An RFP, or Request for Proposal, is how organizations ask potential vendors to outline their prices, ideas, and timelines for a specific set of work. During my time at Accenture, I spent 6 months on the Pursuit Services Deal Team, a pilot program focused exclusively on crafting RFP responses for one of our largest Health & Public Services clients.

As a Pursuit Writer, my job was to ensure that our responses were airtight. I led efforts to clearly demonstrate that we met all minimum qualifications, assembled and formatted resumes for proposed team members, and ensured the entire submission was accurate, clear, and cohesive. With 12+ stakeholders on many deals, each offering input and subject matter expertise, it was like being the editor-in-chief of a high-stakes publication.

Although responding to RFPs is typically reserved for managers or senior staff, this program was designed to test a new model. And it worked: we supported $48.8 million in submitted proposals, producing over 1,000 pages of responses.