Assemble the complete package, list every document in it, sort each condition by the point at which you must meet it, compare each condition with the evidence you hold today, write down what you can’t resolve and who will ask, then decide and date the decision. Six steps. The order matters because the first gate in a defense solicitation often sits before pricing, and sometimes before you’re allowed to read the drawings.
This guide covers the review itself. The requirements matrix holds the detailed record, the bid eligibility checklist holds the go/no-go decision, and the amendment review checklist covers what to do when the package changes.
Step 1. Establish which package governs
A SAM.gov listing is a notice. The solicitation is the document the contracting office issued, usually a PDF with numbered sections. Attachments, drawings lists, CDRLs, questions and answers, and amendments sit beside it. A prime’s request for quote adds its own flowdown terms on top.
Start by writing down the solicitation number, the issuing office, the issue date and the posted response date. Then confirm you’re looking at the latest version. A newer posting in the same family doesn’t always replace the older one, and a later “updated” date on a notice doesn’t tell you what changed. If the family has more than one notice, keep all of them until you’ve read the amendment text.
One number, one office, one date, one version. Write it at the top of the record before you read anything else.
Step 2. Map every document in the package
Requirements hide in attachments. The notice summary rarely mentions them. Build a short document map before you interpret anything.
| Document | What it usually holds | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| Notice text on SAM.gov | Summary, contact, response date, sometimes buyer clarifications | Notice ID, posted date, any Q&A embedded in the text |
| Solicitation form and Section A | Set-aside status, issuing office, access instructions for technical data | Page numbers for every access or certification condition |
| Schedule (Section B) and statement of work | Line items, quantities, delivery, data deliverables | CDRLs, first article, unique identification, packaging |
| Clause list and full-text clauses | FAR and DFARS obligations by number and date | Clause number, date, and whether a deviation is cited |
| Attachments and exhibits | Drawings lists, specifications, forms such as DD 1423 or DD 260 | Whether you have each file, and whether access is restricted |
| Questions and answers | Buyer’s own reading of a requirement | Date, and which requirement it changes or explains |
| Amendments | Formal changes to the solicitation | Amendment number, date, changed sections, acknowledgment instruction |
The attachments and incorporated documents guide shows how to trace a requirement from the notice into the file that states it.
Step 3. Sort each condition by checkpoint
This is the step most review templates skip. A condition has a location in the package and a point in time at which it bites. Five checkpoints cover nearly every defense buy.
| Checkpoint | Question | Example from a retained solicitation |
|---|---|---|
| Access | What must be true before we can obtain the technical package? | Navy RFQ N6833526Q1186 (issued 25 Aug 2026): drawings released only to offerors with a current certified DD Form 2345 and a current CMMC Level 2 (Self) status verified in SPRS. |
| Participation | Can we take part at all? | The same RFQ is a 100% small business set-aside. The F-16 20mm housing RFP SPRWA1-26-R-0017 requires engineering source approval, or a path to qualify. |
| Submission | What must accompany the quote or proposal? | Representations and certifications, CMMC unique identifiers where DFARS 252.204-7025 is included, and acknowledgment of any amendments. |
| Award | What must be verified before the contracting officer can award? | The F-16 buyer’s clarification (posted 4 Aug 2026): CMMC status “active and verified in the Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) at the time of contract award”, while “an active assessment is not required at the exact moment of the proposal submission.” |
| Performance | What continues after award, and what applies even if we lose? | The Navy RFQ requires unsuccessful offerors to destroy the export-controlled data and certify destruction in writing. |
Read those two examples together and the point is plain. In the Navy RFQ, the drawing package is the first gate, and paragraph (l) says failure to obtain it “will render the Offeror ineligible for award.” In the F-16 RFP, the first gate is technical. The part “requires engineering source approval by the design control activity”, and the cyber status matters at award. Two solicitations, two different first gates, neither of them the proposal itself.
Both examples are quoted from retained copies with the dates shown. Solicitations get amended, and a SAM.gov opportunity link opens the notice action it points to, which may be an earlier one. Check the notice history for later actions before you rely on any quoted text.
Step 4. Compare each condition with the evidence you hold
For each condition, write one of four statuses.
- Supported. You hold current evidence: a certification with an expiry date, a SPRS entry, a registration, a signed letter. Record where it is.
- Gap. The condition is clear and you don’t meet it yet. Record the work and who owns it.
- Unresolved. The condition is ambiguous, or two documents disagree. Record the question.
- Not applicable. Record the applicability determination and its reviewer. Consider information received, created, stored and transmitted during the work, as well as the final deliverable. If the package does not establish the scope, keep the row unresolved and ask the contracting officer.
Keep the source text separate from your interpretation. When the Navy RFQ says “CMMC Level [2] certification” in paragraph (c) and “CMMC Level [2(Self)]” in paragraph (d), you record both, quote both, and mark the timing condition unresolved. You don’t pick the reading you prefer.
Step 5. Log what you can’t resolve, and who will ask
Every unresolved row needs a named person and a route. Contracting officer, prime’s buyer, your counsel, the Joint Certification Program office. Write the question the way you’d send it.
“Section A paragraph (c) refers to a CMMC Level 2 certification at award and paragraph (d) to Level 2 (Self) for access. Please confirm which assessment type is required at each point.”
A question like that takes ten minutes to write and can move a pursuit from unresolved to supported. Send it early. Answers arrive as Q&A or as an amendment, and either one sends you back to Step 1.
Step 6. Decide, and date the decision
Pursue, team, remediate, or decline. Record who decided, on which version of the package, and what would reopen the decision. The F-16 family shows why the date matters: 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 date the earlier posting gave for identifying interest) to 25 Sep 2026. A decision made against the 4 Aug posting needed a second look.
The bid eligibility checklist turns this step into a one-page worksheet.
Where Deep Fathom fits
Most of this review is reading and recording, and a spreadsheet can hold it. At Step 4, a CMMC status, NIST SP 800-171 assessment or safeguarding requirement may create compliance work. Deep Fathom supports evidence management and obligation-to-work traceability. Bring the specific requirement to an evaluation so our team can show the applicable workflow.
Deep Fathom organizes the requirements review and the supporting evidence. Your company decides whether to bid. The contracting officer sets the requirement.
If a security or evidence requirement is the open item, tell our team which requirement and deadline you’re working through. We’ll review it and show which Deep Fathom workflow applies. Review bid requirements
Related reading
For the pursuit-management perspective, read the gap between finding an opportunity and being ready to pursue it.