Helping Burke CGI compete for more work

An RFP is an opportunity to win the next project

Every RFP gives Burke CGI an opportunity to show a prospective client how the team would approach their project. A good response takes experience, an understanding of that client, and preparation for the conversations that follow. When production takes 30–36 hours, that effort shapes how many opportunities the team can pursue.

Our work with Gitana Cafasso focused on helping Burke respond to suitable opportunities more promptly and give each client a more considered response. We built an AI RFP agent around that work, with Gitana involved throughout the process.

Getting to know how Burke prepares a response

Our team starts by getting to know the people doing the work. With Gitana, that meant understanding how the implementation plan comes together, where executive staff contribute, and what makes one client’s requirements different from another’s.

Through that diagnostic work, we examined which steps an agent could prepare and which decisions needed to stay with the team. We wanted to make Burke’s experience easier to apply across a response, while reducing the repeated preparation that limited how much work the team could take on.

An agent that works alongside Gitana

Human oversight was important to both Gitana and Ruby. We built the agent to prepare the response in stages, presenting information and coming back to her for review. It asks for her thoughts, uses her feedback to refine the material, and carries that direction into the next step.

Gitana can bring in what she knows about the project, explain where an answer needs more detail, and guide how Burke’s approach is presented. The agent handles more of the preparation while she directs the decisions that make the response useful.

What Burke is seeing since handoff

Since handoff, RFP production has moved from 30–36 hours to about 10–12 hours, a reduction of approximately 66% in production time. Executive staff time spent drafting the implementation plan has also moved from 8–10 hours to 3–4 hours.

More capacity to pursue the right work

The difference matters when the next RFP comes in. A response requiring about 10–12 hours of production leaves Burke better placed to consider another suitable pursuit alongside the work already underway. Each additional pursuit is another opportunity to win a project.

Gitana also reported fewer drafting overtime hours and more time for interview and project-specific preparation. Burke can put that capacity into additional responses, make a proposal more specific to its client, or prepare the team to explain its approach in the interview.

A response that speaks to the client

Customization helps the prospective client understand how Burke would approach their particular project. More room to develop that response, followed by better preparation for the interview, gives the team a stronger opportunity to explain why it is the right fit. That is where a faster preparation process can contribute to a more competitive pursuit.

The experience that stays with the team

The process still needs people who understand Burke and the construction industry. Gitana and the senior team bring the experience to judge whether an approach makes sense, whether a commitment is realistic, and what a client needs to hear. The agent can prepare material, but those decisions depend on the people responsible for the work.

That is why senior involvement remains part of the implementation plan, even as drafting takes less time. Resumes and other supporting information also remain part of putting the response together. Our goal is to help the team bring its experience to more opportunities through a process it can direct and review.

What could your team pursue with a better process?

At Ruby, we enjoy getting to know the people behind a business and understanding what they want to accomplish. If preparing proposals is limiting the work your team can pursue, we’d be glad to learn how the process works today and explore what a more capable approach could make possible.