The State of Experience Data in Proposals 2026

The State of Experience Data in Proposals 2026 is an independent study by stargazy, sponsored by Flowcase, of 429 proposal, marketing and business development professionals at architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) and professional services firms. It measures how firms store, find and reuse the past experience that wins them work, and what happens to a pursuit when that proof can't be found before the deadline.

What did the survey find?

• The invisible no-bid. About half of respondents say their firm has declined to bid because it could not demonstrate sufficient relevant experience.

• What wins. Relevant past experience is the top win factor, cited by 64% of respondents, ahead of relationships at 46%.

• The bottleneck. Finding and compiling relevant past experience is the single biggest challenge in preparing bids, named by 26% of respondents.

• Storage. Only 12% say their firm keeps proposal content in a structured, queryable database. About 60% say it lives in documents, PDFs or no consistent system.

• The confidence gap. Firm leaders are 20 points more confident than their proposal and marketing teams that relevant experience can be found when a bid demands it, at 78% against 58%.

• AI readiness. 56% of proposal teams use or are piloting AI, while 46% lack confidence that their proposal data is clean enough to give AI accurate inputs. About half of AI users have seen inaccurate or fabricated proposal content they attribute to unreliable source material.

• Win rate. 26% of respondents say their firm does not track its win rate.

What is the invisible no-bid?

The invisible no-bid is an RFP a firm declines because it cannot prove experience it has. A lost proposal gets a debrief and a mention in a CRM. A declined one is usually recorded as sensible go/no-go discipline, so the revenue it would have brought is never traced back to the reason it went. stargazy found no published study that has measured it before.

How do firms know if their experience data is ready?

The report introduces the experience data maturity model, which places a firm at one of four levels, from Scattered to Governed, based on where its proposal content lives and who is accountable for keeping it current. It closes with four questions any firm can answer today to find its level, with no dataset needed.

"When I can quickly find the project experience, resumes, and other content I need, that time goes right back into personalizing the submission for the client and pursuit." ✹ Olivia Haselwood, Freelance AEC Proposal Specialist, Haselwood Marketing

Who is this report for?

The report is written for proposal, marketing and business development leaders and firm principals in AEC and professional services who are deciding where to invest in proposal capability over the next 12 months. It is also for anyone checking whether their content is ready to support the AI tools their team is already using.

How was the research conducted?

stargazy surveyed 429 proposal, marketing and business development professionals in 2026 using a 20-question instrument, with conditional logic routing non-adopters of AI past the AI questions. The margin of error is about ±4.7 points at 95% confidence. All findings are reported at respondent level. stargazy wrote the questions and retained full editorial control over the analysis.

How to cite this research

stargazy and Flowcase, The State of Experience Data in Proposals 2026 (survey of 429 proposal, marketing and business development professionals). You are welcome to quote any finding on this page with that attribution.

About

stargazy is the win intelligence company, an independent analyst firm covering the capture, bid and proposal industry. We measure why teams win and lose competitive RFPs across 1,000+ organizations, evaluate the software vendor landscape annually, and certify proposal professionals against evidence of what actually wins. Sponsorship is disclosed and never buys coverage.

Flowcase is the system of record for people and project experience. Every CV and project record is held as structured data, and the people who own each record keep it current. Firms like Ramboll, WSP, Sweco and WSB Engineers use Flowcase to prove they have the experience to win the bid.