TenderMatrix / Guides
Guides for proposal managers and bid coordinators
Twelve practical guides on building and running an RFP compliance matrix: what it is, how shall, should and may are read, how to decide bid or no-bid, how to assign owners, and how to keep the matrix right through clarifications and amendments.
Understand the matrix and its language
What the matrix is for, how its key words are read, and what a miss costs on each type of requirement.
- Compliance matrix explained What the matrix is for, who owns it and which columns earn their place.
- Shall, will, should, may What each modal verb usually means and how to type it in the matrix.
- Traceability vs compliance matrix How the two differ, and how one seeds the other after award.
- Mandatory vs desirable What a miss can cost on each type, and how to flag them.
Decide and plan the response
From the bid decision and the scoring section to a shredded RFP and a team that knows its rows.
- Bid/no-bid checklist Knock-out gates, a weighted score and a recorded decision.
- Evaluation criteria and weighting Reading criteria, weights, scales and price formulas.
- RFP shredding process Breaking an RFP into requirements, owners and deadlines.
- Kickoff and owner assignment One owner per row, internal deadlines and a kickoff that works.
Run the response
Keep the matrix usable in Excel, handle the buyer's answers and amendments, and catch what slipped through.
- Response matrix in Excel Columns, status values, filters and formulas that keep it usable.
- RFP clarification questions Asking the buyer, then tracking each answer against its requirement.
- Tracking RFP amendments Log it, compare it, update the matrix and tell the owners.
- Compliance matrix mistakes How a mandatory gets missed, and the check that catches it.
Tools and references on this site
- RFP to Excel: upload an RFP PDF and get the matrix as rows you can filter and download.
- Compliance matrix template: the twelve columns, as a free Excel and CSV download.
- Shall statement extraction: the cue words TenderMatrix reads, in what order, and where they fail.
- RFP vs RFQ vs RFI: what each document asks for, with the rows each produces.
- Pricing: the free allowance and the paid plans.