Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers turn AcornBids from a search tool into a repeatable qualification system. A good question captures one piece of bid logic your team checks again and again, then lets AcornBids answer it from the opportunity record, attachments, and source text.

Use questions to make the first pass faster, more consistent, and easier to explain. Do not use them to replace the final bid decision. The best setup gives your team cited facts, source-based summaries, and warning signs so a human can decide whether to pursue, skip, or investigate.

The strategy

Start by writing down the reasons your team says yes or no to an opportunity. Turn those reasons into questions AcornBids can answer from the source material.

Good AcornBids questions usually fall into one of five groups:

Group	Purpose	Example
Fit	Confirms the work matches what your company sells.	Yes/No: Is this opportunity primarily for janitorial services?
Eligibility	Finds requirements that could block pursuit.	Yes/No: Is this opportunity restricted by set-aside status?
Effort	Shows how hard the bid or delivery may be.	Text: List the documents required for submission.
Risk	Identifies terms that need review before committing.	Yes/No: Does the solicitation mention bonding?
Differentiation	Surfaces places where your team can write a stronger response.	Text: State the evaluation criteria listed in the opportunity.

This is the core idea: ask AcornBids to restate, list, or summarize what is in the opportunity. Leave judgment, pricing, capacity, relationship strategy, and any gap-filling to your team.

Build questions in layers

Do not start with twenty questions. Start with a small set that matches how your team actually reviews bids.

Layer 1: Fast screen

These questions decide whether an opportunity deserves more time.

• Text: State the products or services the buyer is requesting.
• Text: Identify the buyer.
• Text: Identify the office that owns the opportunity.
• Text: State the place or places of performance.
• Text: State the submission method.
• Yes/No: Is there a set-aside requirement?
• Yes/No: Is there an eligibility restriction?
• Yes/No: Is there a contract vehicle requirement?
• Yes/No: Is this opportunity primarily for janitorial services?
• Yes/No: Does this opportunity involve janitorial services?

Use these on broad saved searches where you need quick triage. The goal is not a perfect capture decision. The goal is to separate obvious misses from opportunities worth reading.

Layer 2: Qualification

These questions help decide whether to move an opportunity into the pipeline.

• Text: List the required qualifications.
• Text: List the required certifications.
• Text: List the required licenses.
• Yes/No: Does the buyer require prior federal, state, local, or similar past performance?
• Text: State the most important evaluation factors.
• Text: List the required deliverables.
• Text: State the required performance outcomes.
• Yes/No: Are subcontractors, partners, or teaming arrangements mentioned?
• Yes/No: Does the work require on-site staffing?
• Yes/No: Does the work require travel?
• Yes/No: Does the work require ongoing support?

Use these after a saved search is stable. They should reflect your actual bid desk checklist, not a generic list of procurement questions.

Layer 3: Capture and proposal prep

These questions support deeper review once the opportunity looks real.

• Text: Summarize the problem the buyer is trying to solve.
• Text: List the pain points described.
• Text: List the mission goals described.
• Text: List the proposal sections that must be submitted.
• Text: List the compliance items that must be submitted.
• Text: List the source-stated dates relevant to the pursuit calendar.

Use these for opportunities already under active consideration. They are more detailed, so they should not be the default on every noisy search.

Write questions AcornBids can answer

A strong question asks for evidence that should exist in the opportunity text.

Strong questions do not ask AcornBids to create new information, infer your team's strategy, or fill in details. If the source documents do not say something, the answer should say that the information is not stated.

Strong questions:

• Yes/No: Does the solicitation require CMMC?
• Yes/No: Does the solicitation require FedRAMP?
• Yes/No: Does the solicitation require another named compliance standard?
• Text: State the minimum past performance requirements.
• Text: List the required proposal submission documents.
• Yes/No: Does the buyer mention an incumbent contractor, current provider, or existing contract number?
• Text: List the evaluation factors.
• Text: State the evaluation weighting if weighting is provided.

