Guides & Answers

SoliContraX helps teams across government contracting, commercial proposals, and investor relations produce polished first drafts grounded in each client's knowledge base. Multiple engagement types share one approval workflow:

Engagement	Best for	Output
Government Proposal	RFPs, grants, NOFOs, solicitations	Compliance-checked GovCon proposal (PDF/Word/Markdown)
Business Plan	Commercial strategy, investor pitches, partnerships	Structured business proposal (40–60 pages)
Pitch Deck	Fundraising, board presentations, executive briefs	Slide deck (multiple variants: pitch, vision, product demo, investor briefing, government briefing)

The core workflow

Every pursuit follows the same arc:

1. Intake — Select engagement type (Government Proposal, Business Plan, or Pitch Deck); choose variant (for decks, pick pitch/vision/product demo/investor/gov-briefing); select a client; upload solicitation, brief, or supporting materials.
2. Concept — Review strategy, quality guardrails, and refine in chat before you commit.
3. Approve — Lock the pipeline; production runs asynchronously.
4. Review — Draft Analysis (Government Proposal), Readiness assessment (Business Plan), or Quality report (Pitch Deck).
5. Export — PDF, Word, Markdown (Government Proposal/Business Plan), or PowerPoint (Pitch Deck) for your team's final pass.

You remain in control at every step. Chat exploration does not automatically rewrite your saved concept. Compliance scores are guides, not certifications. SoliContraX does not set price, e-sign documents, or submit on your behalf.

What makes output strong

The AI only knows what you provide. A complete Knowledge Base per client — capability statements, resumes, past performance — produces drafts that cite real strengths instead of generic filler. Text-searchable PDFs and clear filenames help extraction succeed on the first run.

Who it is for

SoliContraX fits teams responding to federal, state, or local solicitations who want to spend review time on strategy and polish instead of staring at a blank page. If you are new to the platform, continue with the Quick start guide or Setting up your account.

SoliContrax helps you transform government RFPs, business concepts, and pitch decks into polished, compelling first drafts. Support includes government proposals, business plans, and presentation decks with multiple variants (pitch, vision, product demo, investor briefing, government briefing). You remain in full control: you refine the strategy, approve the content, and manage the final submission.

The 5-Step Process

1. Upload: Input your RFP and optional company knowledge base (past performance, resumes, etc.).
2. Refine: Collaborate with the AI via chat to build your "Win Concept."
3. Approve: Once you approve the concept, SoliContrax builds the full draft.
4. Review: Audit the draft and use our automated Compliance Check as your guide.
5. Export & Submit: Export to PDF or Word and submit via your agency's portal.

Note: SoliContrax does not submit proposals or e-sign documents for you. You are responsible for final review and submission.

Getting Started

Requirements

You need a SoliContraX account and credits (used for concept generation, drafting, and exports).

Data Privacy

The AI only accesses files you upload to your private workspace. It does not pull data from the internet.

How to Initiate

• Start: Go to "New Concept" and select or create your Client.
• Upload: Drop in your RFP (PDF/DOCX) and any relevant company documents.
• Context: Use "Tell us about the proposal" to add capture notes (key needs, strengths, contract type).
• Creativity: Adjust the 1–5 scale. (1 = strict adherence to RFP; 5 = more creative win-theme exploration).
• Generate: Click "Develop concept." You will receive a notification when it is ready.

Refining & Building

The "Win Concept"

• Review the Strategy, Teaming, and Pillar tabs.
• Chat: Use the chat to ask questions about evaluation factors or risks.
• Important: Chat answers do not automatically change your saved concept. To apply changes, give explicit instructions (e.g., "Refine win theme 2 to emphasize our cybersecurity capabilities").

Proposal Build

• Click Approve Concept to trigger the full draft build.
• You can leave the page while the system processes the outline, sections, and budget narrative.
• Milestones: Monitor progress labels like Generating sections, Running final editor, and Compliance check.

Final Review & Export

Compliance Checklist

• Open Draft Analysis to view the Program Manager Report and Compliance Review.
• Compliance Score: A guide, not a certification.
• Open Items: Treat these as a punch list for your team to address.
• Always verify AI-generated compliance claims against the original RFP.

