As we step into FY26 planning, senior leaders across GovCon are asking the same question: Can generative AI meaningfully impact capture strategy, or is it just another tech buzzword?

The answer: it depends on how – and where – you apply it.

Generative AI is showing real promise in some capture activities, but it also has limitations that senior leaders need to understand before weaving it into strategy. Let’s break down what’s working, what isn’t, and where to place your bets in the year ahead.

What Works: Where Generative AI Adds Value

1. Drafting First-Cut Content

AI tools can quickly generate outlines, boilerplate text, or a first draft of capture documents. For busy marketing and BD teams, this saves hours on low-value writing, freeing staff to refine and tailor narratives.

Leader Takeaway: Use AI for speed, not final copy. Treat it like a junior writer who can get you to 60% faster.

2. Market & Opportunity Summaries

Generative AI excels at parsing large amounts of data and spitting out clear summaries. From opportunity pipelines to agency reports, AI can create digestible insights for executives who don’t have time to read 100-page documents.

Leader Takeaway: Direct AI toward synthesis, not sourcing. It can’t replace good intel collection, but it can make intel usable.

3. Proposal Formatting & Compliance Checks

While not flawless, AI-powered tools can highlight gaps against RFP requirements, flag inconsistent phrasing, and even suggest structure improvements.

Leader Takeaway: Think of AI here as a second set of eyes – a compliance assistant that doesn’t get tired at 2 a.m.

What Doesn’t Work (Yet)

1. Win Themes & Differentiation

AI struggles to generate compelling, human-centered win themes. It can mimic language but not the nuance of your unique positioning, customer pain points, or competitive intelligence.

Leader Takeaway: Messaging still requires leadership judgment. Don’t outsource the most strategic part of your capture process.

2. Sensitive or Proprietary Data

Feeding sensitive capture intel into AI systems can expose compliance and security risks, especially with public models. Missteps here can jeopardize both trust and contracts.

Leader Takeaway: Use AI tools with clear data governance policies, or keep high-value intel out of the AI loop entirely.

3. Complex Pricing & Strategy Decisions

Generative AI can’t yet model pricing strategies or competitor reactions in a meaningful way. It doesn’t understand risk appetite, agency politics, or shifting priorities.

Leader Takeaway: Senior leaders must still own competitive positioning and pricing – these are judgment calls, not automation tasks.

Striking the Right Balance in FY26

For senior leaders, the real question isn’t “Will AI replace capture?” It’s “Where can AI create leverage without introducing risk?”

• Adopt AI for repetitive, time-consuming tasks: drafting, summarizing, compliance checks.
• Reserve human expertise for strategy: win themes, relationships, pricing, and positioning.
• Invest in training: Teach teams to become AI editors and curators, not passive consumers of machine text.
  

The Bottom Line

Generative AI won’t win contracts for you. But it can give your capture and marketing teams more time to focus on the work that does – building trust with agencies, crafting compelling win themes, and shaping strategy.

The leaders who figure out this balance in FY26 will not only save time – they’ll sharpen their competitive edge.