Weak questions:

• Yes/No: Should we bid?
• Yes/No: Will we win?
• Yes/No: Is this a good opportunity?
• Yes/No: Can we make money on this?
• Yes/No: Does the buyer like us?
• Text: State the price we should submit.

Weak questions are not useless because the topics are unimportant. They are weak because the answer depends on internal knowledge AcornBids cannot reliably infer from public documents. For a fake company, Pine Ridge Janitorial, reframe broad pursuit questions into source-based questions about janitorial scope, eligibility, staffing, and submission requirements.

Fake company reframes

Weak: Should we bid?

Better Pine Ridge questions:

• Yes/No: Is this opportunity primarily for janitorial services?
• Text: List the required proposal documents.

Weak: Will we win?

Better Pine Ridge questions:

• Text: List the evaluation criteria stated in the opportunity.
• Text: State the past performance requirements.
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require prior janitorial experience?

Weak: Is this good for us?

Better Pine Ridge questions:

• Yes/No: Does this opportunity involve janitorial services?
• Text: State the janitorial services mentioned in the opportunity.
• Text: State any non-janitorial services included in the scope.

Weak: Can we deliver this?

Better Pine Ridge questions:

• Text: State the place of performance.
• Text: State the required staffing levels.
• Text: State the required work hours.
• Text: List the required cleaning equipment.

Weak: Can we make money on this?

Better Pine Ridge questions:

• Text: State the contract type.
• Text: List the pricing forms that must be submitted.
• Text: State the wage determination mentioned in the opportunity.

Make answers useful for decisions

When reviewing an answer, look for four things:

• Citation quality: The answer should point back to the right source text or attachment.
• Specificity: It should name the requirement, date, agency, standard, document, or criterion when the source provides it.
• Source limits: It should say when the documents do not provide the information instead of guessing.
• Actionability: A reviewer should know what to do next: skip, read the source, ask a teammate, add to pipeline, or create a follow-up task.

Use citations as evidence and extra context, not as a full explanation of the reasoning behind the answer. A citation can show where the answer came from and give a reviewer a place to start reading, but it is not meant to replace a detailed answer or capture every reason the model reached that answer.

This matters most for yes/no questions. A yes/no question is good for flagging that something exists, but it should often be paired with a text question that asks for the details.

Example pair:

• Yes/No: Does the solicitation mention bonding?
• Text: State the bonding requirements mentioned in the solicitation.

The first question tells your team whether a risk area needs attention. The second question gives the reviewer the specific terms to inspect, with citations available as supporting context.

If an answer is too vague, the question is often too broad. Split it into smaller questions.

Broad:

Text: State the requirements.

Better:

Text: List the required certifications.
Text: List the required licenses.
Text: State the required past performance.
Text: List the documents that must be submitted.
Text: State the delivery locations listed.
Text: List the security standards mentioned.
Text: List the compliance standards mentioned.

Use reusable question sets

Question sets work best when they match a saved search. A cybersecurity saved search, an audiovisual installation saved search, and a janitorial services saved search should not all use the same questions.

For each important saved search, create a small default set:

1. One or two fit questions.
2. Two or three eligibility questions.
3. Two or three effort and risk questions.
4. One question that helps proposal positioning.

Then refine over time. Remove questions whose answers rarely change a decision. Add questions when your team repeatedly opens the source documents to check the same issue manually.

Example: Fake company, Pine Ridge Janitorial

Pine Ridge Janitorial is a fake company created only for this example.

For this example, Pine Ridge Janitorial provides commercial cleaning for government offices, schools, courthouses, and public facilities. The company handles routine janitorial work, day porter services, restroom sanitation, floor care, trash removal, consumables restocking, and periodic deep cleaning. It does not normally pursue landscaping, HVAC, armed security, construction, or broad facilities maintenance work unless janitorial services are the main scope.