Export

• Choose PDF, Word, or Markdown.
• Use Word if your team needs to perform tracked changes.

Getting started with SoliContrax takes only a few minutes. Create an account with your work email and complete sign-in through our authentication provider. You do not need a credit card or a subscription to open the app and begin your first concept.

Name your first client

Government proposals are always written on behalf of a company — your own firm, a client you support, or a teaming partner. When you start a concept, you select or create a client. That name is how SoliContrax organizes opportunities, concepts, and the documents that belong to that company. If you skip this step, the system cannot attach your company materials to the right pursuit, and your drafts will be less grounded.

Open Clients on the dashboard, add a client, and use a clear legal or trade name. You can rename the client later from their profile page. Each client has its own Knowledge Base — the place where capability statements, resumes, and past-performance write-ups live for every future bid.

Where to find your credits

SoliContraX runs on credits, which pay for concept generation, proposal drafting, exports, and similar AI actions. New accounts receive starter credits so you can try the workflow. Your balance appears in the top navigation and on Buy credits (/billing), where you can purchase more at any time. Credits are one-time purchases and never expire. When you are ready to buy more, see Buying & Managing Credits.

SoliContraX runs in the browser — no desktop installer required. A few input requirements keep concept and draft generation reliable.

Browser and device

Use a current version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge on desktop for intake and long-running draft builds. You can review concepts and proposals on a tablet or phone, but uploading multi-file packages and editing exports is easier on a larger screen.

File requirements

Solicitations and Knowledge Base documents should be:

• PDF or DOCX — the formats the extraction pipeline handles best.
• Text-searchable — open the PDF and confirm you can select and search text. Image-only scans need OCR before upload.
• Clearly named — e.g. Section_M_Evaluation_Criteria.pdf or Amendment_02_Due_Date.pdf.

Blurry scans are the most common cause of failed concept generation. Fix the file before retrying; you are not charged when no solicitation is detected.

Account and credits

You need a SoliContraX account (email sign-in). New workspaces receive starter credits for concept generation and related AI steps. Your balance appears in the app header. When it runs low, purchase more on the Buy credits page — credits do not expire and there is no subscription.

Some actions (exports, full draft builds) require a minimum balance. Top up before starting a long run if you are near zero.

Most issues on SoliContrax trace back to inputs, credits, or file quality. This guide walks through the situations proposal teams hit most often, in the order you are likely to see them during setup.

No solicitation found

After you click Develop concept, SoliContrax scans everything you uploaded and picks the document that looks like the solicitation. If none qualify, the opportunity is marked no solicitation and you are directed to an error page explaining that a solicitation is required. You are not charged credits for that run.

Common causes: the RFP was not in the upload set, the wrong file was included, or the PDF is a scan without OCR so the text cannot be read. Add or replace the file with a text-searchable PDF or DOCX, return to intake, and start again. You can upload the solicitation alongside capability statements and resumes; the system will classify non-RFP files as supporting context.

No client selected or named

Every concept should be tied to a client. That link is how SoliContrax attaches the Knowledge Base — your stored capability statements, resumes, and past performance — to the pursuit. If you create a concept without a client, you lose that grounding and the dashboard is harder to organize.

Fix it by creating or selecting a client on intake before you develop the concept. Open the client profile and upload Knowledge Base documents there so every future opportunity for that company benefits.

Empty or thin Knowledge Base

You can run a concept with only a solicitation, but the output will be generic where it should cite your real differentiators. If the draft feels thin on past performance, personnel, or corporate strengths, the Knowledge Base is probably empty or outdated.

Upload the documents that prove what you do on the client's profile page, then start a new concept or continue refining the current one. The AI does not pull information from the internet; it only uses what you provide.

Concept or draft generation failed

When a run ends in failed status, check three things first.

File quality. Open the PDF and try to select text. If you cannot, run OCR and re-upload. Blurry scans are the most common cause of extraction and concept failures.

Credits. Your balance must meet the minimum required for that action. Check the header or /billing. If you were blocked, top up and retry.

