10 AI Prompts Every Government Contractor Should Know
Stop Struggling with Generic AI—Get GovCon-Specific Results
You're hearing it everywhere: AI is changing government contracting. Tools like ChatGPT are powerful, but they're a blank slate. To get value, you need to become an expert "prompt engineer"—a skill that takes time to develop. And even then, you run the risk of generic AI "hallucinating" facts or missing critical context buried in a 200-page RFP.
What if you could skip the learning curve?
Below are 10 essential prompts you can use to get better results from a generic AI. They require careful input and fact-checking, but they're a solid start. Read through them, and then we'll show you a better way to get all these answers without writing a single line of code or a complex prompt.
1. The "Big Picture" Summary Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"Act as a senior government capture manager. Read the attached Request for Proposal (document_name.pdf) and provide a one-page executive summary that includes the agency, customer, scope of work, key deadlines, contract type, and anticipated value."
Why it's important: This is your first pass, helping you quickly decide if an opportunity is worth pursuing. It saves you from reading hundreds of pages just for a go/no-go decision.
2. The Deadline Finder Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"Scan the attached solicitation and all its appendices. Extract all key dates and deadlines, including the questions due date, proposal submission date, and anticipated award date. Format them as a table."
Why it's important: Missing a single deadline can disqualify you. Manually searching for dates scattered across amendments and attachments is a recipe for human error.
3. The Compliance Matrix Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"Analyze the attached RFP, specifically Sections L and M. Create a compliance matrix in a table with four columns: 'Requirement Reference (Section/Page)', 'Requirement Description', 'Our Approach (Leave Blank)', and 'Fully Compliant? (Y/N)'."
Why it's important: A compliance matrix is non-negotiable for a winning proposal. It's the blueprint that ensures you've addressed every single government requirement.
4. The Evaluation Factors Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"Based on Section M of the attached RFP, list the evaluation factors for award in descending order of importance. Specify if the award is LPTA (Lowest Price Technically Acceptable) or Best Value Trade-Off."
Why it's important: You need to know how the government will score your proposal. This tells you where to focus your energy—on being the cheapest, the most technical, or having the best past performance.
5. The Past Performance Search Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"Search our library of past projects (attached documents). Find three examples of relevant past performance for a project requiring 'cybersecurity support for the Department of the Navy' with a contract value over $5 million. Extract the project summary, customer POC, and CPARS rating for each."
Why it's important: Strong, relevant past performance is often the key to winning. Sifting through old proposals and internal drives to find the perfect examples can take hours or even days.
6. The Proposal Outline Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"Create a detailed proposal outline for the attached RFP. The outline should include a cover letter, executive summary, and separate volumes for technical approach, past performance, staffing plan, and pricing, structured according to the instructions in Section L."
Why it's important: A solid outline ensures your proposal is organized, compliant, and easy for evaluators to read and score.
7. The FAR Clause Explainer Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"Explain FAR clause 52.217-9, 'Option to Extend the Term of the Contract,' in simple terms. What are the key obligations for the contractor and the government under this clause?"
Why it's important: Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses are legally binding and notoriously dense. Misunderstanding one can lead to compliance issues and lost revenue.
8. The Wage Rate Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"The attached RFP specifies performance in Arlington, VA. It requires compliance with the Service Contract Act (SCA). Find the correct SCA wage determination for 'Computer Programmer II' and 'Project Manager' in that location."
Why it's important: Pricing your labor incorrectly can make your bid non-compliant or unprofitable. Manually searching SCA or Davis-Bacon wage rates is tedious.
9. The Teaming Partner Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"I am a small business with primary NAICS code 541511. I am pursuing an opportunity that requires past performance in NAICS 541611 (Administrative Management Consulting). Identify potential teaming partners who are certified SDVOSBs and hold that NAICS code."
Why it's important: Finding the right partners can make or break your bid. It fills capability gaps and helps meet socio-economic requirements.
10. The Clarification Question Prompt
The Generic Prompt:
"After analyzing the attached RFP, generate five potential clarification questions to ask the Contracting Officer. Focus on ambiguities in the Performance Work Statement (PWS) and potential conflicts between Section L instructions and Section M evaluation criteria."
Why it's important: Asking smart questions shows the government you're diligent and can help de-risk the opportunity by clarifying ambiguities before you invest hundreds of hours in a proposal.
Stop Prompting. Start Winning.
Mastering these prompts is a valuable skill, but it's still a workaround. It's not the business you're in. Your business is winning government contracts.
Generic AI requires you to manually feed it documents, bring all the context, do all the fact-checking, and assume all the risk. There is a better way.
Instead of you prompting an AI, what if an AI prompted you?
That's the power of CLEATUS AI, your GovCon Growth Copilot. It's an expert system designed specifically for the government contracting lifecycle, and it eliminates the need for manual prompt engineering.
No Prompts Needed: CLEATUS AI is designed for GovCon. When you find an opportunity in the platform, it automatically breaks down contracts into their core sections, surfaces key dates, and identifies evaluation criteria.
Intelligent Analysis: CLEATUS AI's intelligent agents don't just read a contract; they analyze it in the context of your company. The system securely accesses your uploaded company information—like resumes and project histories—and cross-references it with the RFP to help you build a winning strategy.
Always-Current Profile: The platform automatically pulls in and tags your past performance data, keeping your capabilities profile ready and up-to-date for any proposal.
Beyond the Document: Need to find a teaming partner? The Contractor Teaming marketplace helps you find the right fit based on NAICS codes and set-asides. Need to build a compliant proposal? The Proposal Writer Suite generates your compliance matrix, helps estimate pricing, and builds a modular outline in minutes.
Stop wrestling with generic prompts and start winning with AI that already knows your business. CLEATUS AI handles the complexity so you can focus on what matters most—growth.