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The Four Reviews That Save Your Business

Each review catches different types of disasters at different stages. Skip any of them and you’re gambling with your company’s money and reputation. Here’s when to use each one and what disasters they prevent.

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Blue Team Review: “Should We Really Be Doing This?”

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What Disaster This Prevents

Spending $300K+ chasing a deal you never had a realistic chance of winning because your strategy was fundamentally flawed from the start.

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When to Use It

  • Right after you decide to bid, before you spend serious money
  • 6-12 months before the RFP drops (when you can still change course)
  • When your capture plan is mostly done but you haven’t committed the big resources yet

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The Hard Questions It Answers

  • Can we actually beat the competition? (Not just “are we qualified” but “will we win?”)
  • Do we understand what the customer really wants? (Their real problem, not just what the draft RFP says)
  • Is our technical approach actually better? (Or just different in ways that don’t matter)
  • Do we have the relationships to compete? (Access to decision makers, trusted advisors)
  • Is this worth the investment? (Win probability vs. cost to compete)

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What Success Looks Like

  • Crystal clear go/no-go decision with specific reasoning
  • If “go” - a validated strategy everyone believes in
  • If “no-go” - you just saved hundreds of thousands of dollars
  • Specific action items to fix identified problems

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Pink Team Review: “Will This Proposal Actually Win?”

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What Disaster This Prevents

Submitting a proposal that looks professional but doesn’t answer the customer’s real questions or differentiate you from competitors. (The kind that gets “technically acceptable” scores but loses on best value.)

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When to Use It

  • While you’re still writing the proposal (not the night before it’s due)
  • 2-3 weeks before submission (enough time to make major changes)
  • When you have a complete first draft that people can actually evaluate

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The Hard Questions It Answers

  • Does this proposal convince the customer we understand their problem? (Not just their requirements)
  • Will evaluators see why we’re better than competitors? (Clear differentiation, not just different)
  • Are we compliant with all the must-haves? (The stuff that gets you eliminated for non-responsiveness)
  • Do our win themes actually come through? (Or do we just list capabilities)
  • Would we choose this proposal if we were the customer? (Honest gut check)

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What Success Looks Like

  • Specific feedback on what’s weak and how to fix it
  • A punch list of compliance gaps that must be addressed
  • Stronger messages that clearly beat the competition
  • Confidence that you have a winning proposal (or know exactly what to fix)

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Red Team Review: “Are We Ready for Battle?”

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What Disaster This Prevents

Submitting a proposal with fatal flaws that could have been caught, or worse - submitting when you should have withdrawn because you discovered you can’t win.

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When to Use It

  • 1-2 weeks before the deadline (final chance to fix or withdraw)
  • After you’ve incorporated all the Pink Team feedback
  • When the proposal is as good as you can make it

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The Hard Questions It Answers

  • Do we have a realistic chance of winning? (Based on what we know now, not what we hoped 6 months ago)
  • Is the proposal ready for prime time? (Would we be embarrassed if customers saw this?)
  • Have we addressed the biggest risks? (The things that could kill us even if we do everything else right)
  • Should we submit or walk away? (Sometimes the best decision is not to compete)
  • Are we betting the company on this? (Risk vs. reward reality check)

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What Success Looks Like

  • A final go/no-go decision everyone can live with
  • If “go” - complete confidence this is your best shot
  • If “no-go” - you just avoided a public failure
  • Last-minute fixes for any critical problems found

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Gold Team Review: “What Did We Learn?”

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What Disaster This Prevents

Making the same expensive mistakes over and over because you never took time to figure out what went wrong and what went right.

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When to Use It

  • 2-4 weeks after you submit (while it’s still fresh in everyone’s mind)
  • Before the award if possible (while you can still ask customers questions)
  • Whether you win or lose (winners need to learn too)

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The Hard Questions It Answers

  • What did we get right that we should do again? (Double down on what works)
  • Where did our intelligence fail us? (Competitors we missed, customer priorities we got wrong)
  • How accurate was our strategy? (Did the customer care about what we thought they cared about?)
  • What would we do differently? (Specific changes for next time)
  • How can we get better at this? (Process improvements, capability gaps)

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What Success Looks Like

  • Honest assessment of what worked and what didn’t
  • Specific lessons learned that improve future pursuits
  • Better competitive intelligence processes
  • Team development insights for better performance next time
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