Stalled progress. Long runs show step labels such as reading, extracting, or drafting. If progress freezes for an unusually long time, refresh the page once. Persistent failure after a healthy file and sufficient credits may require re-uploading the solicitation and starting a new concept. Older failed opportunities may not be replayable if the underlying file was removed during a past error handler; upload again in that case.

Concept chat and proposal builds use separate credit actions. A failure in one step does not always mean later steps ran; check the proposal or concept status before assuming the draft is complete.

Export and formatting issues

Exports are available after you have a draft worth shipping. PDF opens a print-ready view you can save from the browser. Word downloads a document your team can edit with tracked changes. Markdown is useful for internal reuse. Each export uses credits; if checkout for credits is needed, you will see an insufficient-credits message.

If tables or headings look wrong in Word, expect to do light formatting in your team's template — government proposals often need a final human pass for fonts, margins, and page breaks. Use Word when evaluators or your internal process require redlines. Before submitting to an agency portal, confirm file size limits, required fonts, and whether the portal wants PDF or a specific Word version.

SoliContrax does not submit proposals to SAM.gov or other portals. You export, review, and upload through the agency's system yourself.

The Dashboard is your pipeline overview. Open it from the sidebar home icon after sign-in.

Summary cards

At the top, four cards show:

• Active proposals — drafts in progress (not yet marked complete).
• Opportunities tracked — solicitations linked to clients in your workspace.
• Saved grants — bookmarks from Discover grants you flagged for follow-up.
• Completed proposals — pursuits you marked done.

These counts help you see workload at a glance without opening each record.

Tabs

Below the summary, tabs organize your workspace:

Tab	What it shows
Clients	Companies you bid on behalf of, with proposal counts
Opportunities	Solicitations with status, due dates, and client links
Bookmarks	Grants saved from Discover
Proposals	Draft builds and completed submissions
Concepts	Win concepts still in refinement or awaiting approval

Click a row to open that client, opportunity, proposal, or concept. Sort columns where available to find upcoming due dates or recent activity.

Starting new work

Use New concept in the sidebar to begin intake for a new pursuit. You can also open Discover grants to search the grant catalog and save opportunities before you upload a solicitation.

Discover grants (/discover) lets you search federal grant opportunities without uploading a solicitation first. Use it for early pipeline research and to bookmark programs worth pursuing.

Search and filters

Enter keywords, agency names, or opportunity numbers in the search bar. Filter by status (posted, forecasted, recently closed) and apply presets for common views such as closing soon or high funding ceilings.

Results show title, agency, post and close dates, award range, and a short summary. Pagination loads additional matches as you browse.

Save and track

Click Save on a grant to bookmark it. Saved grants appear on the Bookmarks tab of your dashboard so your team can compare deadlines and funding levels before committing capture effort.

Official source

Each result links to the grant on Grants.gov (or the catalog's external portal URL). Always confirm requirements, amendments, and due dates on the agency's official posting before you draft a response.

When you are ready to respond, start New concept and upload the solicitation PDF or DOCX from the agency site.

In SoliContraX, a client is the company you are writing for — your own firm, a customer you support, or a prime/teaming entity. Clients are the organizational anchor for everything else in your workspace.

Client list

Open Clients from the dashboard tab or sidebar. Each row shows the client name, active pursuits, and recent activity. Click a client to open their profile.

Client profile

On the profile you will find:

• Overview — active proposals, opportunities, and concepts linked to this client.
• Knowledge Base — persistent company documents used across every bid (see Knowledge Base & uploads).
• Contact and notes — capture details your team uses across pursuits.

Upload capability statements, resumes, and past-performance narratives here before you chase a new RFP. The AI pulls from this library whenever you develop a concept or build a proposal for this client.

Creating clients

At intake, select an existing client or create a new one with a clear legal or trade name. You can add clients ahead of time from the Clients list so your Knowledge Base is ready when a solicitation lands.

SoliContrax separates two kinds of documents: the solicitation for a specific opportunity, and your client's Knowledge Base — the materials that describe who the offeror is. Understanding that split is the fastest way to get strong concepts and drafts.

