Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. Generally, the described techniques provide for efficiently transmitting data and control information in a first RACH message to a base station as part of a two-step RACH procedure. In particular, rather than or in addition to transmitting data and control information in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in the first RACH message, a user equipment (UE) may transmit the data and control information along with a RACH preamble in a RACH occasion in the first RACH message (e.g., when the number of bytes of data or control information to be transmitted is low). Using these techniques, in some instances, the UE may transmit the data and control information in a first RACH message without transmitting the PUSCH, and the overhead associated with transmitting the PUSCH may be eliminated.