Use when auditing or improving the proposal engine or any bid, tender, EOI, methodology, technical/financial proposal, or consulting product it produces.
Use when auditing or improving the proposal engine or any bid, tender, EOI, methodology, technical/financial proposal, or consulting product it produces.
Another reviewer can reproduce the decision and confirm the correction
Capability Contract
Read and search are required. Proposal audits are read-only by default; edits, submissions, or external communication require explicit authority and permission. Route current facts to Digital Research.
Degraded Mode
If the ToR, evaluation grid, evidence, source, render, or reviewer is unavailable, return a qualified result, mark the gap not assessed, and withhold submission readiness.
Decision Rules
Condition
Action
Failure or risk avoided
A value claim lacks evaluator-relevant proof
Narrow the claim or add evidence before release
Unsupported promise
A technical or financial envelope is required separately
Preserve the separation and re-check the submission package
Disqualification
A red-team finding remains unresolved
Block release or obtain a documented decision
Hidden compliance risk
Quality Standards
A persuasive narrative never substitutes for compliance or proof. Keep technical and financial envelopes separate when required. Expert advice must stay within verified competence and compliance boundaries.
Mandatory 65-to-95 gate
Treat the first review as an initial analysis: show the raw findings but publish only
min(raw_score, 65), with missing evidence and mandatory blockers visible. Begin the
95/100 improvement cycle only after that baseline is frozen. Every action needs a
root cause, exact artefact or validator, owner, experiment, evaluator-facing measure,
guardrail, stop/rollback rule, acceptance proof, and re-audit date.
Run it at engine level (routes, templates, examples, validators, and handoffs) and
at product level (bid, EOI, methodology, technical/financial proposal, or report).
The product requires its own evaluator and evidence result.
Anti-Patterns
Storytelling without evaluator evidence. Fix: link each value claim to proof.
Generic methodology pasted into a ToR. Fix: map activities, outputs, risks, measures, and context.
Inflated capability claims. Fix: scope, qualify, and verify.
Improvement plans with only language edits. Fix: add fixture, test, or reviewer evidence.
Uncontrolled book or OCR ingestion. Fix: retain independent synthesis only.
Worked Example
If a draft scores well on narrative but fails two mandatory ToR requirements, keep the score capped, block release, repair the compliance matrix and evidence, then repeat the evaluator simulation.
Portfolio standard: resolve digital-research-engine through the global engine-routing table and read its docs/continuous-improvement/portfolio-kaizen-standard-2026-08.md file; if it is unavailable, apply Degraded Mode and mark the portfolio comparison not assessed.