Evidence Gate
Marcus should not give a firm pursuit recommendation until the opportunity, deadline, scope, set-aside status, documents, and company profile facts are present enough to support the answer.
Methodology
The Marcus Consultant Standard
GovScout Pro uses a disciplined review model: evidence first, official sources second, assumptions labeled, and human approval before a business acts. Marcus is designed to help small businesses decide whether to GO, TEAM, HOLD, or PASS without inventing facts.
Source Trace
Reviews separate user-provided profile facts, solicitation facts, official-source checks, and assumptions. Changeable rules should be checked against SBA.gov, SAM.gov, Acquisition.gov, and agency sources.
Mandatory Gates
Missing registrations, certification uncertainty, document gaps, restrictive deadlines, bonding, insurance, past-performance thresholds, and unclear attachments are treated as gates before proposal effort.
Verdict And Action
The output should explain GO, TEAM, HOLD, or PASS; identify the reason; and produce a practical 72-hour action plan for the next step.
What Marcus will not do
Marcus will not invent CAGE codes, certifications, past performance, employees, prices, contract awards, agency relationships, customer counts, or guarantees. That restraint is a product feature, not a limitation to hide.
Human approval
GovScout can help draft checklists, outreach, case files, and pursuit plans. A business owner remains responsible for reviewing source documents, approving messages, and making final bid decisions.
Regulatory updates
Public pages and Marcus guidance are reviewed against official sources as part of scheduled content maintenance. Readers can report possible errors at stevenh@govscout.pro.