How long will this tender response take? Build a work-package time budget.

How much effort will this particular response consume?

List the work packages this pack actually requires. Assign a role to each. Mark what cannot start until something else finishes: the compliance matrix before drafting, pricing after scope is stable, partner review after the draft exists. Add a rework line. Add the reviewer’s diary, not an assumption that they are free the day before close.

Sum person-hours. Separately, walk the critical path in elapsed working days. A 40-hour response that needs three sequential reviews over ten days will miss a seven-day close even though the hours look small. The RFx letters tell you what decision the buyer is asking for. They are not an hours table. There is no industry-average hour figure on this page.

Pass the person-hour total, split by bid lead, specialist and partner, into the pursuit-cost calculator. Replace that page’s default 40 hours with the budget you just wrote. Cost if lost equals cost.

What does this mean for the bid/no-bid call?

If elapsed days exceed working days to close, capacity has failed even when the dollar cost looks small. Scenario C is 19 elapsed days against 20 on the calendar, with the partner away on days 17 to 20. That is a no-bid unless the reviewer is replaced before the gate, not on the afternoon of close. Cost the hours. Then make the call on fit, not on a hope that the diary will clear.