Building a Competitive Edge with Past Performance
You’ve identified an opportunity to expand your company’s presence in the world of government contracting. You set your goals, you secure internal approvals, and you’re eager to start writing your proposal. Whether your company is a seasoned expert in the field, or you are branching out in adjacent areas, one power tool can help you stand out: Past Performance.
When delving into the world of government contracting, one of the most powerful tools at your disposal to stand out from the crowd is Past Performance. It’s more than just a list of past projects; it’s a demonstration of:
- Confidence from prior clients or agencies you have supported.
- Your company’s ability to meet and exceed needs and requirements.
- Consistent delivery of quality customer satisfaction.
- Expertise in multiple fields, agencies, or private sector collaborations.
Why Past Performance Matters
Well, think about it, would you hire an interior design firm to build the foundation for your new building? Probably not. But you might consider a company that has recent experience building a complex commercial building with stunning results. Similarly, agencies look for evidence that your company has successfully tackled similar challenges, adhered to compliance standards, and worked within comparable budgets. As highlighted in the blog “How to Build a Long-Term Strategy for Winning Government Contracts,” mastering compliance and showcasing capabilities aligned with agency needs is key to standing out in a competitive landscape. It’s the proof that you have successfully navigated complex projects, and it shows that you can deliver results that align with the client’s goals. Government agencies mostly want to see that you have experience handling similar challenges, working within similar budgets, and adhering to strict compliance and deadlines.
Even if you’re venturing into a new field, you can still demonstrate value through related experience, resourcefulness, and the ability to assemble the right team to deliver exceptional results. Past performance isn’t just what you did—it’s about how well you did it.
Crafting a Winning Past Performance Section.
A well-crafted Past Performance section should not just show what you’ve done (that’s around the halfway point). A well-planned Proposal Outline for the Past Performance Section should guide your writing to go beyond just listing projects. This section should demonstrate performance outcomes and impact. Address these questions:
- Did you meet or exceed customer expectations?
- Have you earned outstanding ratings on your performance assessments?
- Can you provide multiple Past Performance Questionnaires (PPQs) that reflect consistent excellence?
Your work will speak for itself, so you need to value and nurture all contracts – small or large – as they can prove invaluable in future proposals.
The Often Overlooked: Risk Management
Agencies know that proposals often sound fantastic during pitching, but real-world challenges arise. Including a Risk Management section demonstrates your ability to handle and overcome obstacles. It’s the same as that age old question during interviews “What is your biggest weakness/flaw?” Nobody likes to answer it and it’s tough. This is where you get real. And this is where you might stand out from the rest. Highlight your adaptability:
- Did you overcome budget cuts?
- Were you able to provide additional surge support?
- Were you able to identify and solve a complex problem before project impact?
Not everything needs to be a failure you had to endured, it can also be how you identified that potential obstacle and swerved your way around it. Projects can be messy; the evaluators know that not everything can be smooth sailing all the time. Acknowledging challenges and showing how you navigated them adds authenticity and positions your company as a reliable partner.
Leveraging Transferable Skills
Your past performance doesn’t need to align perfectly with the contract’s scope. Even if the previous work doesn’t directly match the new contract’s scope, it’s still valuable. Highlight transferable skills to show your flexibility and adaptability. For example, your experience in program or staff management can be highly relevant to many types of contracts, even if they aren’t identical in scope. Is your company an expert in designing websites with Adobe Experience Manager? If the RFP states that you must use HTML5, Java or Drupal, you are close to delivering the final product, the language may change, but have you successfully delivered on great websites in the past? That counts!
These transferable skills show your flexibility and ability to adapt, which is crucial when responding to a diverse range of government needs. In the future you may even offer to change the website’s backend to improve on things the agency hadn’t accounted for.
(More > Less) The Power of Multiple Examples
When you do not have direct experience for a specific project, provide relevant or similar examples. The more examples you can provide, the better. This not only shows that you have experience with various projects, but it also proves your capacity to handle multiple contracts simultaneously, or in different sectors. Agencies often look for vendors who can work across different fields and scale quickly, so highlighting your versatility can give you an important edge.
Getting it all together for strategizing
At its core, Past Performance is a strategic asset that can make or break your proposal. You need to see it as a strategic asset. By effectively presenting your relevant (and multiple) experience, demonstrating customer satisfaction, humbling you to show how you overcame difficulties, and showing your ability to handle a diverse range of contracts, you position yourself as a trusted and capable partner for government agencies.
If you focus on these key elements, you’ll not only meet the requirements of the RFP and the Past Performance section, but you’ll also start compelling on why your company is the right choice for the job.
