Your answer would be correct, at least in my experience... the amount of times my DARPA RFP's have been shot down by some minor box that didn't get ticked in the RFP process is a bit absurd. We even had a dedicated contract officer who used to work there to help with the process.
>Also not checking all the boxes during the RFP process sends a signal about your ability to do so once the work is awarded.
A false signal that people would be wise to ignore. There are a multitude of examples showing that companies that learn how to check all the right RFP boxes pay no mind to checking any of the 'do a good job and product a good product' boxes. It shows they are good at checking only the boxes that make them money, and the current process is that doing a good job is not a box one's pay depends upon.
Is there any similar evidence that people who fail to check all the RFP boxes also fail to check the "do a good job and deliver a good product" boxes?