The Knowledge Base

Each client in your workspace has a Knowledge Base on their profile page. This is where you store documents that apply across many bids: capability statements, corporate profiles, key personnel resumes, past-performance narratives, certifications, and similar company evidence. When you develop a concept or build a proposal, the AI reads these files to name the client correctly, cite real strengths, and weave in proof points — not generic filler.

Think of the Knowledge Base as your firm's briefing library. You upload once per client and reuse the same files on every new concept. The more complete it is before you chase an opportunity, the less time you spend re-uploading the same resumes on every intake.

What to upload when you start a concept

When you open New concept (intake), you attach files for this pursuit. Include the solicitation — RFP, RFQ, RFI, statement of work, or amendments — and any other files you want considered for this run. You can drop multiple files at once; SoliContrax scans them and identifies which document is the solicitation. Supporting files that are not the RFP are treated as additional context and can still inform the concept.

You may also reuse documents you uploaded on a prior opportunity. If you already built a Knowledge Base for the client, those files are available without re-uploading everything from scratch.

Prepare files the machine can read

The AI only works with text it can extract. A blurry scan or image-only PDF will stall concept generation or produce weak results. Run OCR on scanned documents and confirm you can select and search text in a PDF viewer before uploading. Descriptive filenames help your team and the model — for example, Section_M_Evaluation_Criteria.pdf or Amendment_02_Due_Date_Change.pdf.

If intake finishes with a message that no solicitation was found, the upload likely did not contain a recognizable RFP, or the PDF was not text-searchable. Fix the file and try again; you are not charged credits when no solicitation is detected.

A concept is your strategy for an opportunity before SoliContrax builds the full artifact — whether that is a GovCon proposal, a commercial business proposal, or a pitch deck.

Concept page layout

After intake completes, open the concept from your dashboard or the notification bell. The page includes:

• Strategy tabs — structured win concept or pitch narrative the production pipeline will follow.
• Brief panel — for business and pitch modes (buyer, problem, audience, etc.).
• Solicitation details — for Respond mode only (extracted RFP fields).
• Quality guardrails — business/investor/common-sense flags on business and pitch concepts.
• Chat — consultative refinement before and after approve (see Shaping the win concept in chat).
• Approve — on first approve, locks engagement mode and starts proposal or deck production. After that, Generate new proposal draft creates additional drafts from the current concept.

Refining strategy

Chat is for exploration: evaluation factors, risks, teaming, buyer pain, or investor narrative. Casual messages do not automatically rewrite the saved concept. When you want a change committed, give an explicit refinement directive — for example, “Refine pillar 2 to emphasize our CMMC-ready cybersecurity posture.”

No file uploads in concept chat — grounding is intake plus Client Knowledge Base only.

Approval and pipeline lock

When the concept reflects your team's direction, click Approve concept (or Generate pitch deck for pitch-only). On the first approve:

1. Sets pipeline_locked_at — you cannot change engagement type or deliverables on this opportunity.
2. Emits the correct production event:
   • Proposal deliverable → full draft build (kickOffProposal).
   • Pitch-only → deck build (buildPitchDeck).
   • Companion deck → proposal first, then deck after proposal is ready.

After production starts, concept chat stays open. Refine the concept, then use Generate new proposal draft to create another draft from the updated concept. Each re-approve bills separately and adds a new row on the opportunity's Proposals list. Wait for an in-progress draft to finish before starting another.

The approve button label branches: “Generate proposal draft” vs “Generate pitch deck” on first approve; “Generate new proposal draft” after the pipeline is locked.

Next steps by mode

Mode	After approve
Respond	Proposal page with compliance + PM report
Propose	Proposal page with Commercial readiness report
Pitch	Deck pending → slide preview + .pptx download

If generation fails, see Troubleshooting — usually file quality or credits.

After you approve a concept, SoliContraX builds a proposal — a structured draft aligned to the agency's outline. Open it from the dashboard, notifications, or the linked opportunity.

Proposal layout

The proposal page shows:

• Section navigation — jump to technical, management, past performance, and other RFP sections.
• Build progress — labels such as generating sections, running final editor, and compliance check while the draft completes.
• Draft Analysis — Program Manager Report and Compliance Review (see Draft Analysis & compliance).
• Export actions — PDF, Word, and Markdown (see Export deliverables).

