In regulated industries such as defense, government, and energy, the Request for Proposal (RFP) lifecycle demands rigorous evaluation and strategic decision-making. One of the most critical, and often overlooked, phases is identifying past performance to inform bid/no-bid decisions, shape competitive analysis, and improve win rates.
This article explores how to leverage past performance during the RFP lifecycle, with a focus on opportunity assessment, competitive intelligence, and the CPARs system.
Opportunity Assessment: Aligning Internal Capabilities with RFP Requirements
Before committing valuable resources to an RFP response, organizations must assess whether the opportunity aligns with their strengths. Unfortunately, internal teams often face pressure to pursue every available contract—especially large or high-profile ones. This can lead to a misalignment between opportunity requirements and internal capabilities.
Common Challenges:
- Lack of Objectivity: Teams may overestimate their qualifications or ignore disqualifying factors due to enthusiasm or leadership pressure.
- Underutilization of Past Performance Data: Organizations may fail to reference previous project outcomes, performance scores, or client feedback to inform go/no-go decisions.
Solution:
Incorporate structured opportunity assessments that include:
- A checklist of technical and operational fit criteria
- A review of similar past projects, performance ratings, and outcomes
- Historical win/loss analysis for similar RFPs
By anchoring decisions in past performance data, organizations can reduce bias and focus on winnable bids.
Determining Probable Competitors and Their Past Performance
Knowing your likely competitors is essential to crafting a compelling and differentiated proposal. This involves competitive intelligence gathering, which includes analyzing public records, previous contract awards, and agency preferences.
How to Assess Competitors Past Performance:
- Identify likely bidders based on contract history and agency relationships
- Analyze their CPARs reports (more on this below) and performance scores
- Evaluate strengths and weaknesses from past projects—especially in scope, cost, and delivery
Create Supporting Documents:
- Competitor Overviews: One-page summaries with strengths, weaknesses, and CPARs ratings
Competitive Landscape Briefs: Slide decks or memos for internal use that inform pricing, messaging, and solution differentiation
This intelligence empowers your team to position your organization effectively and pre-emptively address evaluation criteria.
Leveraging CPARs For Past Performance
The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARs) is a powerful resource in RFP management—yet it is often underused.
What Is CPARs?
CPARs is a federal system that documents contractor performance on government contracts. Reports are submitted by federal agencies and include detailed evaluations across several criteria, including:
- Quality of product or service
- Schedule adherence
- Cost control
- Management and business relations
These reports are critical references during source selection and are routinely consulted by contracting officers.
Why CPARs Matter:
- Past performance is a major evaluation factor in federal procurements.
- Agencies look for evidence of reliability, quality, and compliance.
- Poor CPARs scores can disqualify you—or a competitor—from consideration.
How to Use CPARs Strategically:
- Monitor your own CPARs to ensure accuracy and prepare rebuttals if needed
- Analyze competitor CPARs to identify weaknesses you can contrast in your proposal
- Use strong CPARs ratings as proof points in your technical narrative or past performance volume
The Strategic Value of Past Performance in the RFP Lifecycle
Identifying and leveraging past performance is not just a box-checking exercise—it’s a strategic lever in the RFP lifecycle. By conducting objective opportunity assessments, researching probable competitors, and utilizing CPARs data, you can make smarter bid decisions and create proposals that win.
