Responding to RFP's are a way of life for government contractors. Although they may at times appear overly long and difficult to respond to, it's nothing more than a want ad. The client (government agency) wants a specific job done and asks who can do it and for how much. Think about it: long gone are the days of wants ads in the paper looking for someone with generic job skills, like, "Wanted: Computer worker for engineering firm." Now want ads are more like, "Wanted: Computer engineer for engineering firm. Must be proficient in C+, Java..., ad infinitum" Well, just like the personal job market, the corporate job market. (Don't know which is the chicken and which the egg.) Instead of agencies looking for some company to manage a call center to help folks, now they want some company to create a manage a virtual tier 2 and tier 3 help desk based on ITIL concepts and manage by someone with a PMI, PMP certification, as well as being a SME.