An 8-sheet, formula-driven go/no-go workbook. Answer seven weighted questions with dropdowns, and the verdict sheet returns BID, LOADED MARKUP, STRATEGIC ONLY, or NO-BID — with hard-kill rules, a monthly AR cash model, break-even math, and a pursuit log that builds your hit-rate curve. No email gate, no sign-up.
Download the template (.xlsx)Same decision engine as our interactive web scorecard, built for the estimators who live in Excel. Orange-bordered cells are inputs; everything else calculates.
The five-minute workflow, the cell legend, the four decision bands, and the three hard-kill rules — so anyone on the precon desk can run it without training.
Owner, GC, delivery method, contract value, duration, retention %, pay terms, and bidder count. These inputs drive the cash model and the scorecard hints.
Backlog, current hit rate, estimating cost per bid, expected margin, working capital. Computes your break-even hit rate and auto-calibrates the decision thresholds (45/32/20 standard, 50/38/25 full shop, 40/28/17 thin pipeline).
Straight-line billing, receipts lagged by your real pay terms, retention held. Finds the peak outstanding AR, compares it to working capital, and suggests the Q3 score. The month you'd be carrying the most unpaid work, on one chart.
Pay history, schedule fit, AR exposure (3x weight); personnel, scope clarity, retention terms (2x); competitive field (1x). Every answer is a dropdown with plain-language options — no scoring debates. 63 points maximum.
Color-coded verdict with the reason line, red-flag checklist, points to the next band, estimated win probability, expected dollar value of bidding, and an improvement-levers table showing which term to renegotiate before you decline.
Log every pursuit with its score and outcome. Hit rate overall and by score band (45+, 32–44, 20–31) calculates itself — after two quarters you have an empirical curve that proves the rubric.
Healthy ranges from FMI and CFMA data: electrical 20–30%, drywall 25–35%, steel 15–25%, hard-bid GC 10–15%, negotiated 40–60% — with the investigate-above and investigate-below lines.
Fill the Project Brief and Shop Calibration the day the invitation arrives. The whole pass takes five minutes — and it must happen before a single takeoff hour is spent, or sunk-cost bias adds a point to every answer.
Answer the seven dropdowns on the Scorecard (the cash model pre-suggests Q3, the bidder count pre-suggests Q7), then read the Verdict sheet: the decision, the red flags, and the cheapest lever to the next band.
Bid it, load it, or decline it — a no-bid gets a no-bid letter within 48 hours. Either way, log the pursuit. The hit-rate-by-band stats turn the rubric into proof.
Straight from the method in The 7-Question Bid/No-Bid Scorecard:
Eight sheets, 190+ live formulas, zero email gates. Score your next pursuit before the takeoff starts.
Download the template (.xlsx)