Your First Analysis

This comprehensive tutorial walks you through analyzing your first RFP with Cothon's AI-powered bid analysis system. By the end, you'll understand how to extract requirements, assess capability matches, and make informed bid/no-bid decisions in minutes instead of hours.

What You'll Learn

By completing this tutorial, you'll master:

• Document upload - How to submit RFPs for AI analysis
• Processing stages - Understanding what happens during extraction
• Requirement review - Navigating and interpreting extracted requirements
• Capability matching - Assessing how well you can meet requirements
• View modes - Using different layouts for different workflows
• Export and sharing - Getting data out and collaborating with teams
• Next steps - Generating proposals and tracking opportunities

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• A Cothon account - See Account Setup if you haven't signed up
• An RFP document - PDF or DOCX format, ideally 10-100 pages
• Company capabilities configured - Optional but highly recommended for accurate matching

Understanding Bid Analysis

Before we dive in, let's understand what bid analysis does and why it's valuable.

The Traditional Approach

Traditionally, analyzing an RFP involves:

1. Manual reading - Reading the entire document page by page (2-4 hours)
2. Requirement extraction - Manually identifying and copying requirements to a spreadsheet (4-8 hours)
3. Categorization - Organizing requirements by type and priority (2-3 hours)
4. Capability assessment - Evaluating your ability to meet each requirement (4-6 hours)
5. Gap analysis - Identifying what's missing and finding solutions (2-4 hours)
6. Team collaboration - Sharing spreadsheets and consolidating input (2-4 hours)

Total time: 16-29 hours for a typical 50-100 page RFP.

The Cothon Approach

With Cothon's AI-powered bid analysis:

1. Upload document - Drag and drop your PDF (10 seconds)
2. AI processing - Automatic extraction and matching (60-90 seconds)
3. Review results - Navigate categorized requirements (10-15 minutes)
4. Team collaboration - Share analysis link and collect input (real-time)
5. Decision making - Make informed bid/no-bid decision (5-10 minutes)

Total time: 30-45 minutes for the same RFP.

Result: 95% time savings while improving accuracy and consistency.

What Makes Cothon's AI Different

Multi-stage extraction pipeline Not just keyword matching—our AI understands context, intent, and implicit requirements.

False positive filtering Eliminates evaluation criteria, background information, and administrative boilerplate that aren't actual requirements.

Compound requirement detection Identifies when a single sentence contains multiple distinct requirements.

Context preservation Keeps the surrounding context so you understand what each requirement means.

Capability matching Automatically compares requirements against your company profile for instant gap analysis.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Now let's analyze your first RFP together.

Step 1: Navigate to Bid Analysis

Step 2: Upload Your Document

Step 3: Understanding the Processing Stages

Your RFP now goes through Cothon's multi-stage AI pipeline. You can watch progress in real-time.

Total processing time: 60-90 seconds for a typical 50-100 page RFP.

Step 4: Review Your Analysis Results

Once processing completes, you'll see the comprehensive analysis view.

Step 5: Explore Different View Modes

Cothon offers three view modes optimized for different workflows.

Step 6: Assess Capability Matches

Understanding your capability matches is crucial for making informed bid decisions.

Step 7: Identify Flagged Terms and Risks

Flagged terms highlight important items you've configured to watch for.

Step 8: Make Your Bid Decision

With all requirements reviewed, it's time to decide: bid, no-bid, or conditional bid?

What Happens Next?

Congratulations! You've completed your first bid analysis. Here are your next steps based on your decision:

If You Decided to BID

If You Decided NO-BID

If You're Still Evaluating (Conditional Bid)

Advanced Features to Explore

Once you're comfortable with basic analysis, explore these advanced features:

Comparative Analysis

Compare multiple RFPs side-by-side:

1. Select 2-3 analyses from your dashboard
2. Click Compare
3. See requirements that appear in multiple RFPs
4. Identify common capability gaps
5. Prioritize capability development investments

Use case: Identify trends in what agencies are asking for to guide strategic planning.

Historical Analysis

Track how requirements evolve across re-competes:

1. Link current analysis to previous analysis of same opportunity
2. Click Show Changes
3. See requirements added, removed, or modified
4. Understand what the client learned from the current contract
5. Tailor your proposal to address previous gaps

Use case: Winning re-competes by demonstrating you understand lessons learned.