For Pine Ridge, the first goal is to separate true janitorial opportunities from broad facilities solicitations that only mention cleaning in passing.

Fast screen

• Text: State what the buyer is asking the contractor to provide.
• Text: Identify the customer.
• Text: State the submission method.
• Text: List the other key dates stated in the opportunity.
• Yes/No: Is this opportunity primarily for janitorial services?
• Yes/No: Does this opportunity involve janitorial services?
• Text: State the janitorial services mentioned in the opportunity.
• Text: State any non-janitorial services included in the scope.
• Text: List the eligibility restrictions.
• Text: State the contract vehicle.
• Text: State the award type.

The two janitorial fit questions answer different things:

• Yes/No: Is this opportunity primarily for janitorial services?
• Yes/No: Does this opportunity involve janitorial services?

The first question is stricter. It helps Pine Ridge find opportunities where janitorial work is the main contract. The second question is broader. It catches opportunities where janitorial work appears inside a larger facilities, maintenance, or operations contract.

Qualification

• Text: List the required cleaning tasks.
• Text: State the required cleaning frequency.
• Text: List the service areas.
• Text: State the required staffing levels.
• Text: State the required shifts.
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require day porter coverage?
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require after-hours work?
• Text: State the square footage.
• Text: State the building count.
• Text: State the facility type.
• Text: State the place of performance.
• Text: List the required supplies.
• Text: List the required equipment.
• Text: State the required certifications.
• Text: State the required licenses.
• Text: State the background check requirements.
• Text: State the site access requirements.
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require government facility cleaning experience?
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require school cleaning experience?
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require healthcare facility cleaning experience?
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require secure facility cleaning experience?
• Text: State the past performance requirements.
• Text: State the reference requirements.

Effort and risk

• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require bonding?
• Text: State the bonding requirements.
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require special insurance?
• Text: State the insurance requirements.
• Yes/No: Does the opportunity require security clearance?
• Text: State the security clearance requirements.
• Text: State the wage determination mentioned.
• Text: State the prevailing wage requirements.
• Text: State the quality control requirements.
• Text: State the performance metrics.
• Text: List the proposal documents that must be submitted.
• Text: List the pricing forms that must be submitted.
• Yes/No: Is there a mandatory site visit?
• Text: State the site visit date.
• Text: State the question deadline.
• Yes/No: Are subcontractors mentioned?
• Text: State any incumbent information mentioned.

Proposal positioning

• Text: List the evaluation criteria stated in the opportunity.
• Text: List source language about cleanliness.
• Text: List source language about safety.
• Text: List source language about reliability.
• Text: List source language about responsiveness.
• Text: Summarize the buyer's main facility needs.
• Text: Summarize the buyer's stated service problems.
• Text: Summarize the buyer's performance goals.
• Text: List the source details that match Pine Ridge's janitorial capabilities.
• Text: List source details related to eligibility.
• Text: List source details related to staffing.
• Text: List source details related to compliance.
• Text: List source details related to pricing forms.

Common mistakes

• Asking one giant question instead of several specific questions.
• Asking the AI to make a pursuit decision without your internal context.
• Asking the AI to fill in missing details that are not in the opportunity.
• Using the same question set on every saved search.
• Adding questions before the saved search is clean enough.
• Treating an unstated detail as if AcornBids can infer it.
• Treating a cited answer as final without reading the source for high-value bids.
• Keeping stale questions after your market focus changes.

Operating rhythm

Use this workflow to keep Questions and Answers useful:

1. Create or tune the saved search first.
2. Add a small question set tied to that search.
3. Review answers on a sample of good, bad, and borderline opportunities.
4. Rewrite questions that produce vague, repetitive, or unhelpful answers.
5. Move strong fits into the pipeline with the answer evidence attached to the decision.
6. Revisit the question set monthly or whenever your bid strategy changes.

The best AcornBids setup is not the longest list of questions. It is the shortest list that consistently tells your team what is worth reading, what is risky, and what should move forward.