Review workflow

Treat the draft as a strong first pass, not a submission-ready package. Your compliance lead should walk Open Items, verify page limits and formatting against the RFP, and confirm technical claims against your Knowledge Base.

Completion and archives

When internal review finishes, mark the proposal complete so it moves out of your active pipeline count. Archived proposals can be restored from Settings → Archives if you need to reference them later.

SoliContraX does not submit to agency portals. Export, finalize in Word if needed, and upload through the agency's system yourself.

When your draft is ready for internal review, open Draft Analysis on the proposal. The panel includes the Program Manager Report and the Compliance Review — an automated pass that compares your draft to requirements extracted from the solicitation. It is one of the most valuable checkpoints in SoliContraX — and one of the easiest to misuse if treated like a government sign-off.

What the score means

The compliance score summarizes how thoroughly the draft appears to address extracted requirements. It helps you prioritize where to look first. It is not a certification that the proposal is compliant, complete, or competitive. Evaluators will still apply judgment, and solicitations often contain nuances the model can miss or misread.

Use the score the way a capture manager uses a color-coded matrix: a signal for where to spend review time, not a substitute for review.

Working the open items

The Open Items list is the practical output. Each entry flags a gap, weak coverage, or an assertion that needs human verification. Treat it as a punch list for your proposal lead or compliance reviewer. Assign owners, resolve items in the draft or in your final Word export, and document decisions your team makes when you intentionally accept risk.

Low scores usually mean missing sections, thin past-performance evidence, or requirements that never made it from the RFP into the draft. Bridge those gaps manually. Do not assume the AI will close them on a second pass without your direction.

Your compliance lead still decides

AI is a strong drafter but not a contracting officer. Spot-check page counts, formatting rules, certified representations, and technical claims against the original solicitation and your Knowledge Base. If something in the report contradicts the RFP, trust the RFP. When in doubt, involve your compliance or contracts lead before you export and submit through the agency portal.

Long-running steps — concept generation, proposal drafting, compliance passes — continue in the background. The notification bell in the top navigation tells you when results are ready.

What triggers notifications

Common notification types include:

• Concept complete — your win concept is ready to review after intake.
• Proposal milestones — draft sections or the full build finished.
• Deadline reminders — upcoming due dates on tracked opportunities.

The list polls periodically while you are signed in, so new items appear without a full page refresh.

Using the panel

Click the bell to open the dropdown. Unread items show a badge count on the icon. Select an entry to navigate to the concept, proposal, or opportunity it references. Use Mark all read to clear the badge when you have caught up.

If you expect a notification and do not see one, open the record from your dashboard — the run may still be in progress or may have failed (see Troubleshooting).

When you archive a proposal, client, opportunity, or concept, it leaves your active dashboard but remains recoverable. Open Settings (/settings) to manage archived records.

Archive tabs

The Archives page has four tabs:

Tab	Contents
Proposals	Drafts and completed submissions you archived
Clients	Client profiles removed from the active list
Opportunities	Solicitations you closed out or archived
Concepts	Win concepts no longer in active refinement

Each row shows the title, archive date, and a Restore action.

Restoring records

Click Restore to return an item to your active workspace. Restored proposals and concepts reappear on the dashboard; restored clients become selectable again at intake.

Archiving is useful when a pursuit is cancelled or a client relationship ends but you may need the history later. For permanent deletion policies, see Data handling & privacy.

SoliContrax uses credits instead of a monthly subscription. You buy credits when you need them, spend them on AI work, and keep any balance you do not use. Credits do not expire.

What credits pay for

Credits cover AI work across all engagement types:

• Government Proposals — concept generation, solicitation analysis, full proposal drafting, compliance review, and chat
• Business Plans — outline generation, section drafting, readiness assessment, and refinement
• Presentation Decks — variant-specific generation (pitch, vision, product demo, investor briefing, government briefing), slide content, and quality assessment

Usage is deducted automatically from your balance as the system runs; you are not billed per token on your invoice. Top up when your balance is low or before starting new work after a long run.