AI Question & Answer

Ask the AI questions about your RFP:

1. Click the AI Assistant button
2. Ask natural language questions:
   • "What are the top 5 risks in this RFP?"
   • "Do we need security clearances?"
   • "What certifications are required?"
   • "Summarize the evaluation criteria"
3. Get instant answers with references to specific sections

Use case: Quickly find answers without manually searching the document.

Custom Requirement Categories

Create categories specific to your business:

1. Go to Settings > Analysis Settings
2. Click Custom Categories
3. Add categories like "Sustainability", "Indigenous Participation", "Innovation"
4. AI automatically categorizes requirements into your custom categories

Use case: Highlight requirements related to your differentiators.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

AI Missed Some Requirements

Symptoms: You notice requirements in the RFP that aren't in the extracted list.

Common causes:

• Requirement uses non-standard language ("The vendor will..." instead of "shall")
• Requirement is implied rather than explicitly stated
• Requirement is in a table or appendix
• Document formatting confused the extraction

Solutions:

1. Click Add Requirement Manually
2. Copy the requirement text from the original PDF
3. Set type, priority, and complexity manually
4. Submit feedback to help AI learn

Match Statuses Seem Inaccurate

Symptoms: AI says you "Cannot Meet" requirements you know you can handle, or "Fully Meets" requirements you're unsure about.

Common causes:

• Your company profile uses different terminology than the RFP
• Your profile lacks specific details about capabilities
• AI matched on keywords without understanding context

Solutions:

1. Review your company profile in Settings > Company Profile
2. Add more specific capability descriptions using RFP terminology
3. Include certifications, past performance, and team expertise
4. Click Re-run Matching to update statuses
5. Manually override incorrect statuses and add comments explaining why

Processing is Taking Too Long

Symptoms: Analysis has been processing for 5+ minutes.

Common causes:

• Very large document (200+ pages)
• Complex formatting with many tables and images
• Server congestion during peak hours
• Corrupted or password-protected PDF

Solutions:

1. Check the processing status indicator (may show estimated time remaining)
2. Wait a few more minutes (complex documents can take 3-5 minutes)
3. If no progress after 10 minutes, click Cancel and Retry
4. Try converting your PDF to a simpler format
5. For password-protected PDFs, unlock before uploading
6. Contact support if issue persists

Can't Find Exported File

Symptoms: You exported to Excel but can't find the file.

Solutions:

1. Check your browser's download folder (usually ~/Downloads)
2. Look for a file named bid-analysis-[name]-[date].xlsx
3. Check if your browser prompted you to choose a save location
4. Try exporting again and watch for browser download notification
5. Check browser settings to see where downloads are saved

Best Practices

Follow these best practices to get the most value from bid analysis:

Before Analysis

1. Complete your company profile first - Accurate matching requires detailed capabilities
2. Link to opportunities - Connect analyses to procurement intelligence
3. Choose the right analysis mode - Quick for simple RFPs, Comprehensive for complex ones
4. Use descriptive file names - "DND-Cloud-Services-RFP-2026" not "document.pdf"

During Analysis

1. Review while AI processes - Use the time to skim the original PDF
2. Don't trust AI blindly - Verify match statuses for critical requirements
3. Add comments immediately - Capture thoughts while fresh in your mind
4. Use consistent naming - Tag analyses consistently for easy searching later

After Analysis

1. Make a decision within 48 hours - Don't let analyses sit unresolved
2. Share with team quickly - Get input while there's still time to act
3. Document your rationale - Future you will thank present you
4. Update your profile - Continuously refine capabilities based on learning

For Team Collaboration

1. Assign requirements strategically - Technical to technical leads, compliance to legal, etc.
2. Set clear deadlines - "Review by Friday EOD" not "review when you can"
3. Use status updates - Mark requirements as "Reviewed", "Approved", "Needs Discussion"
4. Centralize questions - Keep Q&A in Cothon rather than email threads

Next Steps

Continue your learning journey:

1. Generate a Proposal - Turn your analysis into a complete proposal draft
2. Share and Collaborate - Work with your team in real-time
3. Export and Integrate - Connect to your existing tools
4. Advanced Filtering - Master complex requirement queries
5. Custom Workflows - Automate your bid process

Pro tips from experienced users:

• Analyze 5-10 RFPs before making major profile changes (you'll see patterns)
• Create analysis folders by quarter or agency for easy organization
• Use tags liberally—they make searching much easier later
• Set up Slack notifications for analysis completion
• Review "Cannot Meet" requirements first to identify showstoppers early

Frequently Asked Questions