Before a go/no-go decision, check four groups of conditions: can we take part, can we obtain the package, can we support the evidence the buyer will verify, and can we deliver. Give every condition one of four states. Then record who decided, on which version of the solicitation, and what would reopen the decision. The on-page worksheet produces a decision record without a score.
Use it after the solicitation review and alongside the requirements matrix, which holds the detail behind each row.
The free Deep Fathom workbook includes a completed fictional review and four reusable tabs. Carry sources, evidence, open questions, task estimates and the decision handoff through one pursuit record.
How to use this worksheet
Work through Participation, Access, Evidence and Capacity in the worksheet above. Give each condition one of four states: supported, gap, unresolved, or not applicable with a reason. Record the source, owner, evidence or open question and due date before moving to the next group.
The browser fields are a working aid and are not submitted or saved after the tab closes. Transfer your review into the Excel workbook for the pursuit record your team retains.
Participation
Start with whether you’re allowed in the room. The Hellfire adapter RFQ (N6833526Q1186, issued 25 Aug 2026) is a 100% small business set-aside. The F-16 20mm housing RFP (SPRWA1-26-R-0017) requires engineering source approval by the design control activity, and pre-qualified but unapproved sources must produce first articles. Neither condition has anything to do with cyber. Both can end the pursuit on the first page.
Record the size status you’d certify and the approval you hold or would need. If approval takes longer than the response window, that’s a gap with a date on it.
Access
Some packages can’t be read until conditions are met. The Hellfire RFQ releases drawings only to offerors with a current certified DD Form 2345 and a CMMC Level 2 (Self) status the government verifies in SPRS, and paragraph (l) says failure to obtain the package “will render the Offeror ineligible for award.”
Name the person on your DD 2345, the system the files will land on, and the status the solicitation asks for. The controlled package access guide explains which process applies.
Evidence
This group holds the conditions the buyer will check rather than take on trust. A SPRS entry at a named level. Representations in SAM. A flowdown you’ll have to place on any subcontractor that touches CUI. The F-16 buyer’s own clarification put the timing plainly: an active assessment “is not required at the exact moment of the proposal submission”, but the awardee must have the status “active and verified in the Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) at the time of contract award.”
For each row, write the evidence you hold and where it is. If the solicitation’s wording is inconsistent, as it is in the Hellfire RFQ between “Level [2] certification” at award and “Level [2(Self)]” for access, the state is unresolved and the owner’s job is to ask.
Capacity
Delivery, quantities, first article and data deliverables belong to operations, and they belong on the same page as the eligibility conditions. So do obligations that survive a loss. The Hellfire RFQ requires every unsuccessful offeror to destroy the export-controlled data and certify destruction on letterhead.
Two lines here are enough. The point is that the person deciding sees capacity and eligibility together.
What “unresolved” obliges you to do
An unresolved row isn’t a soft gap. It means the condition can’t be evaluated from the documents you hold. Each one needs a named person, the route they’ll use (contracting officer, prime’s buyer, counsel, the Joint Certification Program office) and a date. A decision made with unresolved rows is allowed. A decision that doesn’t list them isn’t a decision record.
The decision and when to reopen it
Pursue, team, remediate, or decline. Write who decided and which version of the solicitation they read. Then write the reopen triggers: an amendment, a Q&A answer that changes a row, a custodian leaving, a status expiring.
The F-16 family shows why. On 24 Aug 2026 the buyer posted new questions and answers and issued Amendment 01, and the posted response date changed from 10 Aug (the earlier posting’s date for identifying interest) to 25 Sep. A decision recorded against the 4 Aug posting had a reason to be reopened. The amendment review checklist covers what to compare.
Where Deep Fathom fits
Use the Evidence and Access groups to identify any compliance work behind the pursuit decision. Deep Fathom supports assessment evidence management and obligation-to-work traceability. Your pursuit team maintains the checklist, assigns owners and revisits the decision when the solicitation changes.
Deep Fathom helps organize the assigned evidence work. Your pursuit team validates the facts, retains the source references and authorizes the go/no-go decision.
If the Evidence group shows a gap you need to close before the deadline, send our team the requirement and the response date. You’ll get a walkthrough of how the work and evidence behind it get organized. Review bid requirements
Related reading
For non-CMMC examples, compare first-article evidence and delivery starting events. These are separate decisions within one retained DLA package.