New organizations receive starter credits so you can try intake and concept generation before purchasing more. When those run low, you will see warnings in the app before a run is blocked.

Checking your balance

Your current balance appears in the top navigation. For a full purchase flow and package options, open Buy credits from the menu or go to /billing. The page shows how many credits you have and the available packages. After checkout, credits are added automatically; a successful return shows a confirmation message.

If a run fails with an insufficient-credits error, top up and retry the action. Failed runs that never completed generally do not consume credits for that action.

Purchasing and receipts

Checkout is handled through Stripe. Choose a package on the billing page and complete payment in the secure checkout window. You do not need a subscription to continue using the app between purchases.

Receipts and payment history are available from Stripe for the email used at checkout. If your finance team needs a specific company name or tax ID on invoices, enter that information during checkout when Stripe prompts for billing details. For promo codes offered by SoliContrax, use the redemption field on the billing page; each code can typically be used once per organization.

In the high-stakes world of government contracting, the gap between a "compliant" draft and a "winning" proposal is often a matter of preparation. SoliContrax is designed to be your force multiplier, but like any expert consultant, its effectiveness is dictated by the quality of the brief you provide. To master the art of the AI-assisted proposal, you must move beyond simply "uploading files" and begin "curating a narrative."

The Foundation: Curating Your Workspace

Before you hit Develop Concept, remember that the AI exists within a vacuum—your workspace. It knows nothing of your corporate history, your unique discriminators, or your past successes unless you provide them.

Treat your input phase as a mission briefing. Use clean, searchable PDFs and provide descriptive filenames like Amendment_03_Updates.pdf or Section_M_Evaluation_Criteria.pdf. If you are working with a scan, run an OCR pass first; if the machine cannot read the text, it cannot build your strategy. Finally, populate your client’s Knowledge Base with your capability statements, resumes, and past performance write-ups. The more you feed the system now, the more grounded and persuasive your final draft will be.

The Strategy: Chatting vs. Shaping

When you enter the Concept phase, you are the pilot, and the AI is your navigator. Use Concept Chat freely to probe the solicitation—ask it where the risks lie or how the evaluation factors align with your firm’s strengths.

However, distinguish between exploration and execution. Casual conversation in the chat does not change the core strategy. If you want a pivot, be explicit: “Refine win theme 2 to emphasize our CMMC-ready cybersecurity posture.” By giving clear, directive commands, you evolve the concept from a generic draft into a tailored, competitive narrative.

The Human-in-the-Loop Requirement

Once the draft is generated, the most critical phase begins: the human review. Open Draft Analysis and treat the Compliance Review not as a scorecard, but as a roadmap of open items that require your expert attention.

AI is an exceptional drafter, but it is not a compliance officer. It can occasionally overstate coverage or miss the nuance of a government requirement. You—or your compliance lead—must perform a "spot-check" against the source documents. Verify the page counts, confirm the technical assertions against your actual service delivery, and ensure the budget narrative resonates with your firm's internal pricing strategy.

The Final Boundary

Always be clear with your team regarding where the machine ends and the professionals begin:

• The AI drafts; the human verifies.
• The AI explores; the human decides.
• The AI builds the document; the human manages the relationship and the portal submission.

By maintaining this distinction, you ensure that SoliContrax handles the heavy lifting of drafting, while your team remains the architect of the win. When you export that final PDF, it shouldn't just be a collection of generated text—it should be a polished, human-verified strategy that reflects your firm's true competitive advantage.

Disclaimer: This guide is intended to streamline your workflow and does not replace legal, financial, or contracting counsel. Final accountability for the integrity and submission of every proposal rests with your team.

This guide covers the Respond path (government solicitation). For commercial briefs without an RFP, see Business proposal from a concept.

1. Prepare the client and files

1. Open Clients and confirm the offeror exists, or create a new client.
2. Upload Knowledge Base documents on the client profile — capabilities, resumes, past performance.
3. Confirm the solicitation PDF or DOCX is text-searchable (run OCR on scans).

See Clients and System requirements.

