Frequently asked questions

Quick answers to common questions. Need more? Contact us.

What is ProposalFirewall?

ProposalFirewall turns commercial RFPs and government solicitations into citation-backed compliance matrices. You upload PDFs or packages, we extract requirements, validate them against the source text (Trust Gate), and you get an Excel checklist with page references, drafts, compliance checks, and more.

How much does ProposalFirewall cost?

You can start free with two one-time RFP analyses — no credit card required. Paid plans are Starter at $49/month (5 RFPs), Pro at $149/month (25 RFPs, amendments, SAM.gov alerts for government work), Team at $799/month (5 users, assisted onboarding), and custom Enterprise. Annual billing gets 2 months free, and you can cancel anytime. See the Pricing page for the full comparison.

What happens when I use my free analyses?

Existing workspaces stay open — you can still review requirements, citations, and exports already generated. New uploads pause until you upgrade (Starter, Pro, Team) or, for commercial packages, purchase a one-time Response Kit unlock. Nothing disappears when the free limit is reached.

Is the commercial Response Kit a subscription?

No. A commercial Response Kit unlock is a one-time purchase for that opportunity’s full matrix, evaluation crosswalk, response outline, risks, checklist, and exports. Monthly plans are separate if you need ongoing volume across commercial and government pursuits.

Is my data safe? Do you train AI on my documents?

No — uploaded RFPs, solicitations, and proposals are never used to train foundation models. Your documents are protected by workspace access controls, encrypted in transit, and every extraction and review action is recorded in an audit log. See the Security page for the full data-handling posture.

What if an extracted requirement is wrong?

Every extracted requirement links back to its source page, so you can verify it in seconds. Trust Gate runs a second-pass check against the source text and flags low-confidence or heavily paraphrased items for human review. Reviewers can approve, reject, or edit any requirement — AI assists, your team makes the final compliance call.

Will the AI invent deadlines or mandatory requirements?

No. ProposalFirewall is built citation-first: important items stay tied to source excerpts or are marked Needs review / Unsupported. It does not invent deadlines, weights, mandatory requirements, or marketing claims. Always confirm against the official package before submission.

Do you support commercial RFPs and government solicitations?

Yes. At upload you choose Commercial RFP, Government solicitation, or Auto-detect. Commercial packages get buyer/vendor terminology, package mapping, evaluation criteria, risks, and response-kit exports. Government packages keep UCF-aware extraction, Section L→M crosswalk, FAR/DFARS clauses, amendments, and optional SAM.gov profile linking.

What if I pick the wrong mode (commercial vs government)?

You can change the opportunity type after analysis from the overview. Mode affects terminology and which workspace tabs are emphasized; it does not delete your upload. If you do both commercial and federal work, Auto-detect or “Both” in onboarding is a safe default.

What file formats do you support?

Upload a single RFP PDF or a ZIP package with attachments. ProposalFirewall handles commercial packages, UCF and non-UCF government formats, multi-document packages, and amendments uploaded as new versions of the same opportunity.

How long does an analysis take?

Most initial analyses finish in a few minutes, even for long packages. You'll see extraction progress in real time, and the Executive Briefing and compliance matrix appear as soon as processing completes.

Why not just use ChatGPT to summarize the RFP?

Generic AI chat can summarize, but it doesn't give you page-level source citations, a validation pass that flags weak extractions, review status per requirement, risk labels, amendment diffs, or an Excel export your team can work from. ProposalFirewall is built for a repeatable, auditable compliance workflow — not a one-off summary you have to re-verify by hand.

How do I run a batch compliance check?

Open an opportunity → Compliance Check. Switch to "Batch check" mode, add sections (map each to a requirement and paste your draft text), then click "Run batch check." You get a readiness score and per-requirement feedback.

How do I turn on auto-extract after upload?

By default, extraction starts automatically after you upload a new RFP or solicitation. If you turned it off (via environment/config), use "Run extraction" on the Overview page to run it manually.

What is the Trust Gate?

Trust Gate is our validation pass that checks every AI-extracted requirement against the source document. If the match is weak or the AI paraphrased too much, we flag it for human review. The Requirements table shows a Trust column (verified vs. needs review).

What is RFP profile?

For government opportunities, when you link a SAM.gov opportunity ID we fetch and show agency, NAICS, posted date, set-aside, contract type, and place of performance in an RFP profile card on the Overview page. Commercial packages use the commercial opportunity overview instead.

How is corporate memory used in drafts?

Upload past winning proposals (PDFs) in Settings → Corporate memory. We index them for semantic search. When you use "Draft response" on a requirement, the AI uses both the solicitation and your corporate memory to generate a first draft. Documents show status: Pending, Indexing, or Ready.

How do I connect Salesforce or HubSpot?

Go to Dashboard → Settings → Integrations. Click "Connect" for Salesforce or HubSpot. You’ll be redirected to the provider to authorize; when you return, the integration is linked to your org. Optionally set an Opportunity ID (Salesforce) or Deal ID (HubSpot) so we know where to sync the matrix and crosswalk.

Where can I see the audit log?

Dashboard → Audit log (owner and admin only). It shows who did what and when. Export to CSV for review, compliance support, and customer-controlled records.

What is the Proposal Health Score?

The Proposal Health Score is a 0–100 score shown on the Overview page that tracks your bid readiness in real-time. It’s computed from five factors: requirements reviewed (up to 25 pts), matrix completeness (up to 25 pts), mandatory requirements addressed (up to 25 pts), absence of critical structural findings (up to 15 pts), and high-confidence extraction rate (up to 10 pts). It updates every 30 seconds. Green ≥ 70, amber 40–69, red < 40.

How does Risk Scoring work?

Every requirement extracted by ProposalFirewall is automatically labeled with a risk level: critical (page/format limits, disqualifying criteria, mandatory certifications), high (evaluation factors, security clauses, mandatory requirements), standard (deliverables and typical instructions), or low (informational references and optional items). Risk labels appear alongside confidence badges in the Requirements table and can be filtered.

What is an Executive Briefing?

After extraction completes, ProposalFirewall automatically generates a structured Executive Briefing using Gemini AI. It summarizes what the buyer or agency wants in plain English, lists key risks, recommends focus areas, surfaces critical deadlines, and notes page/word limits. The briefing appears on the Overview page and can be expanded to see full details.

How is ProposalFirewall different from tools like Arphie or VisibleThread?

ProposalFirewall is positioned around a focused, review-first compliance matrix workflow for commercial RFPs and government solicitations: extraction, source citations, Trust Gate validation, risk labels, amendment diffs, Ask, and export. Broader proposal suites often span full capture or content-library operations; ProposalFirewall is meant to help teams get from RFP package to source-linked review queue quickly, then keep humans in control of final decisions.