Question extraction
Question extraction is the process of pulling every requirement, question, and mandatory instruction out of a solicitation — including those embedded in tables, appendices, and attachments — into a structured, answerable list that nothing escapes.
Extraction is the response process's foundation and its classic failure point: requirements hide in compliance tables, instruction sections, referenced attachments, and 'shall' statements mid-paragraph, and any one missed can void an otherwise superior proposal. Manual extraction is hours of close reading transcribed into spreadsheets; automated extraction parses the source documents into a requirement tree — preserving hierarchy, capturing dependencies between items, and classifying which need substantive answers versus forms versus human-only actions. The structured output then powers everything downstream: the compliance matrix, work assignment, dependency-ordered answering, and coverage verification against the deadline. Extraction quality caps response quality; nothing recovered later fixes a requirement never seen.
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