TL;DR
GovCon teams are bidding on more RFPs with less time and higher risk.
Manual copy-paste proposal work breaks down under volume and creates compliance errors.
Compliance is still required, but speed now demands structure and prioritization.
AI can help, but only with guardrails that protect accuracy and data security.
Teams that combine smart systems with disciplined workflows move faster without risking trust or protests.
GovCon teams are moving faster than ever. More RFPs. More amendments. Less time. The pressure shows up first in proposal and contracts teams. Delayed procurements are landing all at once. Competition feels tighter. Deadlines feel shorter. Mistakes carry more weight.
On The Optimize Podcast, Kyle Peterson, Customer Success Lead at VisibleThread and former aerospace contracts manager, joined Chris Hamm to unpack what helps teams survive this pace. Their conversation focused on speed, compliance, AI, and risk.
Speed Without Structure Creates Risk
Proposal volume has increased sharply. Many teams now chase more bids at the same time, with fewer people. That pressure exposes weak processes fast. Manual workflows struggle first. Copying “shall” statements. Tracking changes in spreadsheets. Comparing amendments line by line under deadline pressure. Kyle described that reality clearly.
“I had that two screen dynamic. Here's the solicitation. Here's my internal FAR playbook. And I'm just kind of cross referencing left and right. It would take hours. It was a little bit soul destroying.”
That work consumes hours. It also increases error rates. Miss one clause, or reference the wrong version, and risk follows. Chris connected this directly to acquisition fatigue. When teams move faster, structure matters more. Without it, speed creates exposure instead of advantage.
“Read these words and then write a hundred-page report is not how acquisition should work.”
Compliance Is Table Stakes, Not the Finish Line
Compliance still matters. It always will. But it no longer differentiates contractors on its own. Evaluators expect compliance as a baseline. They notice mistakes more than perfection. A missed clause raises flags immediately. Kyle explained how structured analysis changes the workload.
“VisibleThread let me parse FAR clauses quickly and sort them into buckets.”
That approach focuses effort where risk lives. Mandatory clauses get attention first. Conditional requirements surface earlier. Chris highlighted “The volume of jobs is higher than I’ve ever seen” and why this shift matters now. When opportunity volume spikes, teams cannot treat every requirement equally. Smart prioritization reduces risk and saves time.
AI Helps, But Only With Guardrails
AI now touches nearly every proposal shop. Drafting, summaries and alignment checks – speed gains feel obvious. But not all AI behaves the same way. Kyle made that distinction clear.
“Generative AI is probabilistic. Deterministic AI is one hundred percent accurate.”
That difference matters in GovCon. Probabilistic outputs can hallucinate clauses or misstate requirements. Those errors create legal and protest risk. Chris described how agencies view the shift.
“We are absolutely moving into a world where software tools will be used.”
But trust still governs outcomes. Tools must support judgment, not replace it. AI works best when it removes admin work.
Safe AI is the Future
Customers now ask sharper questions about data. Where does it live? Who can access it? Does the model learn?
Contractors handle sensitive technical, pricing, and staffing information. Data leakage damages trust fast. Proposal teams must understand how tools behave. They must know what gets stored, trained, or discarded.
Generative AI (GenAI) offers huge potential for drafting and analysis. However, security is the top priority for GovCon firms handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). The fear is that AI models might “learn” from private bid data. Kyle explains how a “walled garden” approach keeps data safe.
"There’s ways you can influence the output without kind of training the model. It’s about creating that walled garden around your data."
The latest guidance from the CISA Roadmap for AI emphasizes the need for secure-by-design systems. Contractors must use AI that does not feed proprietary data back into public models. By combining GenAI with deterministic software, teams get the best of both worlds. They get the speed of AI and the accuracy of traditional data parsing.
Safe AI allows teams to draft responses faster while staying compliant with GSA AI policies. This balance of speed and security is the new standard for winning government contracts.
Listen for the Full Story
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