[zero_intp]

My first job in the '80s was doing RFI/RFP shotgunning for a mom & pop (my mom & pop) defense consulting firm out of the GSA register. We would essentially cold-respond to everything in our domain. From that experience I learned that there were some genuine requests with no fix in.

[pc86]

There definitely are! However if it's an established contract (most of my experience) or a big contract, the odds of it going to an unknown entity are slim to none. But it's certainly possible to break into it as a small unknown firm, you just have to start by picking up the scraps.

[avn2109]

This is really interesting and I would be very keen to hear more about it, like a blog post or something. I bet a lot of other people would be interested too.

[scrumper]

Interesting. My experience is all commercial, not government. Pleased to hear there was some good behavior (at least in defense in the '80s!)