mistake
    Scoring every notice first and discovering a disqualifying requirement after proposal work has begun.

    Resources for this step

  2. Capture the source record, not just the project headline

    Inputs
    Authorized notices, project announcements, market-discovery records and the qualification brief.
    Action
    Retain the original source, notice or package identifier, location, described services and recorded dates. Classify an early planning signal separately from an open solicitation. Deduplicate by source identifiers and scope, while preserving genuinely different packages on the same project.
    Output
    A source-linked intake register with separate open-notice and early-signal records.
    Review checkpoint
    Can the owner return to the original record and tell whether it actually invites the firm to respond?
    Common mistake
    Treating an early signal as a live RFP, or merging separate design and construction packages by project name.

    Resources for this step

  3. Verify status, deadline and eligibility at the original source

    Inputs
    The captured notice, official documents, amendments and any access or registration requirements.
    Action
    Check the current status, response deadline and time zone, submission route, required services and eligibility evidence at the publisher. Record the actual check time and document version. If a source cannot be accessed or a requirement is ambiguous, assign follow-up and leave the decision on hold.
    Output
    A verified-facts record with source references, missing evidence and any clarification action.
    Review checkpoint
    Are the deadline and requirements supported by the current notice rather than a cached listing or inferred date?
    Common mistake
    Assuming a listing’s update time proves the original deadline or eligibility conditions were checked.

    Resources for this step

  4. Qualify fit and decide go, no-go or hold

    Inputs
    Verified notice facts, the firm’s mandatory criteria, capacity and estimated pursuit effort.
    Action
    Evaluate mandatory conditions first, then compare preferences and effort using explicit evidence. Separate a verified mismatch from an unknown. Ask the decision owner to record go, no-go or hold with a reason; a matching score can organize review but must not silently make that decision.
    Output
    A decision record with supporting evidence, effort assumptions and a named reviewer.
    Review checkpoint
    Does every go decision have evidence for mandatory conditions, and does every hold have an owner and follow-up?
    Common mistake
    Treating missing eligibility evidence as a pass or allowing a high relevance score to override a hard requirement.

    Resources for this step

  5. Assign the pursuit and work backwards from the deadline

    Inputs
    A recorded go decision, current submission instructions, team availability and the response deadline.
    Action
    Create one owned pursuit record. Assign responsibility for clarifications, partners, evidence, proposal preparation and final review, with internal dates that leave time before the external deadline. Keep sending or submitting a response as a separate authorized action; no alert or workflow template grants that authority.
    Output
    A pursuit plan with owners, internal milestones, required evidence and a final approval step.
    Review checkpoint
    Does every action have an owner, and can the team meet the actual submission instructions and time zone?
    Common mistake
    Sending an alert without assigning the next action, or assuming automated preparation is permission to submit.

    Resources for this step

  6. Monitor amendments and close the feedback loop

    Inputs
    Owned pursuits, held records, early signals and subsequent publisher updates or client responses.
    Action
    Recheck the original source at agreed points and after relevant updates. Route changed deadlines or requirements back to the owner and qualification decision. Update the existing record rather than creating a duplicate alert. Record outcomes and reasons for future learning without treating a source update as a won project.
    Output
    An updated pursuit register with change history, follow-up actions, outcomes and reusable lessons.
    Review checkpoint
    Can the owner distinguish a new package, an amendment and a duplicate, and see what needs a new decision?
    Common mistake
    Letting an old go decision survive a material amendment or counting every incoming alert as a new opportunity.

    Resources for this step

    • n8n technology overview

      Review a vendor-documented option for routing updates and recording actions. Any implementation still needs authorized credentials, duplicate handling, error tests and a human owner.

      Commercial disclosure: the n8n destination discloses an affiliate relationship. Inclusion here is for the documented workflow role, not a tested performance ranking.

Worked journey: a three-record shortlist

Synthetic training example only: the firm, notices and decisions below are invented. No live tender, client result, eligibility determination or win-rate claim is represented.

Firm fit
A practice defines a school-design brief, its target geography, mandatory credentials and the team capacity available for pursuit work.
Source capture
Notice A invites design services; Notice B is another design package; Signal C is an early project announcement. The team retains three separate source records.
Source verification
An amendment to A changes the response instructions. B has an unresolved eligibility condition. C does not yet invite a bid; it stays on a research watchlist.
Qualification
After checking the amended facts, the owner records go for A. B stays on hold with a clarification owner, rather than being scored as automatically eligible.
Pursuit handoff
A receives a proposal owner, evidence checklist and internal review milestones. The eventual submission requires a separate approval.
Follow-up
Updates amend the existing records. The team revisits decisions when requirements change and records the eventual outcome without inventing a win.

Opportunity qualification and pursuit checklist

Select and copy the checklist into your project document. Complete it there; this page does not save project information.

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