There is a secret in government contracting that no one likes to talk about: By the time a solicitation (RFP) is posted publicly, the winner has usually already been chosen.

It wasn't rigged; it was shaped.

While you were waiting for the RFP notification, your competitor spent the last six months responding to Sources Sought Notices and Requests for Information (RFIs). They helped the government write the requirements. They ensured the "Must-Haves" aligned perfectly with their resume and excluded yours.

In the 2026 "Efficiency Era," where agencies are desperate to award contracts faster, the Market Research Phase is where 80% of the buying decision happens. Here is how to stop chasing contracts and start shaping them.

1. What is a "Sources Sought" Notice?

Before an agency can release a contract, Federal Law (FAR Part 10) requires them to conduct "Market Research." They post a Sources Sought Notice to answer two questions:

  1. Does a commercial solution exist? (Or do we need to build it from scratch?)
  2. Are there two or more small businesses who can do this? (The "Rule of Two").

The "Rule of Two" Strategy

This is your leverage. If you and one other small business respond with a credible capability statement, the Contracting Officer is legally pressured to Set-Aside the contract for small businesses.

  • The Win: You just eliminated Lockheed Martin, Leidos, and Booz Allen Hamilton from the competition. You shrank the pool from 500 bidders to 5.

2. RFI vs. Sources Sought: The Difference Matters

While often used interchangeably, they have different strategic goals in 2026.

  • Sources Sought: The government is asking, "Who are you?"
    • Your Goal: Prove you exist and force a Set-Aside (e.g., Woman-Owned, SDVOSB, HUBZone).
  • Request for Information (RFI): The government is asking, "How would you solve this?"
    • Your Goal: Ghosting.

3. The Art of "Ghosting": Writing the Requirements for Them

"Ghosting" is the art of highlighting a competitor's weakness without ever mentioning their name. You do this by suggesting "Technical Requirements" in your RFI response that only you can meet.

Example:

  • Scenario: You are selling a drone detection system. Your competitor’s system fails in rainy weather. Yours works in all weather.
  • The RFI Response: "To ensure mission success, the government should require the system to maintain 99% detection accuracy in heavy precipitation events (2 inches/hour) as defined by NOAA standards."
  • The Result: The Contracting Officer cuts and pastes your sentence into the final RFP. Your competitor is now technically non-compliant. You win.

4. The 2026 Shift: AI is Grading Your Homework

In 2026, agencies are receiving thousands of RFI responses generated by ChatGPT. To manage the flood, Contracting Officers are using AI tools to scan responses for specific keywords and past performance.

How to Beat the Bot

  • Don't send a generic Capability Statement. If you attach a generic PDF to a specific Sources Sought, the AI will likely discard it as "low relevance."
  • Map to the PWS. If the Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) lists "Task 1: Cloud Migration," your response header must say "Response to Task 1: Cloud Migration."
  • Provide Data. "We are great at migration" gets you deleted. "We migrated 4PB of data for the Army with 0% downtime" gets you shortlisted.

5. Turning an RFI into a Sole Source

The ultimate win in Market Shaping is convincing the government that you are the only company capable of doing the work.

If your RFI response demonstrates a unique proprietary capability or an urgent timeline that no one else can meet, the Contracting Officer may bypass the RFP entirely and issue a Sole Source Award (Justification & Approval).

Gallium Insight: You don't get a Sole Source by asking for it. You get it by proving that competition would cause unacceptable delay to the mission.

Stop reacting. Start shaping.

If you are writing proposals for RFPs you saw for the first time yesterday, you are fighting for scraps. The real meals are eaten months earlier during the Sources Sought phase.

At Gallium Solutions, we act as your Capture Team, monitoring the market research feed and crafting technical RFI responses that wire the game in your favor.

‍