2. Start intake (Respond)

1. Click New concept in the sidebar.
2. Keep Solicitation selected (default).
3. Select the Client (required).
4. Upload the solicitation and any additional KB files for this pursuit — or reuse an existing solicitation / grant.
5. Add capture notes (evaluation priorities, teaming, contract type).
6. Optionally check Include companion slide deck for a .pptx after the proposal is ready.
7. Click Develop concept.

If no solicitation is found, fix your upload — you are not charged. See Upload a solicitation.

3. Refine the win concept

1. Open the concept when notified (or from the dashboard).
2. Review Strategy, Teaming, and Pillar tabs.
3. Read any quality guardrails on business/pitch concepts (N/A for pure solicitation).
4. Use chat to pressure-test the solicitation; commit changes with explicit refinement directives.
5. When strategy is set, click Approve concept — this locks the pipeline.

See Concepts and Shaping the win concept in chat.

4. Review the draft

1. Open the proposal when the build completes.
2. Walk sections against the RFP outline (Respond) or executive structure (Propose).
3. Respond: open Draft Analysis — Program Manager Report and Compliance Review.
4. Propose: open Commercial readiness — clarity, evidence, alignment.
5. Work open items as a team punch list; verify claims against source documents.

See Proposals.

5. Export and submit

1. Choose PDF, Word, or Markdown export.
2. Apply your team's template, tracked changes, and final formatting in Word if needed.
3. Submit through the agency portal yourself — SoliContraX does not submit on your behalf.

See Export deliverables.

Companion deck (optional)

If you checked the companion deck at intake, the proposal finishes first. A companion panel on the proposal page tracks deck build progress. Download .pptx from the proposal page (?view=deck) or the Pitch decks dashboard tab.

Propose is SoliContrax's path for commercial business proposals — partnerships, SOWs, investor memos, and buyer-facing offers that are not tied to a government solicitation.

When to use Propose

Use Business proposal at intake when:

• You have a concept or brief, not an RFP.
• The buyer is a company, partner, or executive — not a federal agency portal.
• You want a flexible executive format instead of Section L/M compliance.

Government solicitations and grants stay under Respond (Solicitation tab). Slide-only work uses Pitch.

Step 1 — Prepare the client

1. Open Clients and select or create the offeror.
2. Upload Knowledge Base documents — capabilities, case studies, team bios, pricing context.
3. Strong KB content produces drafts that cite real evidence instead of generic filler.

See Clients.

Step 2 — Intake (Business proposal)

1. Click New concept in the sidebar.
2. Select Business proposal at the top of intake.
3. Choose the Client (required).
4. Describe your concept — problem, solution angle, differentiation, or rough pitch.
5. Optionally fill Buyer (target company or decision-maker).
6. Optionally check Include companion slide deck if you also need a .pptx after the proposal is ready.
7. Click Develop concept.

No solicitation upload is required. You are not charged if intake validation fails.

Step 3 — Refine the concept

1. Open the concept from Actives or your dashboard.
2. Review Brief and strategy tabs.
3. Read quality guardrails — business sense, investor sense, and common-sense flags surface thin briefs before you commit credits.
4. Use chat to explore; give explicit refinement directives to save changes.
5. When strategy is set, click Approve concept to lock the pipeline and start the draft.

After approval, concept chat is read-only. You cannot pivot to Solicitation or Pitch without starting a new opportunity.

Step 4 — Review the business draft

1. Open the proposal when the build completes (notification bell or dashboard).
2. Walk sections — executive summary, problem, solution, team, timeline, investment.
3. Open Commercial readiness — strengths, gaps, misalignments, and improvement suggestions.
4. Export PDF with the Business Proposal cover profile.

GovCon Draft Analysis and compliance matrix are hidden for business proposals.

Step 5 — Companion deck (optional)

If you checked the companion deck at intake:

1. The proposal finishes first.
2. A Companion deck panel appears on the proposal page while the deck builds.
3. When ready, preview slides and download .pptx from the proposal page or the Pitch decks dashboard tab.

The proposal PDF remains available even if deck rendering fails.

Credits

All LLM steps — concept generation, chat, section writing, and reports — debit credits from actual token usage. There is no per-artifact flat fee.

