estimating-price-to-winlisted

# Estimating Price-to-Win Estimate the price the bid has to reach to win — built from the customer's budget and competitors' likely pricing, not from the team's own cost. Price-to-win (PTW) and a bottom-up cost estimate answer different questions. The cost estimate says what the work *costs the team*. PTW says what the customer is *willing and likely to pay the winner*. When those two numbers differ, PTW analysis finds the levers that close the gap — or proves the bid cannot be won profitably. ## When to use this skill Use this skill during capture, after a competitive assessment exists, to establish the price target that shapes the win strategy and, later, the cost volume. Re-run it when the competitive picture or budget signals change, and again when the RFP clarifies the contract type, evaluation weighting, and CLIN structure. This skill estimates the *target*. It does not build the bottom-up cost estimate or write the cost volume narrative — that is `narrating-cost-volumes`. It hands the target to that skill and to `developing-win-strategy`. ## Inputs **Preferred upstream artifacts:** - `00-opportunity-profile.md`: contract type, estimated value, period of performance, scope. - `02-capture-plan.md`: customer budget signals and acquisition history. - `03-competitive-assessment.md`: the competitors and their assessed price postures and cost structures. PTW depends heavily on this; run `analyzing-competitors` first if it is missing. **Without the competitive assessmen