See Buying credits and the platform credit billing spec.

Uploading the solicitation correctly is the first gate in every pursuit. This workflow covers intake file attachment — for ongoing company documents, see Knowledge Base & uploads.

At intake

1. Click New concept and select a client.
2. In the upload area, add:
   • The solicitation — RFP, RFQ, RFI, SOW, or combined package.
   • Amendments — with filenames like Amendment_01_Due_Date.pdf.
   • Optional context — pursuit-specific attachments not stored in the Knowledge Base.
3. Add capture notes describing priorities, strengths, or teaming constraints.
4. Click Develop concept.

SoliContraX scans all uploads and classifies which file is the solicitation. Other files become supporting context for the concept.

File quality checklist

Before you upload:

• PDF or DOCX format
• Text is selectable in a PDF viewer (OCR completed for scans)
• Filename describes the document
• Latest amendments included

When no solicitation is found

You are redirected to an error state explaining that a solicitation is required. Credits are not charged.

Common fixes:

• The RFP was missing from the upload set.
• The file was a non-searchable scan — run OCR and re-upload.
• The document was not recognizable as a solicitation — confirm you uploaded the correct file.

Return to intake, replace or add files, and click Develop concept again.

After SoliContrax generates your initial win concept, the chat panel is your strategist on call. Use it to pressure-test the solicitation: evaluation factors, compliance risks, teaming posture, and whether your win themes match what the agency cares about. The answers draw only from files in your workspace — not from the open internet.

Exploring vs. shaping

There is an important distinction between exploring and shaping. When you ask a question or brainstorm aloud, the reply helps you think; it does not automatically rewrite the concept saved in the Strategy, Teaming, and Pillar tabs. That is intentional. You stay in control of what becomes official strategy.

When you are ready to change the saved concept, give an explicit refinement directive. Tell the system what to change and how. For example: “Refine win theme 2 to emphasize our CMMC-ready cybersecurity posture” or “Update teaming to name Acme Defense as our cybersecurity sub and set posture to prime with specialty sub.” The model applies that instruction to the structured concept and persists it for drafting.

Making refinements stick

Strong directives name the element (a win theme, teaming partner, pillar, or solution angle), state the desired outcome, and stay tied to evidence you can support in the Knowledge Base. Vague prompts like “make it better” are harder to apply consistently.

After a refinement, review all three tabs. Teaming changes should appear in rationale and suggested partner types; strategy changes should flow through proposed solution and alignment. When the concept reflects your capture call, click Approve concept to start the full proposal build.

When your team is satisfied with the draft (or ready for redlines), export from the proposal page.

Export formats

Format	Best for
PDF	Print-ready review, portal uploads that require PDF
Word (.docx)	Tracked changes, corporate templates, evaluator-friendly edits
Markdown	Internal reuse, section snippets, downstream tooling

Each export consumes credits. Check your balance in the header or on Buy credits if you see an insufficient-credits message.

Recommended final pass

Before agency submission:

1. Run through Draft Analysis open items one last time.
2. Confirm page counts, font requirements, and file size limits in the RFP.
3. In Word, apply your team's styles, headers, and volume dividers.
4. Have compliance or contracts review certified representations and pricing attachments (prepared outside SoliContraX if required).

Submission

Export the final package and upload through the agency's portal (SAM.gov, Grants.gov, state system, etc.). SoliContraX does not e-sign or transmit proposals on your behalf.

For export errors or blank sections, see Troubleshooting.

SoliContraX is built around a simple rule: the AI only reads what you upload. It does not browse the internet, pull from public databases, or mix your files with another customer's workspace.

What you upload

Two document types matter:

• Solicitations — RFPs, RFQs, amendments, and statements of work for a specific opportunity.
• Knowledge Base — company materials tied to a client: capabilities, resumes, past performance, certifications.

Concepts, drafts, and compliance reports are generated from those files plus capture notes you enter at intake. If information is not in your workspace, the model cannot cite it.

Your workspace

Each account has its own workspace. Opportunities, concepts, proposals, clients, and uploaded files belong to that workspace. Archive or delete items you no longer need from the proposal, client, or Archives settings views.

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